A reminder that all Trendlewood musicians and their partners are invited to my house for a meal on Saturday evening (7.45 p.m.) If you haven't told me, or Sarah Bird, that you are intending to come, please do so.
St
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Sunday Coming
This Sunday we start a new mini-series of four weeks on the subject of worship. Frances Trickey will be preaching for the first time at Trendlewood. Pray for her please. We also continue to give our musicians the month off. Our communion service will have music led simply on keyboard alone. Simply Led. That would be a good name for a band.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Sunday
This Sunday is Remembrance Sunday. It is also the Sunday where we use a classroom and the children use the hall so it will give us an opportunity to talk about our experience of remembrance - how we use the day and what we think of it - in an informal setting. We will observe the two minute's silence at 11.00 a.m. wherever we have got to.
St
St
Monday, 2 November 2009
St Valentine
Next year Valentine's Day will be a Sunday. There will be a guest service:
The Greatest Love of All?
Guaranteed cheese-free.
St
The Greatest Love of All?
Guaranteed cheese-free.
St
27th December
As Christmas Day falls on a Friday it will be a good opportunity to have something a bit different on the Sunday after Christmas. So church will be at my house.
From 10.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. there will be coffee, mince pies, mulled wine (from noon), occasional carols and a slot for prayers (in a separate room).
Good thing to bring a friend to, or any house guests.
St
From 10.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. there will be coffee, mince pies, mulled wine (from noon), occasional carols and a slot for prayers (in a separate room).
Good thing to bring a friend to, or any house guests.
St
Worship
Over the next few weeks we will be thinking a bit more about what it means to be a worshipping community. In order to free everyone up to take part in this there will be no music group and all music will be either on CD or led by me. On Saturday 14th November there is a gathering for all current, or interested, musicians at my house for food and chat.
St
St
Thursday, 17 September 2009
Food and Wine Tasting
This event should be good but I wanted to encourage people to book up and not worry about the money too much. We'd rather members (and their friends) were there than that they paid - Steve.
Monday, 7 September 2009
Friendship
Here is the text of yesterday's sermon. I have removed the names of those I mentioned.
Friendship
James 2:1-10
Mark 7:24-30
I was sitting at my desk at CPAS a few years back when a colleague threw a book at me and asked if I'd read it and review it (we did this for each other from time to time). It was called 'Friendship Evangelism – a new course'). As I began reading it occurred to me that Christians must be the only people who need to go on a course about how to make friends.
Trouble is we have made lives difficult for ourselves. The giant, mincing machine that is the church does take a lot of time and energy in meetings to keep the whole thing ticking over and the people who get involved in such organisational matters are often the very people who are best at establishing relationships because they volunteer because they are outgoing. So we rob our outreach of the time of the very people who ought to be doing it.
The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Peter Price, preaching at Jolyon's induction last Thursday evening, explained how in this 1100th anniversary of the Diocese he had managed to shake himself free from the busy-ness of the Diocese to walk around it for 30 days or so. And he said that when he met church people they want to talk about the church and when he met non-church people they wanted to talk about God.
We need to hear that. And over the next few weeks up until Sunday 27th, find a little time to work on our friendships with people who probably want to talk about God.
So today I want to talk about friendship and why it is important. I want to have a look at a couple of key Bible passages on friendship and all this to prepare us for making a bit of an effort to communicate to our friends that what we do here is good, helpful, life-changing and worthwhile and why they ought to join us on, and from September 27th.
I don't know how you describe people you know. Facebook, and other social media, leave you having to make a decision to call someone a friend if you want to be in touch with what they are doing. On that basis I have over 300 friends but I have a very social job and have worked in four parts of the country.
A youth-worker in my previous parish once asked me straight, 'Steve, are we friends?' It was interesting. For him it was important and we would only be friends if we both said 'you're my friend' or some such sentence.
I don't tend to categorise people like that. I assume people are my friends if they are not trying to be my enemy, often call you 'friends' when addressing you corporately. I have a small group of really special friends, who are more like family because Liz and I both come from small families.
So what of Jesus and friendship? In Mark's gospel the calling of the first disciples is told to us as Jesus seeing people he knew as he walked along the side of the lake. I guess a jobbing carpenter would be quite useful amongst wooden boat-users (Mark 1:16). Maybe they were friends. Then he saw Levi the tax collector (2;14). He called him too although he was probably not a friend. Crowds followed him and he escaped them (3:7). Queues formed and he said 'Let's go somewhere else' (1:38). His disciples are not described as friends but 'those he wanted' (3:13). He described those who did what he said as 'his mother and brothers.' This in the presence of his mother and brothers (3:31-35).
And in today's reading he shows us that his upbringing, as a person of his time and place, had filled him with that casual racism and suspicion of outsiders that meant that Gentiles were to be treated as unclean. So, possibly out of curiosity, he goes into a house where the Syrophoenician woman finds him (I said 'her house' yesterday but I was wrong, it was someone else's and she made her way to it) but 'didn't want anyone to know' that he was in there. And only her sharp, possibly witty, reply to his suggestion that the gospel is for Jews first, and she is a dog gets her daughter healed. This 'meek, mild' Jesus later calls Simon Peter 'Satan'. Good mate? Huh.
I want to tell you that you may not have the divine charisma of Jesus of Nazareth but you probably have more contacts, are certainly less prejudiced and may be more polite.
The letter of James takes up this theme. By this time the early church has maybe got to the point where the gospel is for rich and poor, well-dressed and shabby, young and old, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free – a Galatians 3:28 church - and yet the church seems to be treating people differently based on some of those things. On September 27th we will possibly be surprised at who has invited whom. And I want you not to be limited as to who you invite based on who you think will 'fit in' here. Next week, and I know some of you will be away but I'll put the text on the blog, we will think about hospitality. Showing special attention to all equally.
This Back to Church campaign is no longer about those who used to come returning, although we will still make it a try-not-to-be-away from church Sunday. It is about inviting people back to your church in the same you you might invite them back for a coffee or drink. I want to set an example. I thought of two couples who live in the area who I have been in touch with through marriage. They are coming for dinner next week. As it happens, and this may be a god-incidence, one of the couples lives opposite a church member and she had thought of inviting them too and already has. God-incidence? Who knows? Yesterday Liz plucked up the courage to invite her friend. Although the 27th is inconvenient her answer was 'I'd love to come to church' I was sitting next to her, I heard her say it. We can expect to meet her in the autumn. If we take courage people may well 'love to come.'
Please pray for our friends as we invite them.
And if you invite someone please try and call for them, walk or drive here with them, and stick with them through the service or, if you have duties, introduce them to someone else.
I've neglected you over the last 16 months and you've been very understanding. We've held fewer social events, the meals at our house have dried up a bit but with the arrival of Jolyon I'm really looking forward to that changing.
Doubling the congregation in one day is a tall order, We all have to invite someone. Let's share names. Let's pray about it.
This week I am going to tell the newspapers what we are hoping to do. I will say that anyone who doesn't get a personal invitation can still consider themselves invited. It's a risk. The papers will probably ask how we got on.
I was listening to the Faithless track 'God is a DJ' yesterday. It includes the line, 'This is my church; this is where I heal my hurts.' Of course 5,000 people holding their camera phones in the air is totally false community. No relationships are begun. Whereas this is our church. This is where we heal our hurts. If the idea of inviting others scares you then why not have our pray-ers pray for you afterwards.
Let's go for this. It can't possibly do any harm. It may be a remarkable turning point. The day we found more people to share our faith, more people to share our work, more people on rotas, more giving and began to grow out of this building which has stood us in good stead for so long and rekindled the dream of maybe owning our own place some day. Well?
Friends, (there's that word again) if that sounds like an adventure you'd like to buy into please stand with me as we pray.
Steve
Friendship
James 2:1-10
Mark 7:24-30
I was sitting at my desk at CPAS a few years back when a colleague threw a book at me and asked if I'd read it and review it (we did this for each other from time to time). It was called 'Friendship Evangelism – a new course'). As I began reading it occurred to me that Christians must be the only people who need to go on a course about how to make friends.
Trouble is we have made lives difficult for ourselves. The giant, mincing machine that is the church does take a lot of time and energy in meetings to keep the whole thing ticking over and the people who get involved in such organisational matters are often the very people who are best at establishing relationships because they volunteer because they are outgoing. So we rob our outreach of the time of the very people who ought to be doing it.
The Bishop of Bath and Wells, Peter Price, preaching at Jolyon's induction last Thursday evening, explained how in this 1100th anniversary of the Diocese he had managed to shake himself free from the busy-ness of the Diocese to walk around it for 30 days or so. And he said that when he met church people they want to talk about the church and when he met non-church people they wanted to talk about God.
We need to hear that. And over the next few weeks up until Sunday 27th, find a little time to work on our friendships with people who probably want to talk about God.
