A few years ago (and before I started this blog) I remember majoring on how the most precious gift we receive at Christmas is Jesus himself, and how we need to enjoy "unwrapping" that gift.
This year I find myself reflecting similarly that it is awesome that God's response to a fallen world riven with rejection, misunderstanding, and alienation, is to give himself - through his son Jesus. He gives himself unconditionally, not requiring a partiuclar response but giving us a choice. Will we receive this gift? Will we accept him?
So in a world where people want to be known, loved and accepted, God does not encourage us to seek acceptance, but to be one who accepts.
From time to time I receive newsletters from Revd Dr Clifford Hill, of C&M Ministries Trust, Moggerhanger Park, Bedfordshire. Formerly he was a pastor in East London, and has a challenging prophetic ministry drawing on his learning as a sociologist (it is in sociology that he has a PhD). He's written some interesting books, and he sees that much of what he foresaw is now coming to pass.
His latest newsletter draws attention to the way sociologists recognise five major social institutions, and that there is an invariable rule that when significant change takes place in any one of the five, all others are affected. They are:
The Economy
The Family
Education
Law and government
Religion
He speaks of how all these except the economy have undergone major change since the 1960's so today's financial problems were predictable. Since this is the result of a domino-effect to do with changing values, a solution based on just addressing financial issues will not be suffiicient. The full article is worth reading here. His home page here.
I had a great meeting a week ago with some friends from the Wiltshire Christian Spiritual Direction Course. One was Janet Robbins, who some while ago had won a session with a Horse Whisperer. His hot tip to her was: Watch. Let go. Just be. This is an awesome recipe for life for anyone who generally wants to be in control, which of course is not the way to succeed as a horse whisperer. I am valuing the advice already.
I came across another good motto from a friend from Accts I met recently (Cal Dunlap) at an Accts MMI trustees meeting (I am a trustee). This was advice on the right attitude to visit other organisations sensitvely. To listen. To learn. To love. I like that too.
It's good that people continue to wonder about God, although what he thinks about us may be more important than what we think about him.
The British Humanist Association are the latest in the line-up to give God some publicity, according to a BBC News report. Aided by Prof Richard Dawkins they plan to run a poster campaign on London buses in January with the slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
This is described as the Atheist Bus Campaign, and atheists don't believe in God - right? Yet unable to say, "God does not exist," they usethe motto above. I can only conclude that they're concerned that God may exist, and fearful of how he may react if they say he doesn't. This is despite the BHA's headline on its web site that "the humanist view of life is progressive and optimistic, in awe of human potential, living without fear of judgement and death." I'm not sure they've arrived yet, and I also find myself wondering whether God has an even bigger view of human potential than we humans ourselves do.
I am happy to announce that I do enjoy life, in the knowledge that God is very much alive!
I enjoy looking at the BBC news website. There seems to be a curious mixture of the news everyone is talking about and random information. The latest piece of random information is the exciting news that if you are middle aged (or older) blogging is good for you, maybe even better than doing the Times Crossword. Take a look.
On the more general subject of intelligence, I've been reminded that it's not that simple - with IQ, EQ, and SQ. Different people have different perspectives, and it seems to me that much of what we call education encourages people to be numerate, literate etc. (all of which are important); these people see themselves as intelligent (which is true); and are often looked to in times of crisis ahead of those with other kinds of intelligence.
However, to give an example of the current "Credit Crunch" the intelligensia are number crunching to solve the economic problem (IQ), and it is important, but are they in touch with how the population are feeling (EQ) and their perspectives (EQ and IQ) to be able to communicate and motivate effectively? Are they, and all of us, in touch with what is most important (this is about values too) and have the strength of character to win out (largely all about SQ)?
My latest upset is Barclays Bank. Some years ago they closed down lots of branches in "small towns" including the one I live in. (Other banks did the same.) The main irritation of this to many people is the difficulty of paying in cheques. Once upon a time, when we lived a long way from a bank, Barclays gave us prepaid envelopes to do this. After a while they refused to do that anymore. Anyway, to lessen the blow to rural communities, they agreed to allow cheques to be paid in at Post Offices. This is useful, supports local Post Offices too (that's nice, because I'm not sure that the government want to support this useful social service) and - unsurprisingly - you have to obtain special envelopes to do this.
