rev tc

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Ignatius: Fruitful Labour - The Tension between Prayer and Action, Part 1

Ignatius has the expectation that, once a Jesuit has pronounced his vows after ‘tertianship’ he should be sufficiently formed so that prescriptions on prayer are not really necessary. The one thing he is insistent on though, is examination of the conscience. This is to take place at midday, and at the end of the day. The point of the examination is to give the Jesuit the opportunity to see where he has been meeting God, and where he has been avoiding God.

To participate in the examination, ‘examen’, means necessarily to stop all activity and be still; to give time to one’s heart; and to allow the Spirit of God to shine his light amongst our inner-most being.

This is not part of my spiritual discipline. Its something I’ve heard of before, and I like the idea of it, but have not engaged with it. I think my Journal goes some way toward it, but its not quite what Ignatius had in mind.

It would be a good discipline for Lent methinks...

Monday, February 27, 2006

WISDOM FROM THE MARGINS: SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY AND THE MISSIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION

follow this link to an excellent article - thanks to my friends at the ashram.

warning though - to engage with it you will need to have your brain switched on, guard yourself from distractions, and allow half an hour to read it.

but it really is worth it for those wanting to engage with mission and really think about revitalising systematic theology with missiological insights from the margins.

here's a bit of a taste:

It is this method of practical theology--rooted in experience and practice, nourished by the Christian Tradition and moving to a more faithful practice in an unending spiral--that a systematic theology with a “missiological imagination” will employ. Theology will have as its starting point the life of the Christian community as it strives to discern what God is doing in human history and how the church might be the sign and instrument of that saving presence. In this way theology will regain its role as servant of the church as it engages in mission. Like the church that does not exist for its own sake but for the sake of the Reign of God, so theology will be done not for its own sake but in order better to preach, serve and witness to God’s Reign and the saving presence of its Lord.

Ignatius: In Him Alone - The Tension between Trust in God and the use of one’s Talents, Part 2

We can become so caught up in our life’s work, and be very good at it having developed skills and experience at great cost, that we can trust in our own gifts and talents and the work itself rather than trusting in the God for whom we are created.

Ignatius said that if his religious order were dissolved, it would take him 15 minutes of prayer to be at peace.

The trap that is always before us is that we can invest so much of who we are in what we do that our identity and value as a human being becomes directly tied to what we do.

And while it is right and proper that we should develop our skills and knowledge in the work we are given to do, we must keep alive the tension that comes from responding to God’s call to trust him with all of our life. The sin is found in trusting ourselves to ourselves or our work or anything other than primarily trusting ourselves to God. It’s sinful because we miss the mark by not allowing God to form us into fully human beings in the ways that he wants to.

Lord, please help me to keep aware of that tension and allow you always to have your way in my life. Amen.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Ignatius: In Him Alone - The Tension between Trust in God and the use of one’s Talents, Part 1

There is a saying that has traditionally been attributed to Ignatius, “Pray as though everything depended on God, and work as though everything depends on you.” But apparently, there is nothing in his writings that supports that idea. However, there is a saying in his writings that could have given rise to it, but its just the opposite. It says, “Pray as if everything depended on you, and work as though everything depends on God.”

When you think about it, the latter saying is the better one. It calls us to prayer precisely because what we do matters, and whatever we do we want it to be what God wants us to do. So, we need to spend time in prayer, giving God the opportunity to form our will to his. And if we work as though everything depends on God, then if he wants to stop something we’re involved in then we don’t have to agonise over it and be distraught – primarily because it would affect our ego and pride.

I think about these things in relation to the Mall project (a local mission opportunity that showed promise for church and community engagement, that had the potential to be a proper 'fresh expression' of church). We have prayed and worked hard for it, but if we don’t get the funding for it then it can’t happen as we had envisaged it, and I’ll take it that God doesn’t want it to go ahead that way. That’s fine, I wouldn’t be heartbroken, embarrassed, or dismayed.

It connects with the idea of ‘indifference’, or as I would like to call it, ‘holy indifference’. That’s about freely and completely letting something go when its plain that it must be let go. It’s also about sitting light to things in life so that the freedom to love is not constrained by the love of things, be they possessions, work, projects, etc.

Thursday, February 23, 2006

residents association retelling of the parable of the good samaritan

see this post from the walthamstow village residents association for a description of the latest meeting held on monday night. it makes salutory reading.

the police can only do so much in keeping communities safe. what matters more than anything is that the community itself takes responsibility for creating a climate of neighbourliness where people can ask for help and expect to receive it, and where criminals know and feel that the neighbourhood is not a good place for their activities.

our residents association is active in trying to create that kind of feeling. good on 'em!

loving and lamenting apples

the fabulous girls over at wonderland are doing a series on hope actions. it was hope action 3 that caught my eye the other day - buy bramley apples.

it connected with an action i took about this time last year, prompted by an article i'd read by george monbiot. george was lamenting the loss of the traditional english apple, something the wonderland girls also refer to. i'd encourage you to take the time to read george's article, as its very sobering in terms of global and multi-national pressures that are working together to reduce the abundance of diversity in god's good earth to being bland, tasteless, and mono-cultural.

