Journalling.- Death and Resurrection

Having been rather a hectic week I have only posted once. I have tried to take some time out amongst all the chaos to try and return to some journalling. On reading some of what I wrote last year I noticed that some of the themes come up time and time again. The Christian life is I suppose one of moving forwards and backwards. It is hard to measure what one would term as progress in faith and sometimes it can feel not only that we are getting nowhere but that we are falling backwards at a rate of knots. But in the good times I always seem to come to the conclusion that God is faithful to us even when we are not so good back to him. In Lent I am reflecting on this in my thoughts of death and resurrection using Lectio Divino on some of the Passion narratives. Sometimes these give me feelings of hope, sometimes not. Whatever it is challenge to us all to understand that cycle of death and resurrection not least because it shows us the fact that when we are reconcilled to loss and pain in our own lives we can experience growth in healing and wholeness and experience that resurrection life for ourselves.

Mission and Evangelism

In the February edition of New Directions Fr Scott Anderson has an excellent article about congregations and how the balance of the type of people in a congregation determines how far a church will grow if at all! Well worth a read! The link is below

http://trushare.com/0153FEB2008/13congregation_growth_scott_anders.htm

Random shots on a typical Friday!

Yesterday was a day of great variety, an early morning mass, some funeral visits and a hospital visit took various shots throughout the day as a sort of reflection so I just offer them above.

Who is my neighbour?

After coming back from Mass in St Timothy's Ely last evening I settled down for the Dispatches programme My Street, it showed a typical street in London (if there is such a thing!) It charted the joys and many sorrows of those who lived in the street. Having reflected on the reading about Lazarus (Luke 16: 19-31)at Mass and it provided much food for thought about the question who is my neighbour? Living in a city asking that question for many people can be a difficult one. It reminded me of the sadness of some of the funerals that I take where there a very few distantly related family members yet no one from the immeadiate neighbourhood. Of course there can be many reasons for that and we cannot simply dismiss it as mere human selfishness there is also a fair bit of fear of other people involved as well. I suppose it may well have been a measure of fear as well as revulsion and fear of catching disease that kept the Rich Man from extending compassion to Lazarus. Let's hope that is something we can overcome when we ask ourselves the question Who is my neighbour?

The Joy of Reading

When the essential things had been done and several phonecalls made Saturday opened out in front of me like a wide expansive space. Beautiful weather that was too good to waste meant that I decided to escape for a few hours. Luckily the post came early a rare joy in itself. It brought with it the Peter Owen Jones book Small Boat Big Sea - One year's journey as a Parish Priest. I have read most it already because I was unable to put it done. He charts well the joy of being a priest as well as the constant sense of battle that you feel. What Peter Owen Jones is able to do well is to find God in the everyday and to make the point that we need to connect with the world around and join in what God is doing in the world. This book would certainly make me want to read more of his writings. Thank God for priests like him they point out the folly of those who take themselves too seriously or become obsessed with the institutional church.
The weather again today looks very promising so time to do some work on food today rather than in a car. This is of the great luxury of ministering in a densely populated city rather than the country, sometimes I need to remember that more!

Place and Inspiration!

Each Wednesday evening in Lent in addition to the regular Wednesday night Mass there is also a Lenten address. This year it is focused on different parts of the Cathedral and how they inspire prayer and reflection. Last night we began with the Rev Mari Price speaking about the David Chapel and how the architecture and the memorials reminded us of the suffering that takes place in the world and how this reminds us of the suffering of Jesus. For my talk in I am focusing on the Epistein's Majestus the stunning sculpture intended to be a modern rood screen. So at the moment I am seeking inspiration for that, but often find that I write best either in coffee shops or when travelling on the train. I can remember reading extracts about the broadcaster and author Rev Peter Owen Jones who wrote his book Psalm whilst travelling on a train. Thinking about preaching on a certain aspect of the cathedral makes me very tempted to say that I often find God more when out and about rather than just in the confines of particular buildings. There is always the danger that we rest our faith too much in buildings and confuse being impressed with the grandeur and beauty of buildings. Of course that is not to deny their important role in mission and sometimes in inducing awe and wonder but it is important that we acknowledge that the whole of the world is holy and all that particular buildings and objects can do is to point us to the wonder of that.

