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He is risen indeed?

April 12, 2009 in Times and seasons with 2 Comments

Anglican churches will be proclaiming, chanting or mumbling (dependent upon their tradition) the words “He is risen indeed. Alleluia!” this morning. But do we really mean it? Do we fully understand the implications of that response?

Nick Baines‘ made a comment on his blog earlier in the week that got me thinking. He writes:

“On Easter Day it is traditional for the service to begin with the vicar proclaiming: ‘Alleluia, Christ is risen!’ The congregation responds: ‘He is risen indeed. Alleluia!’ I think this might be a bit wrong. If we are faithful to the Gospels, the congregation should really respond to the proclamation of resurrection: ‘ What?! Don’t be so ridiculous!’ Why? Because the disciples of Jesus did not respond to his resurrection with unbridled joy, but rather with bewilderment and suspicion and doubt.”

Of course the resurrection of Jesus Christ makes me want to shout “Alleluia”. God allowed His Son to die on the cross so I could be forgiven, and then Jesus defeated death once and for all by rising back to life. But however much we shout “Alleluia” today, the death and resurrection of Jesus is something so incredible, that we can never fully understand (at least on this earth) why it happened, or what it means, and no words can fully express how grateful we are to God.

7 years on

March 30, 2009 in Family with 1 Comment

Today, Esther & I are celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary! Time in one sense has flown by, but then in another it feels that we’ve been married forever. We’ve actually been married now for more than half the amount of time we’ve known each other. Marriage is a really exciting adventure and the things we achieve together are much greater than we could separately. The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

We celebrated this weekend by staying in London on Saturday night, after seeing Avenue Q. If you’ve not seen it, its a risqué but very funny musical based around the lives of people and puppets who live on Avenue Q.

Here’s a clip to whet your appetite:

YPC Sketch – funny or offensive?

March 23, 2009 in Random reflections with 3 Comments

There’s been some debate in our house recently about the YPC sketch that was on last week’s Horne & Corden show.

If you missed it, then this is what its all about:

Continue Reading…

25 things…

February 17, 2009 in Humour, Media clips with Comments Off

A viral posting has been circulating on Facebook for a few weeks asking people to give 25 random facts about themselves.

This guy however has decided to record the 25 things he hates about Facebook. Made me smile!

Purity

February 16, 2009 in Church with 1 Comment

For the February Café Church at Pip n Jim’s, I prepared a Prayer Station looking at Purity, using a presentation showing some Bible verses against a backdrop of rising smoke playing to the song “Pure Like You” by David Gate:

January Café Church

January 12, 2009 in Church with 0 Comments

Yesterday was January’s café church on the theme of Epiphany.

We took the usual format of café, worship, talk, discussion, and prayer stations. I spoke on Matthew 2:1-12, focussing on how the Magi recognised, obeyed and worshipped God.

I found the preparation this month really difficult. I probably left writing the talk to the last minute, but also was stressing duringthe afternon over getting the church set up, as well as trying to sort out various techie stuff like video clips that weren’t working and created more problems than they were worth!

Having just finished the Ministry & Mission assignment on principles of ministry in the New Testament, this has consolidated a lot of the learning! I can see why Peter needed to appoint other people to help with the ministry (Acts 7) and what that says  about ministry not being able to done alone.

Ministry priorities

January 10, 2009 in Random reflections with 2 Comments

I was listening to the Worship Central podcast this week, where Nicky Gumbel was talking about priorities of ministry. He believes that the priority order is:

  • Your relationship with God
  • Your relationship with your husband/wife
  • Your relationship with your children
  • Your paid employment
  • Your church ministry

This really spoke to me. I think its really easy to get these the wrong way round, and it can be really easy for church ministry to take over, to the detriment of our relationships, even with God! I guess I was really challenged about how I see my paid employment, and the importance I put on this.

Church to remove crucifix

January 6, 2009 in Church, News with 6 Comments

Damian Thompson at the Telegrahph has blogged about the priest at St John’s (RC) Church Horsham has decided to remove the crucifix from the outside of the church building because it is felt to scare off people.

Now the protestant in me completely agrees with Rev Ewen Souter, and I have to admit to being a little surprised to discover that the church in question is Roman Catholic.

What I find more interesting amusing is the comment from the un-named worshipper:

“Pulling it down and putting up something that would look more at home on the side of a flashy modern shopping centre is not the way to get more bums on seats.

Next they’ll be ripping out the pews and putting sofas in their place, or throwing out all the Bibles and replacing them with laptops. It’s just not right.”

I know of a number of churches that have thrown out the pews, some (such as St Paul’s Onslow Square) have even dared to put in a few sofas! At Pip n Jim’s, we don’t have pew Bibles, but we do have a laptop which projects the Bible readings onto the overhead screens.