What happens if you keep ordering them and they do not arrive? Then you can't use the service anymore.
The system is that you phone a free number and get put through to a helpful person in Mumbai (I have nothing against that in principle.) He asks you for your address which he writes down and then faxes to an office in Britain. The office in Britain then posts the envelopes to my home. This seems a complicated system. Why not just use an online portal that automatically prints out the shipping documents? Why not use e-mail rather than fax?
When I phoned the same number and asked what the procedure was if the system worked, the reply was, "I can only send a fax." So he sent another fax, and the envelopes did not arrive again. Why should they? (Einstein quote!).
When I spoke to UK customer services on the phone, they said they could not help me as they had no "procedure" to do so. Helpfully the lady took ownership of the problem and phoned the same number to ask for some envelopes for me. She had to wait about quarter of an hour in the queuing system.
I'm sure you will await the next instalment with excitement!
I still have not heard from Monarch Airlines, after I wrote to them.
On a brighter note, when I made the effort to chat to my local councillors about some things that were winding me up, I started to understand their problems more, and feel that they are now more in touch with the needs of those they seek to serve. I am impressed by the dedication of people who serve as local councillors, often doing it pretty much full time without a salary.
This was the subtitle of a day by Revd Steve Chalke MBE entitled "Intimacy and Involvement" at Gloucester Cathedral yesterday. It was organised by the Spirituality Network for Gloucestershire. I was attracted to attend the day because of the reference in his title to Jesus' summary of the (Jewish) law - love God and love your neighbour as yourself - which seems to me to be about as good as it gets in any summary of how to live your life intelligently.
I'm not quite sure what I expected from the day, but usually days organised by Spirituality networks are "Quiet Days" and have a few short talks with lots of space for reflection. However this day involved a lot of listening to Steve (and he is an entertaining speaker) with a bit of group work so we could think about what we might do differently in Gloucester. (Someone pointed out that they were not from Gloucester but Gloucestershire, and I am from neither!) Steve's main point was that during the 20th century, partly because of the state takeover of social security and health care, the church became kind of ghetto of piety instead of being actively engaged in society. So maybe it was appropriate for him to attempt a more action-oriented day. Steve's own response to his own beliefs has been to set up various charities to help build community through schools, hostels, and medical care (Oasis Trust), encourage social action among churches (Faithworks) and now to fight against people trafficking (Stop the traffik).
He made many references to the Torah to make the point that the whole of life should be worship and the family at the centre of it, and not just some time in a church building on a Sunday. He movingly recounted how a Jewish friend, when asked where the worship happened in the sabbath meal, talked of how everything was worship from the hugs to the eating to the conversation. Yes, life should be worship, and there's not much to a religious faith that does not issue in action. However I felt that although his comments were informative and persuasive, his failiure to value the pietistic side of church life gave his comments a lack of balance. Maybe that was the stance he needed to take to encourage us to become more active!
I continue to be attracted by the balanced way in which the Cursillo movement encourages Christians to view their life by looking at piety, study, and action.
I learned some interesting things to do with Jesus' summary of the law, which gives new significanct to Jesus' comments about his yoke being light (Matthew 11:29), the way he invited disciples by saying "follow me" (Matthew 4:19 et al), and references to his authority (Matthew 7:29 et al).
According to Steve, Jewish rabbis (teachers) would be approached by men who wanted to be disciples. If they showed that they knew the scriptures, then they would be accepted by the rabbi with the words "follow me." The disciple knew the scriptures, so what he was to learn was the rabbi's particular interpretation. This was called their yoke. The way in which the teaching of the rabbi was passed on through the generations was through his disciples who were trained for three years and then became rabbis themselves. Some rabbi's passed on the yoke that they had received. Others developed their own interpretation and were said to speak with authority - so this phrase in the Bible is a technical term. When Jesus summarised the law he said (Matthew 22:37-40)
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments
The two parts of this were well known quotes from the scriptures, he says, however it was a new innovation by Jesus to pair them in this way.