So today I want to talk about friendship and why it is important. I want to have a look at a couple of key Bible passages on friendship and all this to prepare us for making a bit of an effort to communicate to our friends that what we do here is good, helpful, life-changing and worthwhile and why they ought to join us on, and from September 27th.
I don't know how you describe people you know. Facebook, and other social media, leave you having to make a decision to call someone a friend if you want to be in touch with what they are doing. On that basis I have over 300 friends but I have a very social job and have worked in four parts of the country.
A youth-worker in my previous parish once asked me straight, 'Steve, are we friends?' It was interesting. For him it was important and we would only be friends if we both said 'you're my friend' or some such sentence.
I don't tend to categorise people like that. I assume people are my friends if they are not trying to be my enemy, often call you 'friends' when addressing you corporately. I have a small group of really special friends, who are more like family because Liz and I both come from small families.
So what of Jesus and friendship? In Mark's gospel the calling of the first disciples is told to us as Jesus seeing people he knew as he walked along the side of the lake. I guess a jobbing carpenter would be quite useful amongst wooden boat-users (Mark 1:16). Maybe they were friends. Then he saw Levi the tax collector (2;14). He called him too although he was probably not a friend. Crowds followed him and he escaped them (3:7). Queues formed and he said 'Let's go somewhere else' (1:38). His disciples are not described as friends but 'those he wanted' (3:13). He described those who did what he said as 'his mother and brothers.' This in the presence of his mother and brothers (3:31-35).
And in today's reading he shows us that his upbringing, as a person of his time and place, had filled him with that casual racism and suspicion of outsiders that meant that Gentiles were to be treated as unclean. So, possibly out of curiosity, he goes into a house where the Syrophoenician woman finds him (I said 'her house' yesterday but I was wrong, it was someone else's and she made her way to it) but 'didn't want anyone to know' that he was in there. And only her sharp, possibly witty, reply to his suggestion that the gospel is for Jews first, and she is a dog gets her daughter healed. This 'meek, mild' Jesus later calls Simon Peter 'Satan'. Good mate? Huh.
I want to tell you that you may not have the divine charisma of Jesus of Nazareth but you probably have more contacts, are certainly less prejudiced and may be more polite.
The letter of James takes up this theme. By this time the early church has maybe got to the point where the gospel is for rich and poor, well-dressed and shabby, young and old, Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free – a Galatians 3:28 church - and yet the church seems to be treating people differently based on some of those things. On September 27th we will possibly be surprised at who has invited whom. And I want you not to be limited as to who you invite based on who you think will 'fit in' here. Next week, and I know some of you will be away but I'll put the text on the blog, we will think about hospitality. Showing special attention to all equally.
This Back to Church campaign is no longer about those who used to come returning, although we will still make it a try-not-to-be-away from church Sunday. It is about inviting people back to your church in the same you you might invite them back for a coffee or drink. I want to set an example. I thought of two couples who live in the area who I have been in touch with through marriage. They are coming for dinner next week. As it happens, and this may be a god-incidence, one of the couples lives opposite a church member and she had thought of inviting them too and already has. God-incidence? Who knows? Yesterday Liz plucked up the courage to invite her friend. Although the 27th is inconvenient her answer was 'I'd love to come to church' I was sitting next to her, I heard her say it. We can expect to meet her in the autumn. If we take courage people may well 'love to come.'
Please pray for our friends as we invite them.
And if you invite someone please try and call for them, walk or drive here with them, and stick with them through the service or, if you have duties, introduce them to someone else.
I've neglected you over the last 16 months and you've been very understanding. We've held fewer social events, the meals at our house have dried up a bit but with the arrival of Jolyon I'm really looking forward to that changing.
Doubling the congregation in one day is a tall order, We all have to invite someone. Let's share names. Let's pray about it.
This week I am going to tell the newspapers what we are hoping to do. I will say that anyone who doesn't get a personal invitation can still consider themselves invited. It's a risk. The papers will probably ask how we got on.
I was listening to the Faithless track 'God is a DJ' yesterday. It includes the line, 'This is my church; this is where I heal my hurts.' Of course 5,000 people holding their camera phones in the air is totally false community. No relationships are begun. Whereas this is our church. This is where we heal our hurts. If the idea of inviting others scares you then why not have our pray-ers pray for you afterwards.
Let's go for this. It can't possibly do any harm. It may be a remarkable turning point. The day we found more people to share our faith, more people to share our work, more people on rotas, more giving and began to grow out of this building which has stood us in good stead for so long and rekindled the dream of maybe owning our own place some day. Well?
Friends, (there's that word again) if that sounds like an adventure you'd like to buy into please stand with me as we pray.
Steve
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Back to Church Sunday
Sunday 27th September will be a full-on attempt to double the size of Trendlewood's congregation in a day. Our regular 60 to become 120. We can all help by trying not to be away that weekend but do start thinking about who you could invite. Why not invite them round for a summer meal or drink and invite them then?
Doubling, as a target, means nobody can escape. We will all have to invite someone if it is to work. I will be inviting four newcomers (two couples) who will first be invited to dinner one August Saturday.
Let's share the names so we can all pray.
St
Doubling, as a target, means nobody can escape. We will all have to invite someone if it is to work. I will be inviting four newcomers (two couples) who will first be invited to dinner one August Saturday.
Let's share the names so we can all pray.
St
Communion
It has been announced by the Department of Health that, in a time of pandemic, sharing public drinking vessels is unwise. The Church of England has passed this advice on to dioceses and now Bath and Wells clergy have been advised that, until further notice, communion shall be administered in one kind only.
That is to say you all get bread/wafer and the president drinks from the cup on behalf of all. The President is also required to wash his/her hands with anti-bacterial handwash immediately prior to celebrating.
Full text of the advice available on the Church of England web-site:
www.cofe.anglican.org/info/swineflu/communion.doc
www.cofe.anglican.org/info/swineflu/governmentadvice.doc
That is to say you all get bread/wafer and the president drinks from the cup on behalf of all. The President is also required to wash his/her hands with anti-bacterial handwash immediately prior to celebrating.
Full text of the advice available on the Church of England web-site:
www.cofe.anglican.org/info/swineflu/communion.doc
www.cofe.anglican.org/info/swineflu/governmentadvice.doc
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
John 9
Poor feller. Healed of blindness from birth and thrown out for not being able to explain the theology of his healing properly. All he knew was that he used to be blind. Do you see?
What is John saying about blindness here?
What is he saying about the Pharisees?
What is he saying about Jesus?
If you have time look at Isaiah 42:7,16,18 and 19
What is John saying about blindness here?
What is he saying about the Pharisees?
What is he saying about Jesus?
If you have time look at Isaiah 42:7,16,18 and 19
Careforce
A message from Careforce.Wanted
Gospel Volunteers for September 2009
We still have a number of openings with small evangelical churches and projects around the UK.
You will serve for a year alongside local leaders and contribute your own gifts to the local mission strategy.
You will be well supported and encouraged to develop your own discipleship and discernment of God’s longer term calling on your life.
You will receive full board and lodging plus a weekly living allowance.
You will be part of the large Careforce international volunteer team and enjoy interaction with peer volunteers from around the world.
You will receive dedicated support from the Careforce staff.
One of our present team sums up her Careforce experience.
'If I filled every corner of this world up with dictionaries; there would still not be enough words on this planet to sum up what this year has been to me. I have had some of the highest and some of the lowest points of my life this year. Some of the most fun, and some of the most difficult and painful moments. I have learnt and grown so much as a person, and am hugely proud of where I am today. It wasn’t easy, but was by far the most rewarding thing I could have done with this year. The Careforce experience is giving up a year of your life to love God and to love others before yourself. To serve them, and to give all of who you are in order to become the least. And in doing so, become a follower and disciple of Christ Jesus. And in realising and embracing how small and insignificant I am in the whole ground scheme of things, I have learnt what it is to feel complete.'
Please tell those you know that they can still apply to join Careforce to start in September.
More details from Ian Prior on 020 8942 3331 or mail to enquiry@careforce.co.uk
Apply online at www.careforce.co.uk
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
John 7-8
Why does John say Jesus couldn't be captured?
What did the Temple Guards give as their reason?
'Look into it and you'll see a prophet does not come from Galillee.' Does Isaiah 9 :1-2 agree with this?
If we miss out the 'disputed' text what is the significance of what Jesus says next?
'The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not have...' What do you think when you see this?
What was the 'trap?'
How did Jesus answer?
What lessons are there for us?
What did the Temple Guards give as their reason?
'Look into it and you'll see a prophet does not come from Galillee.' Does Isaiah 9 :1-2 agree with this?
If we miss out the 'disputed' text what is the significance of what Jesus says next?
