Five Rules for Life

If I were not a follower of Jesus Christ, I would be glad to have Jonathan Sacks as my rabbi!  Once again, I find myself nodding in agreement, this time with his ‘Five Rules for Life’ as published in the Times (5/1/13). 

Here are the five rules, in speech marks with my own brief comments added.

1.     ‘The first thing to do is dream…. Dreams are where we visit the many lands and landscapes of human possibility and discover the one where we feel at home. The great religious leaders were all dreamers.’

I am currently encouraging my church to dream dreams for ‘Vision 20/21’, based upon John 20:21 (‘As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’).  We are asking what are our dreams for the year 2021?  Why 2021?  Well, it’s not so close that we feel those dreams unattainable, nor so far away that they mean nothing for our generation.  If we aim low, we are likely to hit the mark.  If we dream large, we may not attain it but we are likely to achieve so much more for Jesus!

2.     ‘The second rule is, follow your passion. People who follow their passion tend to lead blessed lives. Happy in what they do, they tend to spread happiness to those whose lives they touch. That is a life worth living.’

Sixteen years as a Baptist minister have taught me that I am a ‘big picture’ person rather than a ‘details’ person.  Where it is possible I am happy to delegate the latter.  Some people may be passionate about the detail, but I am not!  Sixteen years has also taught me to say ‘No’ to things that do not appeal to me.  For example, I had a passion to see the Street Pastors’ Scheme set up in my former city of Peterborough, so I took steps to help it happen.  I turned down the opportunity of store chaplaincy because it did not excite me, important though it may be.

3.     ‘The third rule I learnt from the psychotherapist who survived Auschwitz, Viktor Frankl, whose Man’s Search for Meaning is one of the most widely read books of our time. Frankl used to say: Don’t ask what you want from life. Ask what life wants from you.’

Before I trained as a Baptist minister, I had a career in the building society world.  For a long time, I found great fulfillment in it.  I moved to another building society for a substantial pay increase and a company car, only to find that the job satisfaction vanished.  I had had a sense of calling to pastoral ministry for some time; now was the time to pursue it.  This was what life – or God – wanted from me.  I believe He still does!

4.     ‘The fourth rule is: make space in your life for the things that matter, for family and friends, love and generosity, fun and joy.’

Early in my time as a Baptist minister, I became a bit of a workaholic.  This was what I had been called to and I was enjoying it so much that my working week was closer to 80 hours than the 35-40 that is the norm in other walks of life.  I tended to wait until the end of the week to see what time was left for leisure.

I came to realize that overwork is not a virtue.  It is a denial of the Sabbath rest that God has built into his plan for us. I now try to build leisure into my week, irrespective of how much there is to do.  I work from rest, rather than the other way around.  I feel much better for it and, strangely, the ministry is usually still done and is probably more effective.  Oh, and I still enjoy the ministry – most of the time!

5.     ‘The fifth rule is work hard, the way an athlete or concert pianist or cutting-edge scientist works hard. The American psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, calls this the principle of “flow”. By this he means the peak experience you have when you are working so hard at a task that you are unaware of the passing of time.’

Whilst overwork is not a virtue, hard work is!  It is quite possible for clergy to ‘underwork’, since a lot of the time no one knows what we do!  Sacks reminds that the Hebrew word for serving God – ‘avodah’ – also means hard work.  Whilst ministry can be a slog, I often find that there is fulfillment in working hard especially when following a passion.

Sacks concludes:

There are many other rules but these are some of the most important. Try them and you will be surprised by joy.’

Popes, archbishops and blindfold boys

We continue to await the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury.  Meanwhile, a blindfold boy has chosen the next Pope of the Coptic Church in Egypt from three candidates.  Is there a lesson to be learnt here?

As an interested observer of the Anglican Communion and a friend of many within it, I cannot help thinking that the selection procedure is all about power-play and politics.  Liberal Anglicans want an archbishop, who will see through reforms, which they had hoped would come from the present incumbent.  Conservatives desire one who will resist the tide of tolerance towards what they see as unbiblical practices.  If it were just about the Church of England, a decision might be more easily reached.  But we must also factor in the worldwide Anglican Communion, where even more entrenched positions seem to be taken.  Who is the diplomat who could hold all of these things together?  Deadlock!