Today I found myself wondering why I don't talk to my local councillor or MP about the things that I do not feel are right in our local area. Reflecting on this, I decided that it is because something in me does not believe that they can make a difference. So feeling that they are powerless, I allow myself to feel powerless too. Our local MP is a Conservative; we have a Labour Government. In these days when democracy in England seems to be about the Prime Minister telling MP's in his party how to vote, rather than ordinary MP's exercising collective influence, I am right to wonder how much influence an MP has - particularly one who is not in the ruling party. Reflecting further, it seems to me that my belief about powerlessness may be wrong, but that even if the belief is correct it is not helpful to accept it!
As I talk to people, it seems that many share a view that they can have little influence on the society that they live in. For example some think that the only influence they have on the world of politics is through voting in a General Election every five years or so. So we seem to have a culture of powerlessness.
If people feel powerless, who do they think calls the shots? As Margaret Mead, anthropologist, wrote: "Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." Is she right?
The Bible develops a similar theme: "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self control." (2 Timothy 1:7)
I find Stephen Covey helpful on this to, as he writes in his book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People about how we are concerned about many things, but need to focus on those which we can influence. He says this will not only result in us having influence in those areas, but discovering that the number of areas in which we have influence will grow. This contrasts with the common habit of moaning about things which we don't think we can do anything about!
One of the strengths of coaching, which I do, is that it leads people to discover the action that they can take to bring about the changes that they want.
So, I've decided not to collude with a culture of powerlessness.
When I was praying the other day about the challenges of Climate Change, I was reminded of Jesus' "Summary of the (Jewish) Law." He said love God with your whole self; love your neighbour as yourself; and then he explained that the whole law depends on (flows from, is subservient to) these two. (Matthew 22:40.) So life needs to be seen in the context of our relationship with Creator God and with other people.
If this was (is) Jesus' perspective on life; then it needs to be ours also.
Having been thinking along these lines, I found it interesting today to be given publicity for a day event at Gloucester Cathedral by Revd Steve Chalke MBE organised by the Spirituality Network for Gloucestershire. (4th October; 10.00-3:00.) The title is "Intimacy and Involvement" and the sub-title "Love God - Love others - nothing else matters."
SQ Spiritual Intelligence the Ultimate Intelligence - I'm starting to read the book of this title, by Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, published in 2000. Moving on from IQ and Emotional Intelligence, businesses - and those who coach in business - have been becoming more interested in SQ over the last few years.
Today is the 22nd Anniversary of my adult conversion to Christianity at Mission Newbury - 25th May 1986, and it was a Sunday then too.
Somehow I was attracted to an advert for this event on Newbury Racecourse on that Sunday evening - even though I had no idea what a "Mission Newbury" was, and was not consciously aware that I wanted to do something about my dormant Christian faith.
On arrival I remember the parking attendants telling me that I was going to have a great evening (in my experience they don't usually behave like that, but are more likely to growl or order you around!) and walking into the vast marqee and being caught up by the enthusiastic singing of modern Christian songs such as I had not heard before.
Somewhere in the middle of the talk by Revd. Colin Urquhart I felt as if I had been "hit between the eyes" by God with the thought that God accepted me, but I was not good at accepting other people.
Leaving that meeting, after talking to people who wanted to pray with me, I felt a new energy and enthusiasm which I can only describe as being like a spring lamb.
With hindsight this event changed my life, and has been the start of a whole series of new adventures, supported by a loving God.
A BBC report gives details of a revision of the Hadith under way in Turkey.
Pehaps this paragraph summarises the significance.
According to Fadi Hakura, an expert on Turkey from Chatham House in London, Turkey is doing nothing less than recreating Islam - changing it from a religion whose rules must be obeyed, to one designed to serve the needs of people in a modern secular democracy. He says that to achieve it, the state is fashioning a new Islam. "This is kind of akin to the Christian Reformation," he says.
I would love to live Like a river flows Carried by the surprise Of its own unfolding
I find this poem, called Fluent, really moving. It entices me to live in an unknowing of what will happen.
It finishes off a kind of obituary to him in the March issue of Third Way magazine, as they quote an extract from a talk that he gave at Greenbelt, from whose web site you can probably download his talk.
Described as an Irish writer and mystic, he talks of how the root of all our fears is death, and the antidote is love.