'The earliest and most reliable manuscripts do not have...' What do you think when you see this?
What was the 'trap?'
How did Jesus answer?
What lessons are there for us?
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Back to Church Sunday
The national director of this movement is offering to work with a number of small churches to help them double their congregations on 27/9. I have to phone back on Monday to say if we would like to be included. Any thoughts?
Remember we are designating 27/9 not just Back to Church Sunday but also try-not-to-be-away-from-church Sunday. If not in diaries yet, do it now.
St
Remember we are designating 27/9 not just Back to Church Sunday but also try-not-to-be-away-from-church Sunday. If not in diaries yet, do it now.
St
John 4
What groups of people do we have problems with (as Jews and Samaritans seemed to have with each other)?
What do Jesus' words speak into such situations?
What identified Jesus to the woman as a prophet?
What do we think identifies a prophet today?
What does it mean that he describes himself as 'living water?'
How can we help people (v42) to hear for themselves rather than relying on testimony? Or is that (see 21:30-31) the point of John's gospel?
St
What do Jesus' words speak into such situations?
What identified Jesus to the woman as a prophet?
What do we think identifies a prophet today?
What does it mean that he describes himself as 'living water?'
How can we help people (v42) to hear for themselves rather than relying on testimony? Or is that (see 21:30-31) the point of John's gospel?
St
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Interesting Course
CHANGING LIVES FOR MISSION
‘Mission Shaped Ministry’ Course
Nationally recognised and based in WELLS and BATH, each having 6 Saturdays and 6 evenings.
Running from June to November 2009
Specifically designed for all Christians concerned about the Mission of God in today’s culture.
Commencing
Saturday 20 June, 10.00 - 4.00
The Old Deanery, WELLS, BA5 2UG.
or
Saturday 11 July, 10.00 - 4.00
St Luke’s Church Centre, Hatfield Rd, BATH, BA2 2BD
Arrive at 9.30 am for coffee/tea and registration in both venues
Presenting a wide diversity of content and style with discussion, prayer, DVD clips, small groups.
National and local tutors from various denominations.
Organiser – Canon Roger Medley, Diocesan Missioner
For further details, or to book a place please contact:
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Connect
Some of you will know that at Trendlewood Church getting rid of all our copies of the Diocesan Newspaper Grapevine is pretty difficult. Every month we take several copies back for recycling. If that pattern is repeated around the diocese then I guess we are not doing the advertisers any favours.
So it is not surprising that Grapevine is going to be finishing at the end of this year. There will be a replacement and plans are afoot to make it good. Really good.
One of the things may people said in a review some months back was that in the age of electronic communication the Diocese ought to make more of email. Connect goes some way to starting a new process of communication within the diocese. It is a monthly e-newsletter for clergy, readers and lay leaders with a focus on what's important in the diocese.
There have been three copies so far, the first two being perusable on the Diocesan web-site.
March
April
If you want to subscribe contact:
Karen Bowers
Diocesan Internal Communications Officer
karen.bowers@bathwells.anglican.org
St
So it is not surprising that Grapevine is going to be finishing at the end of this year. There will be a replacement and plans are afoot to make it good. Really good.
One of the things may people said in a review some months back was that in the age of electronic communication the Diocese ought to make more of email. Connect goes some way to starting a new process of communication within the diocese. It is a monthly e-newsletter for clergy, readers and lay leaders with a focus on what's important in the diocese.
There have been three copies so far, the first two being perusable on the Diocesan web-site.
March
April
If you want to subscribe contact:
Karen Bowers
Diocesan Internal Communications Officer
karen.bowers@bathwells.anglican.org
St
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
John 3 - Nicodemus
1. Have you ever done something by night in order not to be seen?
2. Nicodemus is part of the Jewish Ruling Council. What do you think were his motives?
3. Have you been 'born again?' What was that experience?
4. Our church has set its heart on being more involved with the local community. What ideas can you think of for making God's love for the whole world better known?
5. Nicodemus' journey to faith can be traced in John 7:50-51 and 19:39. Where are you on your journey of faith?
2. Nicodemus is part of the Jewish Ruling Council. What do you think were his motives?
3. Have you been 'born again?' What was that experience?
4. Our church has set its heart on being more involved with the local community. What ideas can you think of for making God's love for the whole world better known?
5. Nicodemus' journey to faith can be traced in John 7:50-51 and 19:39. Where are you on your journey of faith?
- Asking questions
- Listening to Jesus
- Standing alongside Jesus in his death
- Somewhere else
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Back to Church Sunday
Sunday 27th September we will be making an effort to invite people who have been missing for a while 'back to church.' Put it in your diary and let's make it a try-not-to-be-away-from-church Sunday too.
Weekend at Home
Second weekend in July (11th-12th) will be our annual weekend at home. Saturday trips and walks, barbecues and shared Sunday lunch after church. Offers of help and hosting to Sarah Bird please.
John 2:1-11
Some questions for groups:
1. Have you ever made a social gaff? What happened?
2. What does this passage tell us about Jesus' relationship with his mother?
3. Why do we think it was important for John to say that this was Jesus' first miracle?
4. Can you think of reasons why this miracle may not have been mentioned by Matthew, Mark and Luke?
5. What do you think Jesus meant about the time not being right?
6. What is your attitude to alcohol? Why do we have difficulty getting our relationship with alcohol right? Is there a balance to be struck between avoiding drunkenness and enjoying a party or should Christians not drink at all?
1. Have you ever made a social gaff? What happened?
2. What does this passage tell us about Jesus' relationship with his mother?
3. Why do we think it was important for John to say that this was Jesus' first miracle?
4. Can you think of reasons why this miracle may not have been mentioned by Matthew, Mark and Luke?
5. What do you think Jesus meant about the time not being right?
6. What is your attitude to alcohol? Why do we have difficulty getting our relationship with alcohol right? Is there a balance to be struck between avoiding drunkenness and enjoying a party or should Christians not drink at all?
Thursday, 7 May 2009
John 1:15-28
Some questions to ponder:
1. Have you been baptised? When? Confirmed? What changes do you recall?
2. Why did it seem so important to everyone to work out who John the Baptist was? Why do you think he was talked of as 'The Prophet?'
3. Look at Isaiah 40:1-3. What light does this shed on John 1:15-28?
4. The early disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus. They got relatives to do the same. Why? Would you have done?
5. 1:51 tells us something very interesting about who Jesus is going to turn out to be. Of course John writes his Gospel as someone who already knows the end. What point is he making?
6. If there is time share your stories about being followers of Jesus, or perhaps have one or two each time you meet, spread over the term.
St
1. Have you been baptised? When? Confirmed? What changes do you recall?
2. Why did it seem so important to everyone to work out who John the Baptist was? Why do you think he was talked of as 'The Prophet?'
3. Look at Isaiah 40:1-3. What light does this shed on John 1:15-28?
4. The early disciples dropped everything to follow Jesus. They got relatives to do the same. Why? Would you have done?
5. 1:51 tells us something very interesting about who Jesus is going to turn out to be. Of course John writes his Gospel as someone who already knows the end. What point is he making?
6. If there is time share your stories about being followers of Jesus, or perhaps have one or two each time you meet, spread over the term.
St
Monday, 27 April 2009
John's Gospel
Over the next few weeks we will be looking at the first half of John's Gospel in our morning worship. I'll try and post some thoughts here for home groups to think about. Last Sunday Stan helped us think about John 1:1-14.
Home Group Questions
1. Which is your favourite Gospel and why?
2. Compare how the four gospels begin. What can we tell from the opening verses about why they were written and for whom?
3. Many have argued that John's Gospel is substantially different from the other three. In what ways did you notice this from 1:1-14? And in what ways were there similarities with the other gospels?
4. What do you understand by the expression The Word? Why is 'The Word became flesh' such an outrageous suggestion?
St
Home Group Questions
1. Which is your favourite Gospel and why?
2. Compare how the four gospels begin. What can we tell from the opening verses about why they were written and for whom?
3. Many have argued that John's Gospel is substantially different from the other three. In what ways did you notice this from 1:1-14? And in what ways were there similarities with the other gospels?
4. What do you understand by the expression The Word? Why is 'The Word became flesh' such an outrageous suggestion?
St
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
PCC
It's the APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) next Tuesday evening 28th April. Do come along to listen to plans, vote if necessary and ask your questions.
I am looking for those people who will serve on PCC, Trendlewood Committee or as Warden/Deputy Warden to share the ministry with me over the coming year. This Sunday is a good chance for nominations and secondings to take place. The forms will be on the usual table as will copies of the annual report for everyone.
Anyone who wants to know more about what the jobs involve is welcome to give me a call or come for a chat. I've set aside tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon and evening for that.