the action i took in response to george's article was that i emailed him to ask for contact details of the orchardists he referred to, so that i could buy meself a couple of traditional english apple trees to put in the backyard. and bless him, he responded with the details. its a simple action that any of us can take, as apple trees don't take much room, don't take much to look after, we keep a bit of heritage alive and give 2 fingers to the multi-nationals who want to feed us crap.

my 2 trees cost £25 each, and are very happy in our backyard. i was very happy in the process of planting them, i am very happy every time i look out the window and see them growing, and i anticipate the happiness when i eat the first of their crop. strangely, i don't experience that same kind of happiness with supermarket apples that have travelled half way around the world and taste like nothing.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

thomas merton prayer

i used this prayer in church last week, and it was interesting to hear people talking to me about how it resonated with them. honesty has that way with people, doesn't it.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

follow the leader, part 5 (luke 9:23-27)

Is gaining the world diametrically opposed to finding your life?

Perhaps there is something intrinsically evil about gaining the whole world. Jesus was offered it by the devil in the wilderness temptations (Matthew 4:1-11), yet he refused it. The old saying certainly seems to ring true that, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. Humanity is not short of examples of how power has corrupted and ruined lives.

It’s a worry now, as we watch the American Empire stretching itself and trying to promote a persona of benevolence, with a man who calls himself a Christian at its head. But many suspect that there are those who are far more shrewd and clever behind the scenes who are actually pulling the strings.

Jesus’ back-to-front logic then has a new dimension thrown in. He starts talking about a heavenly dimension that seems far-removed from the daily workings of normal life. He is talking about a heavenly glory and an ultimate power. How humanity responds to Jesus will have consequences for eternity. “If you are ashamed of me, I in turn will be ashamed of you” (see Mark 8:38). Is that the point at which grace and mercy terminate?

But heaven and earth are not disconnected. How we live now affects how we will experience eternity; and likewise, knowing something of eternity through Jesus’ life and teaching needs to affect how we live today. Eternity is not disconnected from daily existence, and vice-versa.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

follow the leader, part 4 (luke 9:23-27)

Jesus’ demands of renunciation of self and daily death is followed by a weird explanation: “For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it, but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that one will find it.” It’s back-to-front logic, humanly speaking. Wanting to hold onto life means death; although he doesn’t actually say that, he says, “losing life” which is contrasted with the next part of the sentence which says that to lose your life for his sake will mean that you actually find your life.

So, is he intimating that hanging onto your life has the effect of ruining your very self – a kind of living death? I sometimes think that so many people around the world are trapped in a living death. And the real tragedy is that they don’t know any different, although I suspect that many of them have an inkling that something is wrong. A bit like in the movie, The Matrix, when Morpheus says to Neo that Neo knows there is something wrong but he doesn’t know what it is. It’s like a splinter in his mind, driving him mad. How many people in the world are slowly being driven mad by that splinter, the splinter that says something is wrong but they don’t know what it is, nor how to remove the splinter. So all they can do is numb the pain, and the methods of numbing are as numerous and varied as there are people. And to try to list them would be tedious.

On the other hand, losing your life for Jesus’ sake means finding it – or, saving it, as he says. Losing your life for Jesus seems to be about voluntarily renouncing yourself in favour of embracing the horrible death and humiliation of the cross. How does that work then?

Monday, February 20, 2006

we have crabs - no, not us!

amazing what gets into one country from another. this mitten crab is threatening to take over british waterways. see the bbc link.

got this other photo during a drive out into the essex countryside. couldn't resist....

amazing what gets from one communication medium into another!

happy birthday to me!

yep, today i have become the ripe old age of 47....

Saturday, February 18, 2006

muslim rally

zoe and bree spent a little bit of time around trafalgar square today as the muslim community continued to protest about the danish cartoons and the excesses of the protests. (see the differences between the bbc story about the london rally, and the guardian unlimited story about what's going on libya because of the behaviour of an italian cabinet minister).

they (zoe and bree) said the mood was very good, but they were the only white people they saw right in amongst it in the square itself, apart from the police presence. they did think that about half a dozen 'masked men' amongst the demonstrators was the only thing that gave them an uncomfortable feeling.

made me think that if we want to have some kind of dialogue with the muslim constituency, then we need to actually be in some kind of proximity.

follow the leader, part 3 (luke 9:23-27)

I find these thoughts quite difficult for myself. I don’t want to be nobody, or to die. But I do want to follow Jesus; and I would say that I’ve been trying to do that for almost 25 years. Humans have the common experience of dying, and it only happens once. But Jesus talks about taking up the cross every day and figuratively, dying every day. So the renunciation of self he speaks of is as complete and total as death, and it needs to happen on a daily basis.

Because he says its got to happen on a daily basis, does that mean he realises that we’re incapable of renunciation happening as a single event, completed and done once? Even in his total and uncompromising demand, do we see here evidence of his grace and mercy toward us as he realises and takes notice of the reality of our limitations as human creatures?