Two other quotes touched me. In the first he talks of the importance of remaining best friends with ourselves. The second is this:
Meister Eckhard [a medieval German mystic] said: 'There is a place in the soul that neither time nor flesh nor any created thing can touch'. A place inside you that no one has never got to, or hurt or damaged - a place where there is peace, serenity, courage and healing. At your deepest core you don't actually belong to yourself. But you belong to a beauty, an intimacy and a shelter that offers you every freedom that you could ever imagine.
After pancakes enjoyed last night (with Grand Marnier and ice cream), today Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. It is a particularly poignant anniversary for our family.
Many people think that Lent is a time for giving up things, and traditionally it is a time of fasting as a way to draw closer to God. In society at large it seems to me that if people think about wrong-doing they usually think of things that they should stop doing. So it makes sense in Lent to give up the things we think are wrong!
On the other hand, wrong-doing is just as much about things that we have failed to do. To quote an inscription at the Holocaust Museum in Israel: For evil to triumph all that is needed is for good men to do nothing. So how about doing something for Lent as well as giving something up?
My extra bit of doing has come about almost accidentally as I ordered a copy of a book about the Prayer of Jabez, with Bible Study, by Bruce Wilkinson and David Kopp (ISBN 1-57673-979-1), to avoid paying for postage on an Amazon order. I shall read it over the next few weeks. It's all about God's blessing based on a little known man called Jabez who crops up just once in the Bible in 1 Chronicles chapter 4 verses 9 to 10.
Christian encounters Christianity - in one of its most ancient forms amongst the Copts of Egypt. In this third episode (televised yesterday) Peter spends three weeks in a cave in the desert, following the example of the Desert Fathers. They were the first ever monks: living in isolated communities they gained a reputation of closeness to God and great practical wisdom.
Whereas his guides in the previous two episodes had seemed to be encouraging him towards (personal) enlightenment, I felt that here he was introduced to a greater cosmic purpose: that his solitude and prayer might not only affect him but the wider world. Effectiveness in prayer in this sense is about persevering by fighting the demons that become apparent (at the least in the mind).
Having struggled with the silence and solitude, by the middle of his third week he was starting to enjoy it, and - with a face that had started to show joy - he looked forward to "another beautiful day; another difficult day." Life is difficult, if we engage with it.
At the end of his stay he reflected that the battle is about making good choices. (In my mind this connects with the importance of Discernment.) He said that not to join this battle (of concern about truth and what is right) is to be numb. He admitted that when he arrived he had been numb, but that he was now waking up. This felt painful, he said, like being born.
This is a challenge to us all to develop our "inner life," and to seek appropriate help to do so, and to deal with what we find there.
Before he went up the mountain he spent time in the monastery, commenting that the Orthodox form of worship had many differences as well as similarities to that which he was familiar with. In an aside he noted that the practice of prostration when praying was an ancient Christian practice before the Muslims took it on.
On Friday Peter Owen-Jones' fascinating adventures on television continued as he attended the only-every-six-years Hindu Mela (gathering) on the banks of the River Ganges in India, met a guru, and experienced the initiation of lots of Saddhu (holy men).
His last Kung Fu exploit looked pretty hard work, but in this he seemed to look bewildered and out of his depth most of the time. This may have been helped by the hash smoking which seemed to be a necessary part of being a Saddhu, or the very in-your-face experience of lots of naked men covered in ash excitedly converging on the river at dawn to immerse themselves as an initiation. Peter opted out of this part "so as not to offend." On a brighter note, he may not have needed the initiation because as a Church of England Priest the Guru and his followers seemed keen to accept him as a Saddhu.
More insightful was his trip into the Himalayas, dressed in the saffron robes of a Saddhu, to experience solitude in a particular small cave (regularly used for the purpose) in a remote village. He enjoyed the companionship on the way. Unfortunately, after being accepted and fed by the villagers for some weeks, he had to abandon his trek further into the Himalayas because of dysentery.
I found it fascinating that although he didn't really know what being a Saddhu was all about, the villagers accepted him in the role. This may have been helped by some long-awaited rain that fell as he arrived. His cave was empty when he arrived, but gradually the villagers brought him everything he needed from cow dung to bedding to food and water: humbling hospitality.
