going nowhere slowly … but seeing all the sights

I said my reflections from my time away might take a while to filter through.
Today I have been reflecting a little more on my mission here at home and how my time away has refreshed and challenged that.

Today I described my ‘stage’ in the Gillingham thing as one of a standstill …. like I am hitting my head against a brick wall. It’s bizarre … I have met no less than 8 people who share this vision to have something, some form of Christian presence (I like to talk of a 21st century Abbey … a house of prayer, community, support and hospitality) in the High Street. Even councillors and other professional in the area are supportive. If we had this building tomorrow there are 9 of us that could devote some time to doing something. There is even an empty building that is crying out to be occupied. Interestingly there are only 2 empty buildings in the main part of the High Street … and one would be perfect.

But … frustratingly we wait. I don’t know why …. I’ve been waiting since September …. and i must admit to being tired of waiting …. but wait we must.

And then I thought of my time in Seattle while listening to a Frank Turner track (langauge warning … don’t click if offended by the ‘f’ word and ignore the last 2 lines …. of course I don’t subscribe to the last 2 lines!) on my travels this evening.

There is something about living in the moment, not worrying too much about the destination and enjoying the sights of the journey that I think is important and has possibly become something I have missed or forgotten. I mentioned in my last paost how I had noticed a better work life balance. I think what I was struck by mor was the great allowance i think i observed of simply letting the moment be the moment.

Maybe I am talking crap here (it has been a long day) and I am pretty much thinking aloud. But …. despite my frustrations of lack of movement, and in the words of Frank Turner, I am going nowhere slowly …. but I am seeing all the sights.

Sights of God at work, sights of the Kingdom breaking through very slowly into the community of Gillingham. Sights of love, care and compassion amongst certain persons. Gillingham is a place riddled with cracks. Buildings and people are literally falling apart …. and yet it is through those cracks that I observe something fresh, exciting and infectious …. maybe unsettling and challenging yet strangely familiar and warming.

So I am still tired of waiting, I still think we need a building …. but I am happy in the certainty that God is just as much fully in the journey and the sights as God is fully in the final destination.

Does that make sense?
Now …. give us that flipping building!!!

the creative beauty of Seattle

The time in Seattle was awesome …. maybe an overused and overrated word … but it describes the 7 days I had in this city perfectly.

Returning for a week after four years brought many things back to mind. I am not sure I can reflect on my week in one simple post. There may be a few posts over the next few days that develop from my reflecting

I guess one word that comes to mind when i think if Seattle is the word ‘beauty’. There is the beauty of the city as photos can and so show. There is, however, much more that struck me about the beauty of the people. People are polite. People speak on buses and trains. People ask if they can help. Coming from Gillingham, this was a healthy and welcome culture change. In traffic jams people in Seattle don’t even blow their horns!

I had forgotten how ‘chilled’ people seem to be in Seattle. There was a good fun atmosphere with people enjoying each other, food, drink, good coffee and of course the scenery on magnificent sunny days. People had space and time. I was reminded how people there seem to have a much better work life balance than we do in the UK. People seem to socialise more after having a definite end to the working day, whereas here we simply seem to work.

That brings me on to my next word … creative.

I met a load of creative people. It was good to meet up with Lacey again from COTA. The gathering has used some of Lacey’s music which is worth checking our either under her own website or via the worship stuff for COTA Seattle. It was good to experience COTA’s worship again. It was like coming home and I can’t put that feeling into words.

For creativity to happen it needs space. The people I have just spent a week with seem to get that. I seem to have forgotten that. I have been wondering why my creativity, my writing, my photographing, and so on has come to a halt. It’s due to lack of ‘space’ to create. Big ides need big spaces ….. i need to readdress the space issue.

But back to beauty in Seattle. My first post cannot go without mentioning the whole overriding purpose of my visit. On Saturday 8th June at 430pm i had the honour, pleasure and privilege of officiating at the wedding ceremony of Meghan and Luke at Church of the Apostles in Seattle. That was an amazingly special time with a beautiful couple and some pretty amazing friends. The day was a joy, and there was loads of love flying around! They are clearly a couple that not only love many people, but are also loved by many.

As I said in my last post … once in a while some pretty amazing privileges pop up …. and this was one.

Thanks Meghan and Lucas for trusting me …
Thanks Jana and James for hosting me … you were amazing!
Thanks Lacey and April for just being the brilliant organised creatives that you are and guiding me
Thanks Rachel for the humour and the encouragement
Cheers Gary for the meet-up and the new bars
Thanks Eric and Ivar for the friendship
Thanks everyone for a great city!

Once in a while …

Once in a while being ordained brings some pretty amazing surprises and privileges. I have one such privilege over the next few days as I travel to Seattle to marry a pretty special couple who I have got to know, mainly from my placement at COTA and their time with me in Rochester.

I feel undeserving of such an experience but am feeling very excited to be able to take part in a ceremony of such significance and beauty for a couple I have come to care deeply about. The service will be beautiful and reflects well the couple I have got to know.

So … as a sideline as well I am off to drink coffee, hopefully a porter or two, check out some sights and meet with some old friends …. but most of all I get to play a small part in a pretty special and amazing day for Meghan and Lucas.