St
I am looking for those people who will serve on PCC, Trendlewood Committee or as Warden/Deputy Warden to share the ministry with me over the coming year. This Sunday is a good chance for nominations and secondings to take place. The forms will be on the usual table as will copies of the annual report for everyone.
Anyone who wants to know more about what the jobs involve is welcome to give me a call or come for a chat. I've set aside tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon and evening for that.
St
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
News from Ed and Ruth on Mercy Ships
The two screening days went very well. They were held in the same place as the last time Mercy Ships was in Benin. They were two long hot days but plenty of interesting and challenging cases to see. The second day was surprisingly busy - thought it would be only part of the morning. We had a translator called Esther!
All the vehicles got registered in time which was good.
We went out to a Thai restaurant I last night which was nice (Thai, not Benin!). Slightly worrying thing - there were two kittens in there playing around the restaurant. One disappeared and then our meal appeared. We ordered chicken.
We visited a village built on stilts next to the lake near here which was interesting. It was nice to get out of town. Just chilling out at the moment.
A prayer request would be that we would use next week effectively to set up the lab for the rest of the outreach and show the new technician procedures for my part of the work clearly. Also, what next.
Take care. Lots of love.
Ruth & Ed
All the vehicles got registered in time which was good.
We went out to a Thai restaurant I last night which was nice (Thai, not Benin!). Slightly worrying thing - there were two kittens in there playing around the restaurant. One disappeared and then our meal appeared. We ordered chicken.
We visited a village built on stilts next to the lake near here which was interesting. It was nice to get out of town. Just chilling out at the moment.
A prayer request would be that we would use next week effectively to set up the lab for the rest of the outreach and show the new technician procedures for my part of the work clearly. Also, what next.
Take care. Lots of love.
Ruth & Ed
Sunday, 22 February 2009
New Rector
It will be announced at all services today at Holy Trinity and Trendlewood that the new Rector will be Rev'd Jolyon Trickey, currently ministering the other side of the country in Busbridge and Hambledon, where he and his wife Frances and two children have lived for fourteen years.
Church attenders today will get a bit of a biography and a message on a hand-out. I'll publish that tomorrow.
Find a picture here. Happy Googling and Facebook poking, the supremely 21st century way to welcome the news.
They will move in July and it looks as if the induction will be Thursday September 3rd.
Church attenders today will get a bit of a biography and a message on a hand-out. I'll publish that tomorrow.
Find a picture here. Happy Googling and Facebook poking, the supremely 21st century way to welcome the news.
They will move in July and it looks as if the induction will be Thursday September 3rd.
Monday, 16 February 2009
Back to Church Sunday
The final Sunday of September will once again be designated Back to Church Sunday. Can I encourage those who wish to plan autumn breaks and weekends away or visiting relatives that we do what we did two years ago and make it a try not to be away from chruch Sunday, so we can encourage each other by how many we are when we all turn up.
St
St
Psalm 23
Following our look at Psalm 23 yesterday I recalled this, which has been around for a bit but some of you may not have heard before:
The Lord is my pace-setter, I shall not rush.
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness
Which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day
I will not fret
For his presence is there
His timelessness, his all importance, will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of activity.
By anointing my mind with the oils of tranquility
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
Surely harmony and effectiveness
Shall be the fruits of my hours
For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord
And dwell in his house for ever.
(Toyi Miyashina)
The Lord is my pace-setter, I shall not rush.
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness
Which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day
I will not fret
For his presence is there
His timelessness, his all importance, will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of activity.
By anointing my mind with the oils of tranquility
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
Surely harmony and effectiveness
Shall be the fruits of my hours
For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord
And dwell in his house for ever.
(Toyi Miyashina)
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Commitment Sunday Sermon
Commitment Sermon, Sunday 25/1/09
Giving leads to Blessing?
Malachi 3:1-12
Every year we have a commitment Sunday in this church. Let me tell you what it is not. It is not the haranguing of hard-pressed church members to screw the last drop out of them. It is not demanding that you stump up the cash to finance the church leaders' latest wacky brainwave. It is not the way you get to keep your clergy.
So what is it?
It's a review. And it's a vision.
A review, because it's right that each year we look again at our commitment of our time, talents and finances to the Lord's work and see if they need changing.
A vision, because those charged with leadership in this place - staff, PCC, wardens and clergy – have been trying to think and pray about what the Lord might be calling us to do specifically over the next twelve months and John, our treasurer has helped us work out how much that might cost. We may be wrong. We may be wrong about the vision; we may be wrong about the cost. Our financial review is part of the way we discern that. If we can't get the money together it may well be a sign that we were aiming to do the wrong things.
Malachi is the last OT prophet (400 BC or so) speaking to a people who have resettled into their land, started sacrificing dodgy animals not the best ones, marrying foreigners and making divorcing easily, he speaks to complacent religion. He speaks to people (2:13) who short-change God then ask why he isn't listening.
I don't believe we are complacent. Indeed, in this time of vacancy, urgent and impressive work has been going on, both to make a profile of our parish and vision for a new Rector to understand and to try and juggle three massive potential buildings projects which have come at us at the same time, perhaps to test our faith, who knows?
But I do believe this passage has some eternal principles for us to get right. In Malachi's day, economically times were probably hard so it speaks into our situation.
It might appear, to the casual reader, that Malachi is telling his people that they will be judged if they don't get their commitment right. In fact it is the other way round. Malachi is saying that those who get their commitment right will be gob-smacked at God's blessing. It will enable them to see their Lord's love, care and concern in a new way for they will be mirroring it in their own generosity.
There are five points:
1. God will appear one day (1). The final judgement is before all of us. It is inescapable. The generous and mean. The Jesus followers and the Jesus-ignorers. God's people and not God's people. All will one day face God. Many people have interpreted these verses as looking forward to John the baptist, 'the messenger.' The proximity of the last book of the Old Testament to the first of the New may have made this more likely, but there are 400 years in between Malachi and Matthew. Either way we know that, in Jesus, the one who was to come has come and will one day come again.
2. He will judge, amongst other things our generosity (2-5). Not just our financial generosity but also our hospitality, our use of our gifts in his service and our fairness to others (5b). The image is of a people having their act cleaned up – like bleach on laundry or fire on impure metal (2b-3a).
3. God does not change. He has revealed what he likes and wants in his word – commandments, Law and prophets to those people then,(6-7a) the wonderful, unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ, to us people now. However right or wrong we get our commitment, our response to what we now know God has done of us in Jesus, we know that he will still be there for us. 'Jesus died for me' is the way we go into this apparently scary judgement without fear.
4. So whilst short changing God leads to problems (7a-9) John Stott points out from 2 Cor 8-9):
Giving is an expression of the grace of God and inspired by the cross of Christ.
Giving can be a gift of the Spirit.
It resembles a harvest.
It's an expression of our thanks.
5. Giving in full leads to blessing - God challenges us to test him (10-12). We didn't plan that the necessary repairs to the Trinity Centre to bring it up to scratch for the 21st century, the possibility of the use of the Old Rectory and the duty to contribute to the Tithe barn renovation would all coincide in a year we are without a Rector. If that had been the plan I might not have come here either. Deciding whether to put these needs before the congregation has been a huge matter of prayer and thought by the PCC, wardens, staff and standing committee. We appear to be saying we need 5% more and then maybe at least a million on top.
We don't feel we should deny people the opportunity to invest in these projects though.
A friend of mine went to Kenya. He said he didn't want to have an offering in the service, put on in his honour, as he felt the people were so poor that he wanted them to keep their money. Their local pastor (taking him aside for a while in the middle of a four hour service) said back, somewhat indignantly, 'How dare you consider denying these Christian people the opportunity to give. Throughout the three week visit it was my friend's joy (and responsibility) to be served at table by people who gave him and his companions the best food whilst they ate later, on cheaper fare.
It may be that we can meet our general needs by more people giving, or by everyone giving a bit more.
We do not feel we should deny the whole church the opportunity to give. Only in this way will we know that our plans are of the Lord. We would not want a reputation as the generation that let Holy Trinity's historic footprint shrink.
When I was only about 18 I went to a rugby match where a collection was being taken for a guy who was now paralysed after a scrum collapsed. It seemed that they were asking for a lot of money from each of us (the equivalent today of £10 a head) as the bucket came round but the announcer asked for us all to buy the injured guy three pints. Then it made sense. If I'd known him and gone out for the evening with him of course I'd have bought him three pints (I drank more in those days).
I find comparisons helpful. As I look at increasing my giving by 5% I think – how many more newspapers or magazines would that be, how many CDs, how many pints or bottles of wine? My daily newspaper went up by more than 10% this week and I didn't blink.
Of course that is not the end of the story. It may require someone or some people to be incredibly generous to get even close to what we need to turn the old rectory into offices, conference space and a couple of flats. This will involve big sacrifices – new mortgages, foregone luxuries, dipped-into savings?