In reflecting on his own religion, and life as a parish priest in England, he felt that the life of the guru, with casual visits by many people, was perhaps more like the life of Jesus than he had experienced, and how the pattern of being a holy man is perhaps how his predecessors would have experienced their own ministry a few years ago. (This is in contrast to the more managerial way in which many church leaders feel it is right to focus their energies.)
He noted the way in which the Saddhu is "sustained by the faith of the community." In the U.K I note that the church authorities sometimes wonder about how to make the church more relevant, or can blame themselves for lack of impact. This reciprocity in the life of a Saddhu means that one also has to ask whether British society collectively wants holy men (or women) or a church.
I can't wait for the final episode next Friday. Here's the link to the BBC site, you can watch the ones you missed!
Does God appear when you want Him to or, to put it another way, how do you authentically celebrate the Epiphany?
In our local churches we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany today (6th January). This festival celebrates the appearance of God, or his "shining forth," or his glory. In the western church the event usually associated is the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus bringing gifts.
On this Sunday so soon after Christmas it often seems to be a challenge for those constructing worship and choosing hymns to know whether to retain the feel of Christmas or to try to do something different. Most of the hymns seemed to conjure up an image of trudging slowly through snow, and the sermon sought to encourage us to set New Year's Resolutions to do with being more environmentally responsible (too late, I'd done mine, but I do hope that they are responsible). So the set of compromises used this time round didn't seem to lift me to a sense of the presence of God's glory... until we got to the middle of the service.
At the customary handshake called "The Peace" everybody seemed to come alive and it struck me that (as well as everything else it means) the image of the baby Jesus speaks of the presence of the glory of God in each one of us - people - how special we are!
Sometimes I think I know too much about life as a vicar in the Church of England, so I was suprised to find myself watching a short documentarty about one on television last night.
Peter Owen Jones used to be in advertising, so I think he enjoys being in front of a camera. He says we've lost the plot about "spiritual enlightenment" in Britain, and that the church is too intellectual. So the one hour programmes follow him as he chooses three wildly different religious experiences. Last night was a Buddhist mountain monastery in China, from which Zen Buddhism later developed, and where the religious way - meditation - is a very physical martial art like Kung Fu. Apart from scenes of this guy of about my own age nearly killing himself by learning Kung Fu alongside seventeen year old youths, I liked the footage of him with other monks sweeping a terrace in a way that was really a dance.
I can feel that British Christians who want a more contemplative or less intellectual way of faith should first explore the rich depths of our local Christian heritage. I'm thinking for example of Celtic traditions, Lectio Divina, and the ways of St Ignatius (all of which crop up in the Spiritual Direction course that I am doing).
However I found this programme enriching. I liked the reminder that all life, including physical activity, should be worshipful. I liked the enlightenment that he seemed to discover as he found a sense of belonging with the monks, recognised that his worries were inside himself, and discovered that he was able to be more in tune with creation around him.
Anthony de Mello (yes I know I'm a fan of his) seems to have a similar perspective when he writes that happiness is something you have to discover inside yourself, rather than expect to come from external circumstances.
To continue this journey, watch the remaining two parts on BBC2 tv on Fridays at 9:00 p.m.
Lovely imagery in the daily readings I sometimes use, for December 9.
The author, drawing on Amy Carmichael, talks of our hopes for the future as pictures we paint. Some fade, and as they do so they sap our energy. We need to leave behind our old hopes/pictures/images and notice the new ones that God is giving us.
He moves on to the idea that our whole lives are like a picture that God is painting.
A verbatim quote would be even better, but I'm cautious about copyright - so, what can I say? Buy the book! (Much of their material is on-line, but I have not been able to track down the comments on the daily readings, which the above is an example of.)
All this is from Celtic Daily Prayer, published by the Northumbria Community and printed by Harper Collins (in the U.K.) 1994 onwards. My edtiion is ISBN 0 557 02845-9, but later editions also include Night Prayer. The short orders for Morning, Midday, and Evening Prayer are easy to use, and over the twelve or so years that I have been using it I have found the daily readings inspirational.
As I renew my subscription, I realise that it is a year since I started this blog, care of Blogharbor. It's been fun to develop an on-line journal, although I sometimes lose the plot of why I am doing it!