It got me thinking.  What if the choice were whittled down to a final three candidates?  Each candidate would have different gifts, skill and points of view, and each would be able to make a valuable contribution to the life of the Church.  That would be the human part of the process.  A blindfold child makes the final choice from the three.  That could be the divine part – the place where the Church entrusts the outcome to luck/chance/God (delete as appropriate). It has its advantages.  No jockeying for position from the final three, no canvassing of votes from their supporters, no accusations of the wrong choice being made.  It might lead to more fervent prayer from all parties that God’s will be done.  That would be a good thing!

That’s the Archbishop sorted – what about the US Presidential election?

Sharing the Peace

At a recent Eucharist that I attended at Peterborough Cathedral, we arrived at that point in the service that some Baptists call ‘clammy handshake time’.  Yes, it was the Sharing of the Peace!

I was struck by contrasting examples of the way in which peace was shared with me.  As I was circulating and shaking hands, one woman put her hand in mine but was already looking towards the next person as she shook it and declared, ‘The peace of the Lord be with you.’  No eye contact was made.  No smile was given.  It seemed to me that peace was shared in word only.  Contrast that with another person, who knew me and approached me specifically to wish me well as my family and I prepared to move to Newbury, and to share God’s peace with me.  This time the action matched the words.

It got me thinking about the Sharing of the Peace.   Why do we do it?  Where does it come from?  I have to admit that it’s not usually a big part of my Baptist tradition, although I will occasionally encourage people to share the peace in the Eucharist, or Lord’s Supper as we tend to call it.

A quick bit of research pointed me back to the Didache, an early handbook for the Christian Church.  This in turn points back to Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, confirming their use in the early Christians’ practice of Communion:

‘[Therefore], if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something again you, leave your gift there in front of the altar.  First, go and be reconciled to your brother or sister; then come and offer your gift.’  (Matthew 5:23-24, NIV).

So, sharing the peace is about being reconciled with your brothers and sisters in Christ.  That makes sense! 

Happily, I don’t seem to fall out with a companion believer too often and then have to leave my gift at the altar to go and be reconciled.  I suspect this is true of most Christians (or am I just being naïve here?).  Why, then, share the peace at all?  Perhaps there is a principle at stake here, which allows us to enter into the practice of reconciliation when we need to?  Sharing the peace reminds us that humanity is fallen, and that the Church is a part of that, and individual believers are a part of that.  It reminds us that we all need to be reconciled to Christ.  It is not just a way of saying ‘hallo’ to one another, but rather a sharing of the peace that comes to the world through Christ alone.  When we share the peace, we are preparing ourselves and one another to take the bread and wine which reminds that Christ reconciled the world to himself by the Cross!

With all of that in mind, I might encourage my congregation to share the peace more often!

What are your thoughts on, and experience of, sharing the peace?

What have I done?

This is my final article for the Church Magazine (July/August 2012)

As I write my last magazine article after eight years as pastor of Park Road, there are three questions that come to mind.

The first question is, ‘What have I done?’  Why am I taking myself and my family from a place where we are settled to a place where we will have to begin again?  Why am I causing my wife to leave a job that she enjoys, and my children to leave a school with which they are content?  For all of us, why are we leaving behind friends and starting again with, well, strangers?  The answer is ‘God’!  We believe that God has called us to go to Newbury, and that he is calling us from Newbury to serve in the Baptist church there.  God is the reason we are going, and in faith we are seeking to follow him.

Of course, that question can be taken another way: ‘What have I done in eight years of ministry in Peterborough?’  I prefer to tackle that with a second question: ‘What have we done?’  Ministry is something that we as a church of God’s people are called to do together.  I happen to have had the privilege of being paid for it, and of serving you as your pastor!  As I look back on eight years of our ministry in the city, these are some of the things (in no particular order) for which I believe we can give thanks:

·      Alpha Courses.  The first course that we did after my arrival was the best in which I have had the privilege of being involved.  Some of you were on that course – you might remember.  God was so clearly at work!

·      Baptisms.  These are always a high point for any Baptist minister and church.  From age 12 to 85, we have had the blessing of people being baptized and setting out on the journey as disciples of Jesus!

·      Church Members’ meetings – no, really!  My first church did not really have a strong sense of identity as a Baptist church.  You have shown me more of what it means to seek the mind of Christ together as a church.  Of course, I still get frustrated with them at times, but don’t we all?!