There is a letter from me to invite you to think about this and respond next week.
This verse has haunted us this week, since the staff meeting when Mark Close our youth worker pointed it out. 'He who began a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.' (Phil. 1:6).
I cannot shake off the theme that the more generous we are the more blessed we will be. Not a gospel of health, wealth and happiness - the cross often needs carrying so that is quite wrong. Simply the idea that we will understand God's blessing if we unleash his spirit of generosity. If, in a recession, those of us who have much become generous then even if we can't afford our projects then Christians in this town will be loved by all.
I commend the letter to your thoughts, prayers and response but be aware – there is a wedge and the letter is just the thin end.
Giving leads to Blessing?
Malachi 3:1-12
Every year we have a commitment Sunday in this church. Let me tell you what it is not. It is not the haranguing of hard-pressed church members to screw the last drop out of them. It is not demanding that you stump up the cash to finance the church leaders' latest wacky brainwave. It is not the way you get to keep your clergy.
So what is it?
It's a review. And it's a vision.
A review, because it's right that each year we look again at our commitment of our time, talents and finances to the Lord's work and see if they need changing.
A vision, because those charged with leadership in this place - staff, PCC, wardens and clergy – have been trying to think and pray about what the Lord might be calling us to do specifically over the next twelve months and John, our treasurer has helped us work out how much that might cost. We may be wrong. We may be wrong about the vision; we may be wrong about the cost. Our financial review is part of the way we discern that. If we can't get the money together it may well be a sign that we were aiming to do the wrong things.
Malachi is the last OT prophet (400 BC or so) speaking to a people who have resettled into their land, started sacrificing dodgy animals not the best ones, marrying foreigners and making divorcing easily, he speaks to complacent religion. He speaks to people (2:13) who short-change God then ask why he isn't listening.
I don't believe we are complacent. Indeed, in this time of vacancy, urgent and impressive work has been going on, both to make a profile of our parish and vision for a new Rector to understand and to try and juggle three massive potential buildings projects which have come at us at the same time, perhaps to test our faith, who knows?
But I do believe this passage has some eternal principles for us to get right. In Malachi's day, economically times were probably hard so it speaks into our situation.
It might appear, to the casual reader, that Malachi is telling his people that they will be judged if they don't get their commitment right. In fact it is the other way round. Malachi is saying that those who get their commitment right will be gob-smacked at God's blessing. It will enable them to see their Lord's love, care and concern in a new way for they will be mirroring it in their own generosity.
There are five points:
1. God will appear one day (1). The final judgement is before all of us. It is inescapable. The generous and mean. The Jesus followers and the Jesus-ignorers. God's people and not God's people. All will one day face God. Many people have interpreted these verses as looking forward to John the baptist, 'the messenger.' The proximity of the last book of the Old Testament to the first of the New may have made this more likely, but there are 400 years in between Malachi and Matthew. Either way we know that, in Jesus, the one who was to come has come and will one day come again.
2. He will judge, amongst other things our generosity (2-5). Not just our financial generosity but also our hospitality, our use of our gifts in his service and our fairness to others (5b). The image is of a people having their act cleaned up – like bleach on laundry or fire on impure metal (2b-3a).
3. God does not change. He has revealed what he likes and wants in his word – commandments, Law and prophets to those people then,(6-7a) the wonderful, unchanging Gospel of Jesus Christ, to us people now. However right or wrong we get our commitment, our response to what we now know God has done of us in Jesus, we know that he will still be there for us. 'Jesus died for me' is the way we go into this apparently scary judgement without fear.
4. So whilst short changing God leads to problems (7a-9) John Stott points out from 2 Cor 8-9):
Giving is an expression of the grace of God and inspired by the cross of Christ.
Giving can be a gift of the Spirit.
It resembles a harvest.
It's an expression of our thanks.
5. Giving in full leads to blessing - God challenges us to test him (10-12). We didn't plan that the necessary repairs to the Trinity Centre to bring it up to scratch for the 21st century, the possibility of the use of the Old Rectory and the duty to contribute to the Tithe barn renovation would all coincide in a year we are without a Rector. If that had been the plan I might not have come here either. Deciding whether to put these needs before the congregation has been a huge matter of prayer and thought by the PCC, wardens, staff and standing committee. We appear to be saying we need 5% more and then maybe at least a million on top.
We don't feel we should deny people the opportunity to invest in these projects though.
A friend of mine went to Kenya. He said he didn't want to have an offering in the service, put on in his honour, as he felt the people were so poor that he wanted them to keep their money. Their local pastor (taking him aside for a while in the middle of a four hour service) said back, somewhat indignantly, 'How dare you consider denying these Christian people the opportunity to give. Throughout the three week visit it was my friend's joy (and responsibility) to be served at table by people who gave him and his companions the best food whilst they ate later, on cheaper fare.
It may be that we can meet our general needs by more people giving, or by everyone giving a bit more.
We do not feel we should deny the whole church the opportunity to give. Only in this way will we know that our plans are of the Lord. We would not want a reputation as the generation that let Holy Trinity's historic footprint shrink.
When I was only about 18 I went to a rugby match where a collection was being taken for a guy who was now paralysed after a scrum collapsed. It seemed that they were asking for a lot of money from each of us (the equivalent today of £10 a head) as the bucket came round but the announcer asked for us all to buy the injured guy three pints. Then it made sense. If I'd known him and gone out for the evening with him of course I'd have bought him three pints (I drank more in those days).
I find comparisons helpful. As I look at increasing my giving by 5% I think – how many more newspapers or magazines would that be, how many CDs, how many pints or bottles of wine? My daily newspaper went up by more than 10% this week and I didn't blink.
Of course that is not the end of the story. It may require someone or some people to be incredibly generous to get even close to what we need to turn the old rectory into offices, conference space and a couple of flats. This will involve big sacrifices – new mortgages, foregone luxuries, dipped-into savings?
There is a letter from me to invite you to think about this and respond next week.
This verse has haunted us this week, since the staff meeting when Mark Close our youth worker pointed it out. 'He who began a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.' (Phil. 1:6).
I cannot shake off the theme that the more generous we are the more blessed we will be. Not a gospel of health, wealth and happiness - the cross often needs carrying so that is quite wrong. Simply the idea that we will understand God's blessing if we unleash his spirit of generosity. If, in a recession, those of us who have much become generous then even if we can't afford our projects then Christians in this town will be loved by all.
I commend the letter to your thoughts, prayers and response but be aware – there is a wedge and the letter is just the thin end.
Tomorrow
Just a reminder (as if you needed it) that the four candidates for the job of Rector of Holy Trinity and Trendlewood, Nailsea will be interviewed tomorrow. Prayer mats out everyone. I will be away from home all day as my house is being used for the interviews. News of outcomes as soon as we are allowed.
Wednesday, 3 December 2008
Advent Journey
All Saints, Wraxall have a multi-sensory Advent journey around the church with twelve stopping places for prayer, reflection and activity. The church is open from 8.30 a.m. until dusk each day and it will take about half an hour to do it properly. Lovely chance to stop and reflect. Did it tonight with the other clergy of the Local Minstry Group as an alternative to Evening Prayer.
St
St
Tuesday, 25 November 2008
New Wine
Last call for New Wine bookings as a partry. Tell Tim B-C by the end of Thursday 27th November please.
Trendlewood Committee
We meet at my house next Monday evening, December 1st. Drinks from 7.15. Start agenda at 7.45.
Tuesday, 30 September 2008
Trendlewood Committee
We have little business for the Trendlewood Committee on Monday, it clashes with Deanery Synod anyway, and I am hoping to spend the bulk of the day on rewriting work on the parish profile. I have chatted to a few people and we have agreed to cancel it. Have a free evening if you are not on Deanery Synod; if you are on Deanery Synod rejoice that you can now attend after all.
St
St
Thursday, 25 September 2008
Word and Spirit 3 - Ministry
Luke 10:1-20
1. Vv 1-3. Jesus gives his disciples a big vision for the work. Not underplaying it. The harvest is plentiful; the workers are full, there are wolves out there.
2. Vv 4-11. Jesus gives his disciples specific instructions. Some people like to be told what to do and they invent the 'how'. Some people can't work until the 'how' is explained. Both are valid positions. Know yourself and ask for instructions or training about your ministry if you need them. These disciples were to go from town to town as prompted by the Spirit but had guidelines as to what to do in various circumstances.
There will be another sermon some day on blessings and curses (vv12-16).
3. V17. Allow those appointed to tasks to debrief with you if you are the leader. Insist on it if you are the worker. You need to know how your ministry is going from the person who gave you it.
4. V19. Good leaders give authority with responsibility. You want some authority if your task is sandalless scorpion-trampling.