Suprise in Silence

It was a great suprise last night to be joined by a group of French schoolchildren on a trip at Evening Prayer. Fortunately many of them had such good english they were able to join in and to understand much of the service. I wonder what they made of it as it must seem a little strange to some of them. On enquiring I found that some of them were Roman Catholic (at least nominally) so it provided quite a different experience for them.
The Psalm for the evening was Psalm 139 a beautiful psalm which is one of my favourites (well save the last two verses!) it speaks of the knowledge that God has of us. The Psalmist displays an profound awareness of being surrounded by God and see that God understands their motivation and action. Sometimes in life day to day it is easy to forget that intimate love and knowledge of us that God has. I suppose in many ways it is easy to forget that because life just rolls on and sometimes spiritual awareness just becomes dulled. At the moment I find that I reconnect best with this by very simple silence and opportunity for meditation and reflection. All too often our liturgies seems so crammed with imagery and ideas that there is little pace to pause to stop in worship and just to be. Maybe for those visitors to Evening Prayer last night it marked a time in their day when they had an opportunity to stop and to be suprised. Let's hope so!

Meeting and Priorities

Had a very difficult and frustrating meeting about the Spiritual Direction Network that a number of us were in the process of setting up. We were hoping to do with through the auspices of CYTUN (Churches Together in Wales) but sadly Sion the Assistant Chief Executive is leaving and those staff who are left in CYTUN would rather focus on liason with the Welsh Assembly Government and invest their time and energy there rather than on Spiritual Direction work. This is sad because it was a wonderful opportunity for Spiritual Ecumanism and we had a wide variety of people from across the denominational spectrum involved. Fortunately as a group we have decided to meet again to decide the way forward. Although it is good to carry on as an independent venture this will make the administration and other elements more difficult. It makes me think about what priorities Church based organisations set themselves and surely the basis of the Church and indeed Church Unity should be about development and spiritual growth in lives of faith.

Healthy Debate? I think not!

Lent the time of preparation for Easter if used seriously can stimulate deep thought for some people about the way in which they live their lives. I am always suprised by people on the street who have no interest in religion who talk about giving up things for Lent. I suppose on a surface level this is at least somewhere to begin some sort of debate. What has been most frightening in the last few days is the terrible misinterpretation of the words of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury about Sharia law. Watching the details unfold on Sky News in the gym on Friday morning I was horrified to see what was termed a debate between a moderate Muslim Imam and the shock jock James Whale. Whilst what the imam had to say was well thought out and reasonable, he was treated with some considerable distain and rudeness by James Whale who merely resorted to platudes and the sort of narrow minded propaganda that should have no place on any reasonable news programme. Both the television and newspaper coverage of the lecture have been appalling and especially the citing of "British" values whatever they are supposed to be. Many people too have used this opportunity to attack Archbishop Rowan in order to defend their own very British or perhaps I should say English approach to what they percieve Christianity to be. These are the sort of comments of those who hide behind the label of tradition to cover views that are all together more suspect and sinister. So amongst all this despair it was good to read of the launch of Affirming Liberalism in the Diocese of Oxford who aim is to rescue liberalism from being labelled "wooly" www.affirmingliberalism.org . It was their first day conference yesterday and I wish I had the opportunity to attend.
We prayed for Rowan in the intercession at the 12.15 Mass at which I presided today and several people thanked me for doing so. It is good to know that there are reasonable thinking people there. Perhaps Rowan's mistake is to assume that all people are as reasonable as him. So food for thought indeed and there is much need for a truly healthy debate.

Manic Monday

Having spent most of the last week relaxing and chilling out there were quite a few things to sort out on my return to work before I could begin enjoying what is left of my day off. I was quite pleased with the feedback on by sermon at 9am yesterday, particularly the postive feedback about the case on Ana Sumai the women from Ghana who was deported despite being on kidney dialysis. After a funeral visit in the afternoon to a very nice Roman Catholic family (the deceased was the only Anglican) and leading Compline that was very much yesterday done and dusted. Having contended with a ringing phone for most of the day I am heading off for some relaxation. Tomorrow is one of those day I wish like Padre Pio I could bi locate as it is rather busy! Never mind I have laid everything out for the funeral and the sick communions tomorrow so hopefully the preparation will help it all go well!

Candlemass

Having been off for the week and the Cathedral not observing candlemass with the tradition catholic ceremonies I headed off last night for the Evening Mass and Blessing of the Candles at All Saints Llandaff North, here amongst the peace and space the Christmas season once again drew to a close. It made me think of how much I miss the catholic ceremonial of the modern catholic parishes I have been used to before being in Llandaff. I was glad I went and thought of how suddenly the mood with now turn from that to Lent which begins next Wednesday.