lurchersontheedge

Sabbaticals are a courageous act of generosity on the part of the giver, in my case the Diocese of Birmingham, and my bishop.

Sabbaticals for the recipient are therefore gracious space to meet with God, others, and to be rediscover oneself.

I have discovered (rediscovered) that being listened to is sacred space. Listening makes the hearer and the person being listened to more fully embrace their humanity.

Perhaps that was why God became human (at least partially) to give us the keys of becoming human again.

I made it one of my goals during my sabbatical to spend some time looking at how the Bible is (or could be) used in our urban communities: sites.google.com/site/stmichaelbartleygreen/calendar/what-s-on/revddrkevinellissabbatical

I thought it might be good to reflect on what I have learnt so far. First, I have met some fantastic people from directors of ministry, bishops, academics and ordinary clergy who are in reality quite brilliant.

In the course of the sabbatical, I want to float some of what I find. The first area revolves around the fact that we live in a time when the Bible is accessible and unread. It is accessible. There are a wide-variety of translations (both print and media). For those who do not read, there are audio-tapes available from a number of sources, including the Bible Society’s You’ve Got The Time, which deserves a hat-tip for helping to re-introduce the Bible to those who might be expected to use it: www.biblesociety.org.uk/about-bible-society/our-work/youve-got-the-time/.

The Bible is also unread. We know from national surveys that Christians in general do not read the bible habitually as a matter of routine. We also know that Christians find the Bible difficult and hard to relate to everyday life. This would seem to suggest that licensed preachers struggle to connect the Bible with 21st Century living. There are initiatives that seek to address this in urban contexts. Groups like Unlock (formerly the Evangelical Urban Training Project www.unlock-urban.org.uk) and the Urban Theology Unit (www.utusheffield.org.uk) have been pivotal in trying to relate text to context; each organisation in different ways building on contextual or liberation theology. I will in a later blog suggest that such approaches struggle today because people no longer know the stories of the bible which are the basic ingrediants of the liberational task. I am aware of other groups like Urban Expression and Eden also engaging with the scriptures.

I wonder though whether a more pertinant reason for lack of engagement with the scriptures is not a paucity of time or a fear of irrelevance, but that the such wrestling presupposes discipleship; and in general terms, discipleship is not a fashionable word. One of the major works on practical theology of late contained the following remark, which I paraphrase. We used to talk about sitting under the authority of scripture, but such thoughts often led to abuse because of particular interpretations of the text. This is of course a statement that carries truth. It is also true, I think, that sitting under the scriptures leaves us open to be challenged about how we live, and as a society, and church, we have grown accustomed to having our own way.

I returned yesterday from New Wine – North and East, where I had a fantastic week with my son. Why was it fantastic? Son had a wonderful time in Boulder Gang, the children’s stream he is in, and the leaders at New Wine allow him to articulate his faith in a way that the local church that I lead sometimes has failed to do.

It was brilliant to spend time with him. It was also wonderful because I am not back and immediately immersed into Parish life. The sabbatical story continues.

New Wine is a movement largely within the Church of England that allows a place for charismatic evangelicals to be nurtured. When I put it like that, I have made New Wine too small. I would not all the time want to be defined by that label.

Why was it important to me?

1. The place of worship: there was lots of singing to music with a soft rock beat. I was actually in the art place most of the week so missed much of it; however the exuberance of worship was tangible. With 7000, worship becomes an easy experience in that you can sing your socks off without interacting with the person sitting next to you. Nevertheless, the worship of Jesus as the key activity of the church was reinforced. It is, as I discovered a long time ago, what makes Christians distinctive.

2. The commitment to evangelism: I am an evangelist. The fact that the movement cherishes this gift affirms me amd gives me confidence that it is not arrogant to ask someone to follow Jesus.

3. The place of the Holy Spirit: people were healed before my eyes. I will be reflecting long and hard on this, but it seems to me that a key for Christians to move on their faith is to experience the Spirit, in whatever form that might be. For some it will be receiving the sacraments, for others sitting at the feet of a biblical teacher, and for many being prayed for.

On my sabbatical, I am learning that being prayed for is an act of divine generosity, and something that needs to be embraced and joined in with.

Here’s to New Wine 2014. Hope you will be there too?

When I was in the Scouts, I played the drums in the band. I was good enough to play on the annual whitwalk and for the district St George’s Parade. Good enough, but not brilliant. What myself and another scout did was to at times play just half a beat slower a minute than we should have done. It slowed things down. Thus far on my sabbatical, I have made space to walk half a pace slower.