This is probably because I always intended it to be a "whole life" blog, for me to chat about what I'm up to and what is interesting me. I'm not sure what this does for you the reader, as I realise that the kind of things I talk about keep changing!
When I started the weblog I had a quote from Anthony de Mello in mind, from his book The Song of the Bird.
The disciples were full of questions about God.
Said the master, "God is the Unknown and the Unknowable. Every statement about him, every answer to your questions, is a distortion of the truth."
The disciples were bewildered. "Then why do you speak about him at all?"
"Why does the bird sing?" said the master.
There is a postscript to this, which you'll have to buy the book to read!
I enjoyed watching the last episode of the current series of Dr Who on t.v. at the weekend. Mankind, trillions of years hence, finds a disappointing Utopia and then travels back through time to today to kill off its ancestors. (Doesn't that mean that they kill themselves too? That's the paradox.) For them, chasing the dream of Utopia did not work.
So I was surprisingly interested by a radio interview* I found myself listening to yesterday morning. According to philospoher John Gray, the idea of Utopia derives from the Christian Myth that there is a better life hereafter. He sees much death having come from attempts to create Utopia - for example by seeking to enforce a particular democratic vision of Utopia on the people of Iraq. He sees the Enlightenment, a secular movement, dangerously colluding with religion by continuing with the idea of Utopia, which he also sees in Marxism. Instead of Utopia, John advocates his version of Realism: working in the present with the reality that we discover. Fascinating stuff!
In the past there has been debate amongst Christians about whether we should be trying to create Utopia. The usual Christian language is about whether we seek to build God's kingdom now, or whether we don't bother with that because all this will be burned up anyway to be replaced by the "new heaven and new earth." I believe that most Christians see a role in trying to improve the world we live in; but it seems that some are trying too hard by seeking to impose it on others.
All this misses out the perspective of the mystic (Christian and other). That perspective is less concerned with the future, and more concerned with attention to the present, and attention to God. The motto** "All is well" (from Julian of Norwich and others) encourages not the enforced change of others, but a desire to understand others. This sounds like John Gray's Realism to me. Maybe he is a modern mystic.
* BBC Radio 4 Start the Week with Andrew Marr 09:15 - interviewing John Gray with Eric Hobsbawm (historian) and Pat Barker (author). John's new book is Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death or Utopia (published by Allen Lane). For more detail see the review in The Independent. **A quote from Anthony de Mello in his book Awareness.
I found myself remembering today that William Wilberforce committed his life to two objects: "the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners." Manners in his language may translate better as moral values today.
This year we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade (although there is still work to be done). What about the second object?
I feel a call to this. In Britain today people moan about bad behaviour, such as "road rage" and "binge drinking" while at the same time struggling to reinvent values to improve British society. I don't see that we need to reinvent values: the core Christian values, that we once inherited and developed, seem to appeal to all "people of goodwill" regardless of what religion they claim. What is sometimes called the Golden Rule summarises part of this, the way that people should relate to one another: "do to others as you would like them to do to you."
It seems to me that when we note what is good manners, or bad manners, we are well in touch with our own values and the values that our society aspires to. So it would be a good way forward to share Wilberforce's second object as well as his first: the Reformation of Manners.
This is not a crusade to change others: like all good leadership it needs to start with "me" and the example that "I" set. Let's go for it!
Just weighing the "pro's and con's" is not the whole answer! Here's my review of Ignatius' approach from the book "Weeds among the Wheat," read during my Spiritual Direction course. more»
In the church we tend not to ask the question: "Does it work?" Perhaps this is because we imagine that then we should need to have measurable goals: opposed to a preference just to enjoy one another's company, or to do the things that we have always done.
So I was surprised when I read this morning's Bible reading (for the festival of St Mark, from Ephesians ch4 vv7-16 - Revised Standard Version).
The author compares the church to a human body, and writes that "when each part is working properly" the church will build itself up in love. The idea, from earlier in the passage, is that God has placed his gifts, or grace, inside us so that we may do this useful work of building up God's people. So hand in hand Christians need to expect to make a difference, and trust that God has given the ability to do so.