·      Inspirations Studio.  Linked to the last heading, the series of three church members’ meetings through which we explored and affirmed the vision of Inspirations Studio were inspirational!  And it’s been great to see the work developing under the guidance of our church member and project manager, Stuart Mathers.

·      Mentoring.  For a couple of years or so, Stuart, Mark Tiddy, Joel Mercer and myself met about once a month to explore different aspects of church leadership.  See above and below for updates on Stuart and Mark!  We can give thanks too for the opportunity to support Joel as he has explored a calling to Baptist ministry.  Watch this space for where he will be in September!

·      Café Kindness.  This is such a simple idea – opening up the front of the church and offering free coffee and cake – and yet it has probably put us in contact with more people than anything else we have done.

·      CaféChurch.  This was a great experiment in a different way of doing church.  Although we brought it to an end after a year, it was good to have the experience.

·      Mark Tiddy.  A few months into my time here, we applied to receive a church-worker from Careforce for one year.  We got Mark Tiddy and we ended up having him for four years!  He was a great blessing to us and especially to our young people.  We can be proud (for God!) of our part in training Mark for full-time Christian youth ministry.

·      BMS, Street Pastors and Interim ministry.  A blessing of being set aside as a paid minister is that I can work on your behalf in areas for which you might not have the time.  I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve as a trustee of BMS World Mission, in helping to set up Peterborough Street Pastors and as interim minister/moderator of Open Door Baptist Church (Harris Street). 

·      BMS, again!  We can be thankful to God for the faithful service of Pat Woolhouse over many years in Kimpese, DR Congo.  Three of us have had the opportunity to visit Pat there, and to see the impact that her work with others has made for God.  Now we can pray for Fiona Macdonald as she prepares to pick up the baton as a member of the forthcoming Peru Action Team.

·      Churches Together in Central Peterborough.  Looking back, I believe that the Lord brought together a group of like-minded clergy at just the right time.  We had a desire and a will to build upon the ecumenical links that already existed.  It was a very moving occasion when we came together in January 2009 to become CTiCP.  Fruit is growing from our relationship: Love came down at Christmas, City Centre chaplaincy, Inspirations, Children’s Fun Days etc.

·      Small groups.  Back in 2004, we had a couple of small groups but most of our members were not in a small groups.  Today, we have ten small groups and with many more involved, they are at the heart of our church.

·      Baptisms, again!  At the time of writing, it looks like we will have two baptisms on 15^th July.  Maybe, there will be more?  God is still at work!

Of course, there are many more things for which to give thanks, but this article is beginning to gush like an Oscar acceptance speech, so I’ll leave it there!

The third question is, ‘What has God done?’  For the answer to that, see above!  ‘…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose’ (Philippians 3:13).

Wendy and I and our girls will go from this place with sadness because of the friends we leave behind, and with gladness at all that we have been able to do together.  We go, too, with excitement at all that God will continue to do in Peterborough and Newbury.

Please pray for us, as we will pray for you.  We will welcome visitors from Peterborough, once we get settled into our new abode.

Thank you so much for sharing the journey of faith with us.  It’s been great! Praise God!

Faith on the Golf Course

As members of my church know, I aspire to play golf!  Often, I arrive at my golf club on my own and end up playing with someone that I meet on the first tee.  The game progresses and eventually, usually on the sixth hole, my opponent asks me what I do for a living.  ‘I’m a Baptist minister,’ I reply.  There’s a silence, as they think, ‘What have I said?  How much have I sworn?’  As if we clergy haven’t heard it all before!  Or used it …..?

Last Saturday, it happened again – although, this time not until the sixteenth hole!  My opponent asked the question, I answered.  He apologized, ‘Oh, sorry about the language!’  Well, what does one say?  You can take offence, but that doesn’t really help.  You can ignore it, but that doesn’t respond to the apology.  I said, ‘That’s OK.  I can cope with the swearing – nearly everyone does it.  What I don’t like is when people say ‘Christ!’ all the time as a swear-word.’  He didn’t really respond, but I hope it gave him something to think about.  Clearly, he was not put out as he sent me polite e-mail later in the day, thanking me for the game.