5. Vv18-20. Always correct people's focus if their vision is too short-term. Jesus' vision is very long-term. The Last Day is what counts. Treasure in heaven and nowhere else.
St 21/9/08
1. Vv 1-3. Jesus gives his disciples a big vision for the work. Not underplaying it. The harvest is plentiful; the workers are full, there are wolves out there.
2. Vv 4-11. Jesus gives his disciples specific instructions. Some people like to be told what to do and they invent the 'how'. Some people can't work until the 'how' is explained. Both are valid positions. Know yourself and ask for instructions or training about your ministry if you need them. These disciples were to go from town to town as prompted by the Spirit but had guidelines as to what to do in various circumstances.
There will be another sermon some day on blessings and curses (vv12-16).
3. V17. Allow those appointed to tasks to debrief with you if you are the leader. Insist on it if you are the worker. You need to know how your ministry is going from the person who gave you it.
4. V19. Good leaders give authority with responsibility. You want some authority if your task is sandalless scorpion-trampling.
5. Vv18-20. Always correct people's focus if their vision is too short-term. Jesus' vision is very long-term. The Last Day is what counts. Treasure in heaven and nowhere else.
St 21/9/08
Sunday, 14 September 2008
Word and Spirit 2
Was Jesus a good Jew?
Read:
Numbers 5:1-4
Leviticus 15:19
Now read:
Mark 1:40-45
Mark 5:21-24; 35-43
Mark 5:25-34
So, did Jesus break the Jewish law?
There are far more details about the impurity from touching the dead at Numbers 19; from skin diseases at Leviticus 14. Archaeologists uncovered one ritual washing pool with a rail down the centre which they couldn't understand. Eventually they realised it was to prevent those going in from touching those going out, what Crispin Fletcher-Louis calls '...a clean/unclean groundhog day situation.'
Jesus seems to have healed deliberately with a touch on some occasions although we know he didn't need to. See the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 or the shrivelled hand in Mark 3:1-6.
There are reasons to suggest Jesus upheld the law (more in Matthew, but he had an agenda).
Numbers 15:37-41 tells us that the fringe of a garment can be a law-reminder. Mark 5: 27 (indirectly) and Mark 6:56 (directly) tell us Jesus' garment had a fringe.
Jesus encouraged the leper to do the legal thing – show the priest.
He prayed the daily prayer in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 which Al portrayed to us so dramatically last week.
The thing is that Jesus was so holy that the touches which should have made him unclean worked in the opposite direction. He felt a power-surge in Mark 5:30. 'Who touched my clothes?' He is super-charged with contagious holiness.
How has this progressed since the Old Testament? We get a bit uptight about the holiness of things in the evangelical community. 'People are holy; not stuff,' we say.
But:
Exodus 30:26-30. Whatever touched the anointed furniture in the Tent of Meeting became holy.
Leviticus 6:18. Whatever touched the grain offering became holy.
Ezekiel 44:19. The priests had to change to go out from the inner court of the Temple so they did not consecrate the people by accident.
2 Kings 13:21. A dead man touched Elisha's bones and came back to life.
Jesus is not in the priestly lineage but the kingly one. He is not therefore making people clean by accident.
Acts 5:15 Peter's shadow.
Acts 19:11 Paul's handkerchief
1 Corinthians 7:10 Partner made clean by clean spouse.
There is a progression to this. If we are made in the image of God, to be his representation on earth, as we saw last week, we should have a sense of expectation that some of our holiness would rub off on others, even by accident.
St (based on Crispin Fletcher-Louis' New Wine seminar 2008)
Read:
Numbers 5:1-4
Leviticus 15:19
Now read:
Mark 1:40-45
Mark 5:21-24; 35-43
Mark 5:25-34
So, did Jesus break the Jewish law?
There are far more details about the impurity from touching the dead at Numbers 19; from skin diseases at Leviticus 14. Archaeologists uncovered one ritual washing pool with a rail down the centre which they couldn't understand. Eventually they realised it was to prevent those going in from touching those going out, what Crispin Fletcher-Louis calls '...a clean/unclean groundhog day situation.'
Jesus seems to have healed deliberately with a touch on some occasions although we know he didn't need to. See the paralytic in Mark 2:1-12 or the shrivelled hand in Mark 3:1-6.
There are reasons to suggest Jesus upheld the law (more in Matthew, but he had an agenda).
Numbers 15:37-41 tells us that the fringe of a garment can be a law-reminder. Mark 5: 27 (indirectly) and Mark 6:56 (directly) tell us Jesus' garment had a fringe.
Jesus encouraged the leper to do the legal thing – show the priest.
He prayed the daily prayer in Deuteronomy 6:4-7 which Al portrayed to us so dramatically last week.
The thing is that Jesus was so holy that the touches which should have made him unclean worked in the opposite direction. He felt a power-surge in Mark 5:30. 'Who touched my clothes?' He is super-charged with contagious holiness.
How has this progressed since the Old Testament? We get a bit uptight about the holiness of things in the evangelical community. 'People are holy; not stuff,' we say.
But:
Exodus 30:26-30. Whatever touched the anointed furniture in the Tent of Meeting became holy.
Leviticus 6:18. Whatever touched the grain offering became holy.
Ezekiel 44:19. The priests had to change to go out from the inner court of the Temple so they did not consecrate the people by accident.
2 Kings 13:21. A dead man touched Elisha's bones and came back to life.
Jesus is not in the priestly lineage but the kingly one. He is not therefore making people clean by accident.
Acts 5:15 Peter's shadow.
Acts 19:11 Paul's handkerchief
1 Corinthians 7:10 Partner made clean by clean spouse.
There is a progression to this. If we are made in the image of God, to be his representation on earth, as we saw last week, we should have a sense of expectation that some of our holiness would rub off on others, even by accident.
St (based on Crispin Fletcher-Louis' New Wine seminar 2008)
Sunday, 7 September 2008
Word and Spirit 1 (Genesis 1:26-28)
Today we start a new series of sermons. In producing the parish profile for a new Rector to see, we had to describe ourselves and the sort of person we want as our new Rector.
We have opted to ask for someone who can hold word and spirit in balance. I want to spend the next three Sundays looking at how that might happen.
At New Wine Crispin Fletcher-Louis brilliantly sketched out how an understanding of the Bible helps us to understand how God can be at work today. For me it was a life-changing experience to finally understand that I should be more than willing to allow God to work through me; I should be expectant of it.
So. How do we work out what the Bible means?
1. Meaning is determined by the linguistic limits and possibilities of the original language it was written it (in this case Hebrew).
2. Meaning is guided by a passage's immediate literary context. What it meant to them then.
3. Meaning is guided by a passage's local historical context. What was going on then.
So what does it mean to be made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26)?
Linguistically, image and likeness are concrete, physical terms. Images are things at minimum. Nothing in the context of Genesis 1 suggests it is only part of humanity that is like God. It is not just Christians, just God's people, just Jews, just men, or any other 'just' that is like God. The whole of human creation is the image of God. (That's why we find goodness in people who are not, or not yet, Christians.)
Because we see the word 'rule' in this passage we might assume that humanity is created to be God's royal representative on earth. God is the king but we are the regents. But in the rest of the OT the king is never explicitly the image of God. That description is saved for idols.
The Hebrew word for image chosen here is (and this is my English transliteration) tselem – tselem elohim. It is similar to a Mesopotamian phrase 'idol of God.'
But surely we aren't created to be God's idol?
In fact Genesis 1 is written against a background where sky, sun, sea, moon, stars, certain animals are all gods, and thus worshipped, in the ancient near east. But in Genesis 1 our God, the God creates them. They are creatures.
Other comparisons would be that in Genesis 1 it is creation not a battle. Other early faith stories have gods doing battle against the evil forces to win over creation. Other myths have stories of many creations not one. Our Genesis account tells us our one God creates everything in one ordered sequence, without a fight
So for the text to allow God to liken himself to an idol must be either dangerously careless or deliberate. Another word for likeness could have been chosen. There are two perfectly serviceable Hebrew words that could have been used.
In the ancient near-east idols had a sculpted core, metal casing and garments of precious metals and jewels for decoration. Then there was a vivifying ceremony. Life-giving. The idol, although dumb, was deemed to be the god. The captured ark of the covenant was placed next to the idol of Dagon – the Philistine God. They thought the ark was god.
It was believed that looking after your God got you victory. Lack of care led to failure, defeat, famine etc.
But Genesis 1:26 tells us humanity is created to share God's own life, not to be his slave. God chooses to manifest himself, to incarnate himself, in humanity: humanity is his idol.
God's in the ancient world needed a form to inhabit. Humans are it.
Paraphrase. 'Let us make man in the place of our image... And God created humanity for his statue...'