Why is this not right?

I do agree with Mr or Mrs Anonymous on one thing – whatever churches do cannot be simply about getting “bums on seats”.

But

The church is called to proclaim the faith afresh in each generation. Of course its important that the message doesn’t change or get diluted, but the media must be relevant to the culture of the day if the church is going to get the Gospel heard.

Whether that means a change in how churches use imagery, making use of technology in worship, or making the atmosphere of church buildings more welcoming and friendly, the most important thing is people get to hear the Gospel. If the church is seen to be to distant from society, people won’t want to hear the message we’ve got to share.

Update:

It appears the media (and I) confused two different churches by same name in Horsham: St John the Evangelist RC Church, and St John’s Broadbridge Heath, an evangelical Anglican church. The church in question is the latter.

Crisis in Israel

January 2, 2009 in Church, News with Comments Off

The Bishop of Tonbridge, Brian Castle has issued a statement about the recent military action in Israel/Palestine:

TO THE CLERGY AND THE PEOPLE OF THE DIOCESE OF ROCHESTER

Statement on the crisis in Israel/Palestine by the Bishop of Tonbridge

A few short weeks ago I visited the Holy Land with a group from the Diocese of Rochester. We were there to meet individuals and organisations working for peace and reconciliation in that place, including Bishop Suheil Dawani, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem.

Last week, on Christmas Eve, the Bishop preached in the Church of the Holy Nativity in Bethlehem. The world waits in eager expectation for people of goodwill, courage and vision to set aside personal agendas, to encourage a change of heart, to empower all people of faith to tear down the walls of cruelty, fear and hatred, he said, in the presence of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayaad. He continued, We cannot diminish or escape from the challenges before us which are very real and confront our people. Peace, a just durable peace, is rooted in the reconciling love of God for all the people of this land.

In Gaza, just two days after the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the people there were subjected to heavy bombardment by Israeli armed forces. As I write, the military action continues. The roots of the conflict in the Holy Land are deep and complex and while recognising the suffering of all parties involved, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are paying a particularly high price. The immediate cause of the present crisis is that, for many months, rockets fired from Gaza have brought terror and disruption to the lives of many living in Israel. This is unacceptable. Similarly, the reaction against Gaza, which has claimed many innocent lives and injured many hundreds of others, is disproportionate and equally unacceptable.

I am reminded of an African saying that when the elephants fight, it is the grass which gets trampled and this has been the case in the present crisis. As well as killing and injuring many innocent civilians in Gaza, the most heavily populated area in the world, it has also seen a number of innocent civilians killed and injured in Israel.

At this time of Christmas and Epiphany, Christians throughout the world are looking to the Holy Land in a spirit of joy and thanksgiving for the events of 2000 years ago: the realities unfolding today are anything but a cause for joy and thanksgiving. Commentators reflect that the seriousness of the situation should not be underestimated. As Christians we should pray both urgently and fervently.

May I ask, then, for you to pray that the spirit of peace and justice may influence those who make decisions about war and peace in the Holy Land. I also encourage you to pray for the casualties of war and for those who grieve for loved ones, as well as for those working hard to bring humanitarian and medical aid to those suffering in the war zone. Will you remember especially the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, an Anglican hospital which has been serving the people of the area for over a century, as it struggles to bring healing and peace to all who come to its doors. Finally, do pray for all those in the Holy Land working for peace and reconciliation, that they may have the strength to continue their work in the middle of such daunting challenges.

May there be an immediate cease-fire so that the voices and actions of people of goodwill, courage and vision prevail.

+Brian Tonbridge
1 January 2009

Women bishops

December 30, 2008 in Church with 2 Comments

The Church of England has this week published its draft measure that brings female bishops a step closer to reality. Included is the plan for “complimentary” bishops to provide alternative oversight to those parishes who have a conscientious objection to a female diocesan.

Ruth Gledhill gives some interesting thoughts as to what these “complimentary” bishops may be called, while as may well be expected, Dave Walker has produced a cartoon in honour of the occasion.

Personally, I don’t have a problem, theological or otherwise, with the idea of women bishops.

But

I don’t want to see this issue divide the Church.

I’m certain that there will never be total agreement on this, but I think the church has survived so far without consecrating women to the episcopate so why rush it through now?

Part of the role of the episcopate is to promote unity both within and outside the church so I have some concerns about how the proposals will work. How will a female diocesan be able to exercise her pastoral responsibilities in her diocese if there are some in her patch who refuse to recognise her authority? What about at diocesan synod? Will parishes seeking alternative oversight want a seperate synod? What about parish share? How will parishes feel about contributing funds to a diocese they are effectively not in communion with?

Lots of questions, and I’m sure there will be many more.

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