It made me think, too.  When is it right to overlook people’s behaviour and language, though it may not be our own way, and when is it right to speak out?  It reminds me of the words of 1 Peter 3:15:

‘In your hearts, revere Christ as Lord.  Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.  But do this with gentleness and respect…’

Where Jesus touched the earth

It's easy to get a bit cynical about pilgrimage sites in the Holy Land.  Everywhere you go, there seems to be a church built on a location where Jesus and/or his disciples said or did something.  Dominus Flevit, where Jesus wept over Jerusalem; the Church of All Nations at Gethsemane, over the rock where Jesus agonised over the coming cross; the Church of St Peter in Gallicantu, where Peter denied Christ; the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built upon the place where Jesus was crucified and buried and from where he rose from death.  You get the impression that if Jesus was known to have sat down or sneezed somewhere, a church would have been built!

None of the sites are necessarily proven.  What we can say is that there is a long tradition associated with them, and that the building of churches in these places has prevented them from being 'lost' to the pilgrim. If you like the idea of 'sacred space', you will certainly find a sense of holiness arising as you add your prayers to those of many generations of pilgrims before you.  And the journey from one place to another, for example on the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering, or Way of the Cross), helps to evoke the memory of events from 2000 years ago.  Nonetheless, some struggle with the 'churchification' and commercialisation of Christ.

How are we to find Jesus in all of this?  The following poem by Steve Turner puts it well:

'Where Jesus touched the earth'

I went to see where Jesus

Church of All Nations

Once touched the earth

but the Church

Had got there before me

And obscured his footprints

With arches, buttresses,

Gold and incense.

I went to see where Jesus

Once touched the earth.

I couldn't see for

Concrete and collection boxes,

For postcards and guide books.

So I looked further down.

I looked to the ground.

But the ground was thirty feet

Higher than back in AD3.

This is not where Jesus walked.

I looked down, down to my feet,

My legs, my arms, chest.

I looked down to where Jesus

Touches the earth.

Break down the Walls - a reflection from the Holy Land

This blog was meant to be posted on Wednesday 2^nd May 2012, whilst I was in the Holy Land.  However, technical difficulties prevented me, so here it is now.

Today has been a challenging day.  We began with a visit to Bethlehem, stopping en route to look at graffiti on the Separation Wall in a Palestinian Refugee Camp. These days, it has more of a permanent feel than the word ' camp' implies, for since 1948 Palestinians have been yearning to return to the land of which they were dispossessed.  Pictures of their various villages adorn the panels of the wall, keeping alive the memory of their homes. Slogans such as the one depicted in this photo express anguish: 'We can't live, therefore we are waiting for death.'

In the afternoon, we visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial museum. Here is kept alive the memory of the six million Jews who died at the hands of Nazi Germany. There were harrowing videos of Adolf Hitler stirring up nationalistic fervour, and of Jews sharing the tragic stories of family loved and lost. One part of the display leapt out at me.  In wartime Warsaw, the Jews were herded into a ghetto, contained by a wall.  It was a life of overcrowding, and deprived of the gift of freedom.

To me, there seems to be a supreme irony here.  The Jews, for whom today's state of Israel is a spiritual and political homeland, were contained by a wall.  Today's Israel is containing Palestinians behind a wall and depriving them of basic freedoms.  They seem to have come full circle.  Meanwhile, the Western Wall stands as a symbol of the division between Jew and Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian.

In between those two experiences, we visited the Church of the Holy Nativity in Bethlehem, and the assumed birthplace of Jesus.  It seems simple and simplistic to say it, but in him lies the answer.  Human history demonstrates that building walls to separate communities has never worked, though it may have calmed things down for a time.  The examples of Berlin and Northern Ireland spring to mind.  Paul, in Colossians 2:14' reminds us that Christ Jesus 'is our peace, who has made the two one (I.e. Jew and Gentile) and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility....'. You can read that verse in context for yourself, but basically it is saying that we are all brought into God's household through Christ.

If Christians are to imitate Christ, then I am convinced we must work to break down walls wherever we find them.  How that is to happen in Israel, God only knows, but history shows that it is possible.

Strangely, as I began to write this blog, a song called 'Break down the Walls' began to play on my iPad.  'Break down the walls that I have built keeping you distant' goes the song. 'Break down the walls around my heart, make me real.' Poignant words at the end of a day in which I have wept inside for those who lack the freedom that I take for granted.  Perhaps God is reminding me not to judge others, before I have examined my own heart?