Once in a while …. we find ourselves in special places … amazing!

lunch for 500!

St Mark’s hosted The Big Lunch this afternoon. It was an amazing experience with around 500 people attending on what turned out to be a pretty glorious day weather wise.

I was in awe during this event for a number of reasons. Seeing many good friends from the last few years working together to provide an amazing event for the community was excellent to see. Seeing others, particularly our young people, and my daughter and her friends, providing the live music caused a bit of a proud dad moment. Events like this do not happen overnight … they happen after years of relationship building with the community …. and with a great co-ordinator who just happens to be my wife!

Another highlight for me with a particular group of people who responded to this post theme a little while back was our trial of Dekhomai in this setting. We did some hand massage and Jesus Deck training in the morning and in the afternoon people stepped out of their comfort zone and gave things a go. The outcome in the shape of conversations, prayers with people and seeing God speak powerfully in a very gentle way with many people was simply a stunning and awe inspiring experience.

So … St Mark’s and other people ….. that was amazing. Thank you for letting us play a small part.

walking the breadline

As a Christian, but also as a normal human being, the report launched today by both Oxfam and Church Action on Poverty should make us angry!

It is obscene that over 500 000 people in this country do not have enough food to eat. Food poverty should not be the everyday reality that it is in our cities.

Please write to your MP as the campaign requests – it’s easy and takes a little time. Also donate to your local Foodbank as well as the need is massive and growing!

I read this report this morning and got angry … why are we allowing the vulnerable to be treated like this?

surface and depth

For some time I have struggled with the sacred/secular divide that to me seems to be quite prevalent in popular church culture. I might be wrong, as I am aware of a tendency I can have of generalising (being accountable to your best friend and wife means such things are pointed out to you on a regular basis!), but … there does seem to be a populist divide that seems to say … ‘this stuff is ok and ‘holy’, while this stuff is not good and should be ‘treated with care’.

Now clearly not everything is good for us. If I went out today and drank 15 pints of my favourite, and beautifully created by God, ale the likelihood is that I would not wake up. Alternatively if I pray all that for my next door neighbour to receive badly needed food and simply stay on my knees in my house with my full cupboards there is a possibility that she won’t wake up. But, the abuse of something good does not make that ‘something’ wrong or bad for you.

Richard Rohr’s thoughts this week have been exploring this sacred/secular thing at more depth. I have been nodding away and smiling as his words have reminded his readers that all of creation was created by God, that God is everywhere, that God is both within and without (a Gatsby link!), that all people are created in the image of God. Now if all that is true then it goes that there is no where where God cannot be. If God is present then by default the place where God is must be sacred, so … everywhere is sacred. It’s simple although messes with my head quite a bit.

I think of Moses at the burning bush. He takes of his shoes as he sees the flames and hears God’s voice. Does he take off his shoes because the ground suddenly becomes sacred, or does he remove them because the ground was always sacred and he has just realised? I think it is the latter. The ground I walk on each day as I wander Gillingham High Street is sacred …. that is quite a mind blowing thought for so may reasons!

I think today’s thought from Rohr kind of hits this on the hed for me. Maybe it is not so much about sacred and secular, but more about surface and depth …. ‘Everything is profane if you live on the surface of it, and everything is sacred if you go into the depths of it’ read more here as Rohr puts it better than most ever could!

Gatsby – a gaudy extravagance

Last night at Rochester Film Society we saw The Great Gatsby. As with the reviews of the film the discussion afterwards was mixed.

possible spolier alert … but not too much!

I pretty much loved the film. The soundtrack jarred as 20′s jazz was crudely mashed with Beyonce and rap. The blatant sensory overload of glaring colour, brazen  activity and overpowering dialogue all contributed to what I think was trying to be an illustration of the clash between pre-modern and a modern lifestyle. I don’t think the sound mashing or the gaudy sensory overload worked particularly well, because it meant watching the film was not always comfortable, but then I suspect that may well of been the aim of Luhrmann all the time.

The acting of DiCaprio and Mulligan oozed a real base chemistry that I think also gave a deliberate vulgar feel to the film. After initially not rating DiCaprio, I think it’s amazing that he has already delivered two amazing roles in Django and Gatsby this year … and it is still only May!

There was a line in the film from Nick, played by Toby Maguire, which grabbed me and has stayed with me… ‘I was within and without’. In his narration role this tended to refer to the Toby character being in both places … both a participant and a practitioner, both an observer and one being observed, both at the centre and on the periphery, both here and there …. or simply both, and! Very apt descriptions that I resonate with in spirituality.

I’ve not blogged about a film in a while but those who have read SHP for a little while will know I wonder whether this is a medium through which God still chooses to communicate to the world … just like God does through any and every art medium within creation. I think an underlying message in this gaudy over played yet beautiful film is one of presence. I think there is a theme of presence which over-rides the pre-modern and modern world which today does not recognise any sacred or secular … but simply a whole creation that is totally sacred.

There was a song overplayed throughout the film from Lana Del Rey, the overplayed lyric being ‘will you still love me when I am no longer young and beautiful?’

I think the underlying message from the creator is ‘Yes’