Walking that bit slower enables you to see more.

Working the ground at the allotment a bit slower gives opportunity to do till a piece of land more effectively.

Reading a little slower enables you to grasp an argument more easily and give time to wander down avenues that footnotes were designed to create

Breathing a little slower makes you delight in the preciousness and precariousness of life.

Listening a little slower creates more space for another to be hallowed.

At least this is something I am learning slowly, deliberately and with the hope that such gifts will not end towards the end of October.

I spent last week in silence. Silence is uncomfortable, challenging and beautiful.

I was at Lee Abbey in Devon. If you do not know it, it is a thin place. It is a place of extraordinary natural beauty.

Whilst there I was reminded afresh of the depth of God’s love for each one of us and me; and of the divine commitment to mission.

I was helped to detox from the need to be a vicar – sounds strange, but I think those who are in ministry will understand.

I also took time to look.

and I wondered why we have the temerity to categorise such beauty as a “weed” and pull it up from our gardens and allotments.

I also looked at things differently and discovered they were amazing.

It is of pebbles taken as the waves gently caress them.

I hope to meet lots of interesting people, visit brilliant places, and read fascinating books on sabbatical.

My goal now is to learn to be still, watch and listen.

Enjoy

I posted the first offering of our recent Lent course (co-designed with the Revd Lis Sparrow) a few weeks ago.

Some have been kind enough to ask for other power points. They are here.

God chooses Israel Jesus Mission and Return

I am afraid I do not speak from notes. I suppose I ought to. I may blog the contents should there be interest.

It is, as I have said before, not my schema; but Tom Wright’s.

I have a sabbatical soon.

I want to explore how we use the Bible in urban areas, and as importantly how we teach our story to those who are biblically almost illiterate.

I made a start in Lent.

I am posting the first power point.

Introducing the Bible

I really think there is some mileage in using Tom Wright’s work on the drama of the biblical narrative to promote biblical literacy.

Without such literacy, disciples cannot be formed.

She will always be for me ‘that woman’. That is what my dad always called her.

She was, I believe, a devout Christian. Many will recall Margaret Thatcher quoting the Prayer of St Francis, as Margaret Thatcher  came into office before she went into No 10 for the first time as PM.

The archbishop of Canterbury  has released the following as part of Lambeth Palace’s official statement: “It is right that today we give thanks for a life devoted to public service, acknowledging also the faith that inspired and sustained her.”

I am afraid I am finding it difficult to give thanks, although I am doing my very best to imagine the pain of her children and grandchildren, as well as the many who will have been among her personal friends. Death is always jarring and never ever nothing at all

It is because my understanding and hers of the Christian faith are fundamentally different that I am struggling. It is not that I cannot respect her for the battles she would have fought to be selected as a candidate for the Tory Party. It would have been for any woman, and for any woman sadly in any party. Rather, I find the words used to describe her leadership sit, for me, uncomfortability with the Christian faith. ‘Iron Lady’, ‘unbending’, uncompromising’ and ‘always right’ are words that have slipped out from those who knew her best. There is a fundamental absence of vulnerability upon which Christ-like leadership is fashioned. The first woman PM had the opportunity to tear up the rule book as to what political leadership could be like, and the chance was not taken.  I have to say that her male successors have all kept to the rulebook, sadly.

On the other hand, she was a visionary; but what was that vision? All parts of the hagiography have made much of the opportunity to buy your own home. I lived on a street in sunny Sheffield, where that opportunity was taken. People did buy their homes. However, it made them different to those of who did not, or so it seemed to my child-like eyes. It was not the purchase per se, but the investment afterwards. The appearance of the home changed – there is nothing wrong with that. I understand as a homeowner the need to repair, replace and renew. What happened gradually was that the more people spent on their homes, the less inclined they were to give to the continued creation of community. I know this is a simplistic analysis, and take me to task for it; however I do recall what I saw.

This was not Mrs Thatcher’s fault. Each person is responsible for what they do. It would be as foolish for me to blame our former leader for the breakdown in community that has ensued over the last three decades as it would for me to blame welfare for the murder of children in a fire in Derby. However, together we did allow a situation to come into play where to be someone you had to own, you had to spend beyond your means to do it, where you were defined by your monetary value; rather than who you are. I am not sure that was the kind of leadership the country needed. Mrs Thatcher did not do this by herself, we allowed ourselves to be led in such a way.

Therefore, while I very much pray she rests in peace; I trust we will seize the moment to look at where we have come from and we were are, and together perhaps seize the opportunity to plan the future differently.