If humanity is to be God's idol, then humanity making idols is deeply ironic and tragic. That's why the commandment says no. Look at Isaiah 44:12-20 for a real sarcastic rant against idol-makers. The blacksmith forgets to look after himself whilst making an idol. He omits to feed the real idol whilst making a fake one.
Humanity is created to be God's real presence in the world. Many of the sarcastic passages of Old Testament prophecy emphasise that idols have no breath in them. This is not to contrast with our God who does but with us who do. We breathe.
Making an idol is a cop-out rather than fulfilling our vocation of being bearers of divine presence and agents of divine power. We are made to be more than flesh and blood – vehicles of God's power, presence and prophecies.
If the true human being is God's image/idol then if a human being comes along who trusts entirely in God and what God made him it is entirely appropriate that we should worship him as pagans worship their statues. Jesus. The living idol par excellence.
Genesis 1:26 provides the most basic theological foundation to our conviction that we are called to do what God calls us to do.
Now I haven't mentioned Spirit yet. Which in a sermon that is about holding word and Spirit in balance would seem remiss of me.
But do you see that by taking the word seriously it leads us to the unshakable conviction that the Holy Spirit, there in Genesis 1 hovering on the surface of the waters, would not contradict that which is in the rest of the passage, but build on it? It is 'let us create' not 'let me create.' The Spirit is there.
If we are the image of God then we can take the Holy Spirit's power, given to us by the one we worship as the perfect example of humanity, and say, 'Be at work in me and through me.'
You can only get to this point by trusting in the work of academics like Crispin, always making sure that they are not out on a limb but are respected by their academic community (he is, he's a theological college principal at Westminster Theological Centre).
But having got to that point the simple truth we can keep is this. We can, and should indeed expect, to do God stuff. Our church should be a place where more God stuff is going on. There is a disappointing amount of God stuff happening at the moment. Maybe it comes in cycles.
Next week, teaching about healings and uncleanness. Then we will look at what the Bible says about ministry. Then, after a harvest service, we will go back to the beginning and look at the whole of Genesis 1-11.
(This text is largely based on the New Wine seminar notes I took. The content and wisdom is Fletcher-Louis' - the local adaptation and possibly therefore errors, are all mine.)
We have opted to ask for someone who can hold word and spirit in balance. I want to spend the next three Sundays looking at how that might happen.
At New Wine Crispin Fletcher-Louis brilliantly sketched out how an understanding of the Bible helps us to understand how God can be at work today. For me it was a life-changing experience to finally understand that I should be more than willing to allow God to work through me; I should be expectant of it.
So. How do we work out what the Bible means?
1. Meaning is determined by the linguistic limits and possibilities of the original language it was written it (in this case Hebrew).
2. Meaning is guided by a passage's immediate literary context. What it meant to them then.
3. Meaning is guided by a passage's local historical context. What was going on then.
So what does it mean to be made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26)?
Linguistically, image and likeness are concrete, physical terms. Images are things at minimum. Nothing in the context of Genesis 1 suggests it is only part of humanity that is like God. It is not just Christians, just God's people, just Jews, just men, or any other 'just' that is like God. The whole of human creation is the image of God. (That's why we find goodness in people who are not, or not yet, Christians.)
Because we see the word 'rule' in this passage we might assume that humanity is created to be God's royal representative on earth. God is the king but we are the regents. But in the rest of the OT the king is never explicitly the image of God. That description is saved for idols.
The Hebrew word for image chosen here is (and this is my English transliteration) tselem – tselem elohim. It is similar to a Mesopotamian phrase 'idol of God.'
But surely we aren't created to be God's idol?
In fact Genesis 1 is written against a background where sky, sun, sea, moon, stars, certain animals are all gods, and thus worshipped, in the ancient near east. But in Genesis 1 our God, the God creates them. They are creatures.
Other comparisons would be that in Genesis 1 it is creation not a battle. Other early faith stories have gods doing battle against the evil forces to win over creation. Other myths have stories of many creations not one. Our Genesis account tells us our one God creates everything in one ordered sequence, without a fight
So for the text to allow God to liken himself to an idol must be either dangerously careless or deliberate. Another word for likeness could have been chosen. There are two perfectly serviceable Hebrew words that could have been used.
In the ancient near-east idols had a sculpted core, metal casing and garments of precious metals and jewels for decoration. Then there was a vivifying ceremony. Life-giving. The idol, although dumb, was deemed to be the god. The captured ark of the covenant was placed next to the idol of Dagon – the Philistine God. They thought the ark was god.
It was believed that looking after your God got you victory. Lack of care led to failure, defeat, famine etc.
But Genesis 1:26 tells us humanity is created to share God's own life, not to be his slave. God chooses to manifest himself, to incarnate himself, in humanity: humanity is his idol.
God's in the ancient world needed a form to inhabit. Humans are it.
Paraphrase. 'Let us make man in the place of our image... And God created humanity for his statue...'
If humanity is to be God's idol, then humanity making idols is deeply ironic and tragic. That's why the commandment says no. Look at Isaiah 44:12-20 for a real sarcastic rant against idol-makers. The blacksmith forgets to look after himself whilst making an idol. He omits to feed the real idol whilst making a fake one.
Humanity is created to be God's real presence in the world. Many of the sarcastic passages of Old Testament prophecy emphasise that idols have no breath in them. This is not to contrast with our God who does but with us who do. We breathe.
Making an idol is a cop-out rather than fulfilling our vocation of being bearers of divine presence and agents of divine power. We are made to be more than flesh and blood – vehicles of God's power, presence and prophecies.
If the true human being is God's image/idol then if a human being comes along who trusts entirely in God and what God made him it is entirely appropriate that we should worship him as pagans worship their statues. Jesus. The living idol par excellence.
Genesis 1:26 provides the most basic theological foundation to our conviction that we are called to do what God calls us to do.
Now I haven't mentioned Spirit yet. Which in a sermon that is about holding word and Spirit in balance would seem remiss of me.
But do you see that by taking the word seriously it leads us to the unshakable conviction that the Holy Spirit, there in Genesis 1 hovering on the surface of the waters, would not contradict that which is in the rest of the passage, but build on it? It is 'let us create' not 'let me create.' The Spirit is there.
If we are the image of God then we can take the Holy Spirit's power, given to us by the one we worship as the perfect example of humanity, and say, 'Be at work in me and through me.'
You can only get to this point by trusting in the work of academics like Crispin, always making sure that they are not out on a limb but are respected by their academic community (he is, he's a theological college principal at Westminster Theological Centre).
But having got to that point the simple truth we can keep is this. We can, and should indeed expect, to do God stuff. Our church should be a place where more God stuff is going on. There is a disappointing amount of God stuff happening at the moment. Maybe it comes in cycles.
Next week, teaching about healings and uncleanness. Then we will look at what the Bible says about ministry. Then, after a harvest service, we will go back to the beginning and look at the whole of Genesis 1-11.
(This text is largely based on the New Wine seminar notes I took. The content and wisdom is Fletcher-Louis' - the local adaptation and possibly therefore errors, are all mine.)
Wednesday, 3 September 2008
The Church of England - What's Going On?
Here's my input to tonight's prayer meeting:
I have tried to keep this factual. If I err, or say things emotively, please put that down to incompetence and inexperience, rather than deliberate fault and pray for me. I will be reading a script, in order to be sure I don't spoil my preparation through ad-libbing.
You would have to have lived under a rock on a lonely faraway planet for the last year not to have noticed from the news that the Church of England in particular, and the Anglican Communion in general, is currently going through a period of difficulty.
What is happening? The Church of England has, perhaps for the last 150 years, been a broad church. A church where Anglo-Catholics who look more to Rome for guidance than Canterbury, co-exist with charismatic evangelicals who look more to the New Wine network for guidance than Canterbury. And all shades in between.
But over the last ten to fifteen years there have been pressures which have threatened to split the Church and communion. What have brought things to a head?
I have tried to keep this factual. If I err, or say things emotively, please put that down to incompetence and inexperience, rather than deliberate fault and pray for me. I will be reading a script, in order to be sure I don't spoil my preparation through ad-libbing.
You would have to have lived under a rock on a lonely faraway planet for the last year not to have noticed from the news that the Church of England in particular, and the Anglican Communion in general, is currently going through a period of difficulty.
What is happening? The Church of England has, perhaps for the last 150 years, been a broad church. A church where Anglo-Catholics who look more to Rome for guidance than Canterbury, co-exist with charismatic evangelicals who look more to the New Wine network for guidance than Canterbury. And all shades in between.
But over the last ten to fifteen years there have been pressures which have threatened to split the Church and communion. What have brought things to a head?