Lord, my mind stretches as I try to grasp more of who you are, what you’re like, and how you treat me. Grant me a greater capacity to appreciate you, and a greater willingness to renounce myself for you, and an understanding of how to daily die in following you, I pray in your name. Amen.

Friday, February 17, 2006

missiological anthropology and the emerging church

richard passmore blogs at sunday papers, and has been corresponding with me about my earlier post on planting a seed.

with what we're doing in walthamstow, what he's doing in bristol, and jonny baker's earlier post on the christ of the india road, i've been thinking over the last coupla weeks about the possibility of getting some missiological anthropologists (ma) together with leaders of the emerging church movement (em ch) to consider what ma can bring to em ch's attempts to birth truly indigenous expressions of faith.

any thoughts?

follow the leader, part 2 (luke 9:23-27)

It seems to be connected with death – or a kind of death – as indicated by the next part of the statement about taking up your cross every day and following him. The cross is nothing other than an instrument of torture and death – it had no other purpose. And it was reserved for the lowest criminals who were to be made a public example of.

So Jesus is saying that he requires that his followers must take a complete internal decision so that their attitude to themselves must equate to becoming lost, ruined, nothing. And this is symbolically achieved through connecting oneself to public disgrace, humiliation, torture, and death.

What mad talk is this from the Messiah? Messiahs are meant to be saviours of their people, not killers of them!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Loving our global neighbors - and enemies

a good article here from sojonet, that takes a look at the clash of values between east and west - particularly around values of freedom of expression. the author of the article, philip rizk, says:

It is not Western values of freedom of speech that we must evaluate, but their underlying philosophy of individualism. The Western mind is raised to believe that what it thinks, expresses, and believes is a private and personal matter. In the Arab world, where societies share a collective understanding of self, such teachings are heretical.

the interconnectedness of our world means that we can no longer ignore what other people think or feel, and vice-versa. i think a major problem for us in the west is that we don't even know our next-door neighbours anymore, so considering how we behave at a global level is simply a bridge too far.

but the critique is always to begin in our own backyard. how many of us even raise a smile to our muslim neighbours as they walk past? how many of them expect us to smile at them, or even say hello?

loving our neighbours begins where we are, but in today's world more than ever, must extend beyond.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

blasphemy, art, or 'whatever'...

check this article in the guardian unlimited about thte gilbert and george exhibition entitled: sonofagod: was jesus heterosexual?

read the comments, and keep scrolling down for some further interesting takes in the light of the danish cartoons and muslim backlash.

follow the leader, part 1 (luke 9:23-27)

Jesus says, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine…” The implication is that he is the leader, and leaders have followers. The statement comes from Jesus after Peter’s confession of him as the Christ of God – the Messiah. The Messiah is someone Peter would naturally want to follow because the Messiah is going to lead his people out of slavery into liberation and freedom. Life will be better by following the Messiah. No more oppression by the Romans. No more violence from the zealots. No more religious oppression from the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Messiah is someone you would want to follow.

But, Jesus says, if anyone wants to follow him there are conditions. Internal conditions of attitude, and external conditions of behaviour. Internally, the follower must renounce themselves. What does that mean? How do you renounce yourself? I am who I am, and so cannot be someone I am not.

I seem to be thinking of ‘renouncing’ as a negative and destructive act to myself. If I renounce myself, then who am I? Am I lost? Am I ruined? Am I nothing? Is that what Jesus means by renouncing? What is his demand of an internal condition of attitude that is summed up in ‘renounce’?

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

mocking cartoons

various posts looking at thoughts in the blogosphere. check out ancient history graffiti from steve addison, jonny baker has gathered a bunch of conversations into his post on 'those cartoons', and bricolage give their two-penneth worth.

planting a seed

yesterday afternoon, my boss, one of our team vicars, and i spent an hour and a half with si kirby over at his church in north finchley. the reason for the visit was because there are some similarities between what si is doing and what we're doing with our experiment in developing a new community of faith in the walthamstow high street. si's new outfit is called emmanuel network church (enc) and ours is st luke's. both outfits are going with the idea of starting their new ventures without having a building - church without walls. the idea, using a gardening analogy, is to plant the seed of the gospel in the soil of a local context and see what grows.

enc is aiming at a different niche than st luke's, as they've got a core crew of about 25 people aged in their 20s and 30s. st luke's on the other hand, is starting with between 12 - 20 people aged 40+. and st luke's is also having to suffer the pain of moving out of their home of over 100 years (before it falls in on their heads). so, there's also a degree of difference in motivation between the two. that's not to say there's no vision for adventurous mission at st luke's, as there certainly is, its just acknowledging the realities.

one of the big learning points for us yesterday was how si invests heavily in his team. discipleship is taken very seriously, and much time and effort is given to each member of his team. church folks have been saying for years that its relatively easy to introduce people to jesus, the difficulty is to make lifetime disciples.

18 months ago i took a bunch of our people to hear al hirsch and mike frost speak about mission and radically re-imaging church through the transformation of its dna and the implications of that. al has recently been in the usa, and was speaking to sam metcalf, who has helpfully given a precis of what al said here.

if there are any other fledgling mission communities doing something similar in the north london area, we'd love to hear from you.