- Women's Leadership, especially now the principle of women bishops has been approved
- Liberal Ethics, especially over same sex relationships
- Lambeth
1. Women's leadership. Provision was made, on the passing of legislation allowing for women to be priests back in the early 1990s, for individuals and parishes to opt out. So called 'Flying Bishops' were appointed, there are now three, who offer pastoral care to those churches which do not feel able to accept the pastoral ministry of their own diocesan bishop if he supports the ordination of women. These churches usually ally themselves with the organisation Forward in Faith. The recent commitment of General Synod to women being able to become bishops eventually has, for some, been the last straw. Talk about leaving the Church of England is becoming more serious.
2. Liberal ethics. In some national Churches, committed same sex relationships are condoned. Bishop Gene Robinson of the Episcopal church of the United States of America, has a civil partnership with another man. Our own Archbishop is in some difficulty putting distance between his published views and the current position in the Church of England.
3. Lambeth. The Archbishop of Canterbury convenes a meeting every ten years of bishops from the Anglican Communion around the world for worship, study and conversation. Whilst it would be nonsense to pretend they have always agreed about everything, in 2008 the previous two issues came to the fore. Many bishops boycotted the conference.
Bishop Gene was not invited to Lambeth but many bishops boycotted Lambeth because other members of his Church were. GAFCON (Global Anglican Future conference) was a meeting of many of those bishops who felt they could not, in all conscience, attend Lambeth.
Where does this leave us? Largely unchanged I guess. At ground level inter-church co-operation continues and we get on with our work of the gospel. But it is possible that in the next few years many will leave, new denominations and groupings may be formed, whole congregations may opt to leave the Church of England and there will be wrangles about whether they can take their buildings with them, as it were. There are increasing pleas for the Church to be stripped of its special nature, to be disestablished, to have its bishops removed from the house of Lords or, at minimum representatives of other faith communities having equal opportunities here. You may feel this would be a good thing. Can one church be all things to all people holding together liberal and conservative? We'll see. We need to pray.
I'll post these thoughts on Trendleblog tomorrow. Handout has definitions and prayer pointers.
Handout
The Church of England - some definitions and explanations
Church Structure
Parish
A sub-division of a county having its own church and clergy. Not all civil and parish boundaries are the same. We are the Parish of Holy Trinity, Nailsea increasingly becoming known as the parish of Holy Trinity and Trendlewood, Nailsea.
Local Ministry Group (unique to Bath and Wells)
A number of parishes, informally grouped together for support and co-operation. We are in the Nailsea LMG which includes Christ Church, Nailsea, Tickenham and Wraxall with Failand.
Deanery
A number of adjoining parishes in an area under the leadership of the Rural Dean. We are in the Deanery of Portishead and Ian Hubbard is our Dean.
Archdeaconry
A group of adjoining deaneries in an area under the leadership of the Archdeacon. We are in the Archdeaconry of Bath and Andy Piggott is our Archdeacon.
Diocese
One of 43 units into which the Church of England is divided under the leadership of the Diocesan Bishop. We are in the Diocese of Bath and Wells and Peter Price is our Diocesan Bishop.
Province
A grouping of a number of dioceses under the leadership of an Archbishop. There are two provinces in the Church of England - York and Canterbury. We are in the Province of Canterbury, therefore Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, is our Archbishop.
A Church
A Church (with a capital C) is a number of provinces taken together, usually corresponding to national borders. So the 43 dioceses of the Provinces of Canterbury and York make up the Church of England.
A Communion
A number of self-governing Churches united in fellowship. The Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion which also includes other Anglican Churches in the British Isles, and Anglican Churches abroad which owe their origins to the missionary work of the Church of England. The Churches of the Anglican Communion recognise the leadership of Canterbury.
Established Church
An established church is a church officially sanctioned and supported by the government of a country. The Church of England is the established Church in England, with bishops having seats in the House of Lords and the Prime Minister being involved in their appointment.
General Synod
The legislative body of the Church of England. There are also Deanery and Diocesan Synods.
Read Steve's introduction to this at http://trendleblog.blogspot.com from tomorrow.
Organisations
Reform
http://www.reform.org.uk
Reform is a network of churches and individuals within the Church of England, committed to the reform of ourselves, our congregations and our world by the gospel.
GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference)
http://www.gafcon.org
This conference in June 2008, of church leaders from around the world, asserted, in its 'Jerusalem Declaration,' an end to what it called 'Colonial Anglicanism' and looked to a new structure of mutual support which did not look to Canterbury for leadership. Many bishops from around the world who felt, in conscience that they couldn't attend the Lambeth Conference, attended this.
Forward in Faith
http://www.forwardinfaith.com
An organisation founded in 1992, on the passing of measures allowing for the ordination of women to the priesthood, for the support of those who, in all conscience, could not accept this.
Lambeth Conference
http://www.lambethconference.org
A meeting, every ten years, at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury, of bishops from the Anglican communion to meet for worship, study and conversation. Read Bishop Peter Price's reflections on the most recent conference at http://www.bathandwells.org.uk/news_and_events/item.php?306
Prayer pointers
- For Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury in the increasingly demanding job of holding things together.
- For leaders of the other organisations mentioned here; for wisdom and a spirit of co-operation.
- For those who, in all conscience, cannot stay within a church which enthusiastically welcomes the headship of women.
- For those who struggle with the church's teaching on same-sex relationships.
- For the future of the Church of England as the established church in this land.
I acknowledge Tony Meakin's A Basic Church Dictionary (Canterbury Press 1990, reissued 2001) as a source.
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Central Prayers
I should have mentioned in the notices on Sunday that it is the central prayer meeting on Wednesday evening. Come along to hear news of the vacancy and our pursuit of a new Rector, news of the future of the Rectory and an idiot's guide to praying for the anglican communion. 7.45 at Holy Trinity. See you there?
St
St
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Post New Wine thoughts
Although a little wet for the campers the church party to New Wine was again useful and it will be good to incorporate testimony into our morning worship over the next few weeks. Tell me if you would like to share. It will save me nagging. For my part I remain committed to trying to balance word and spirit - the Lord's word and the Lord's work, as it were.
To this end I am convinced that we need someone to say, 'I will take charge of Trendlewood church's prayer life.' That person would need to be our chief encourager to pray, perhaps organising occasional extra prayer times, having input into Sundays with prompts to pray and supervising our team doing ministry. Sound like you? Talk to me about it.
We will also need a new youth and children co-ordinator as Esther is stepping down from this role in September. That person would need to keep in touch with all our youth and children's leaders and feed back to the office, the staff and the PCC. They would not necessarily have to be someone currently doing youth or children's work.
Could you consider if either of these are your calling and let me know.
St
To this end I am convinced that we need someone to say, 'I will take charge of Trendlewood church's prayer life.' That person would need to be our chief encourager to pray, perhaps organising occasional extra prayer times, having input into Sundays with prompts to pray and supervising our team doing ministry. Sound like you? Talk to me about it.
We will also need a new youth and children co-ordinator as Esther is stepping down from this role in September. That person would need to keep in touch with all our youth and children's leaders and feed back to the office, the staff and the PCC. They would not necessarily have to be someone currently doing youth or children's work.
Could you consider if either of these are your calling and let me know.
St
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Sunday
Listening to the rain hammer down on my conservatory roof reminds me that on Sunday morning coming (August 3rd) we plan to have our morning service outdoors. We have one large classroom as a back-up in case of bad weather but the hall floor is being treated and we are advised we will not wish to inhale the chemicals.
Bring something to sit on if you want.
Part two of our summer series 'Places Jesus went.' This time - to the lake.
St
Bring something to sit on if you want.
Part two of our summer series 'Places Jesus went.' This time - to the lake.
St
Falcon Camps
Falcon Camps are Christian holidays for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. Click here for details. I have received this message from a colleague I used to work with at the organisation's Head Office:
We have 2 youngs boys from the Bristol area, coming to Oswestry Falcon Camp on Sunday the 10th of August but at present no means of getting them there. Do you know of anyone in the area who would be able to transport them up to us please?
Let me know if you can help and I'll put you in touch.
St
We have 2 youngs boys from the Bristol area, coming to Oswestry Falcon Camp on Sunday the 10th of August but at present no means of getting them there. Do you know of anyone in the area who would be able to transport them up to us please?
Let me know if you can help and I'll put you in touch.
St
Friday, 18 July 2008
Marriage in Church
There is going to be a change in the rules about who can marry in a local parish church on October 1st. There is no change to the fact that anyone resident in the parish, or on the electoral role, and not barred for any other reason, may marry in the church. Our parish also has some pastoral criteria to be satisfied if person or persons previously married wish to use the church. But from October onwards, if a couple can show a simple connection to a church (family link, former worshippers, built it etc) then the answer will no longer be a straight 'No.'
This is a blog entry so don't expect precision. Read the full rules on the Diocesan web-site.
This is a blog entry so don't expect precision. Read the full rules on the Diocesan web-site.
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