We had a rummage sale here on Sunday afternoon - well, less a sale and more a rummage and take away, of clothes that might be better used by people, particularly those with few resources, than taking up space elsewhere. They actually came from a charity called Sleeping on the Streets, based on Covent Garden. We came into contact with the man running it through the involvements we are exploring as a result of the new building and the various meetings that are taking place to consider the impact and the use of resources that the development is bringing into the community. He had the clothes and was short of space to display and disperse them - we have the clientele and little in the way of resources. It worked well!
And it is a sign of something we hope we might develop further. The building behind us is going to be huge, and it feels like it dominates and overshadows us. There are days when I almost fear it - will we survive it, will it take us over to such an extent that we might as well not be here? Is it a sign of our disappearance and our irrelevance?
But on the good days, the contacts we are making as a result and the possibilities that are emerging remind me that resurrection is truth. What looks like threat, overwhelming, even death, is the place where God brings life, hope, and new possibilities.
I am grateful to all those within the church who are working to create and build links with the various groups around us - and to understand and work with access to the finances that become available for work in the community. I am learning to look at the high towers and not see an impersonal threat, but as yet unknown possibilities. If the success of our rummage on Sunday is anything to go by, then the links we make, the possibilities to join in with kingdom activities in our community, and the chances to be and embody the love of God here and now - all of these are exciting
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Tuesday 17 February 2009
Interruptions
One of the delightful aspects of ministry at Bloomsbury is the interruptions - true of any public building, and of working with people. But it has a particular edge here, I think.
Well, I wrote that first sentence, ready to follow up with a learned and powerful disquisition on the meanings and glory of interruptions when the phone went, and I was invited to go and speak with somebody who wanted a minister. I spent some time with somebody who was in deep distress, and on my way back, got involved in a conversation with somebody who needed to ask questions about something to do with life here, and then with somebody else who wanted to challenge our right to be in this building.
And then I came back to the writing. I had intended to write about the ways in which the Kingdom comes to us in unexpected ways, through unplanned moments. And I was feeling smug about the way I had dealt with the various interruptions.
And now as I sit down to write, I am wondering if the only reason - or perhaps the main reason - why I dealt so well with it all was because I was thinking about how I would write, how I would demonstrate so well what an effective and responsive minister I am?
Not to turn this into a self-conscious expose of conscience, it has raised an interesting line of reflection; is it "easier" to minister well - or indeed, to be servants of God in any capacity - when we are already tuned into it? Was my effectiveness - or at least my capacity to react with some creativity and patience - raised because I was already thinking about it. And if that is the case, how do I keep tuned in, and what routines and rhythms would support such an awareness.
Any answers on a postcard please! Or alternatively, you could use the comments box....
Well, I wrote that first sentence, ready to follow up with a learned and powerful disquisition on the meanings and glory of interruptions when the phone went, and I was invited to go and speak with somebody who wanted a minister. I spent some time with somebody who was in deep distress, and on my way back, got involved in a conversation with somebody who needed to ask questions about something to do with life here, and then with somebody else who wanted to challenge our right to be in this building.
And then I came back to the writing. I had intended to write about the ways in which the Kingdom comes to us in unexpected ways, through unplanned moments. And I was feeling smug about the way I had dealt with the various interruptions.
And now as I sit down to write, I am wondering if the only reason - or perhaps the main reason - why I dealt so well with it all was because I was thinking about how I would write, how I would demonstrate so well what an effective and responsive minister I am?
Not to turn this into a self-conscious expose of conscience, it has raised an interesting line of reflection; is it "easier" to minister well - or indeed, to be servants of God in any capacity - when we are already tuned into it? Was my effectiveness - or at least my capacity to react with some creativity and patience - raised because I was already thinking about it. And if that is the case, how do I keep tuned in, and what routines and rhythms would support such an awareness.
Any answers on a postcard please! Or alternatively, you could use the comments box....
Friday 6 February 2009
Try, try and try again...
It is probably high time that I found a few moments to write something for the Ministry Team blog so here goes...
Having just returned from a week-long break in Egypt marvelling at the wonders of the ancient world, my head is spinning from the amount of information about the achievements of the Egyptians that our tour guide tried to impart.
One thing that does stick firmly in my mind is the persistence of the engineers who designed the pyramids as they tried get the formula correct that produced a perfect pyramid.
Standing on the plain at Gisa it is possible to see the early attempts and of course the final perfect creation of the Great Pyramid. I'm sure at the time there was much head scatching amongst the geometrists as they tried to discover the perfect angle at which to pitch the pyramid in order that it would not collapse under the weight of the giant stones lifted one on top of the other.
When one thinks that these great engineering feets were undertaken many centuries ago one has to wonder at the craftsmen's skill or was it simply the realisation of a dream with a good helping of luck?
In church life, as probably in all life, we spend probably spend much time head scratching trying to decide the best way to achieve our own aims and dreams. At Bloomsbury we have for sometime been working hard at finding the formula to find ways of being better engaged with the community. Like the Ancient Egyptians we have experimented with different ideas and spent time in groups discussing what we hope we might achieve.
By chance, certainly not by design, we have been invited to start conversations with friends at St George's Parish Church (Bloomsbury) and St Anselm & St Cecilia RC Church (Kingsway) and a group of representatives from all three churches have met to start a process of getting to know one another better. Ruth and the priest's from the other churches are meeting soon to look at possible ways in which we might share and collaborate on events and activities.
These early discussions are exciting as they clearly come out of a desire from each community to share together and be seen to be in dialogue with each other.
As I reflect again on the persistence of the Ancient Egyptians and the results they achieved which have stood the test of time I wonder whether our own persistence may be rewarded with results that will last as long. Perry Butler - Rector of St George's - remarked at our recent gathering that the greatest potential for church unity comes from co-operation and collaboration at the grass roots. As we embark on this very local initiative let us keep trying together to make something that will stand the test of time, something which others might marvel at like a pyramid.
Having just returned from a week-long break in Egypt marvelling at the wonders of the ancient world, my head is spinning from the amount of information about the achievements of the Egyptians that our tour guide tried to impart.
One thing that does stick firmly in my mind is the persistence of the engineers who designed the pyramids as they tried get the formula correct that produced a perfect pyramid.
Standing on the plain at Gisa it is possible to see the early attempts and of course the final perfect creation of the Great Pyramid. I'm sure at the time there was much head scatching amongst the geometrists as they tried to discover the perfect angle at which to pitch the pyramid in order that it would not collapse under the weight of the giant stones lifted one on top of the other.
When one thinks that these great engineering feets were undertaken many centuries ago one has to wonder at the craftsmen's skill or was it simply the realisation of a dream with a good helping of luck?
In church life, as probably in all life, we spend probably spend much time head scratching trying to decide the best way to achieve our own aims and dreams. At Bloomsbury we have for sometime been working hard at finding the formula to find ways of being better engaged with the community. Like the Ancient Egyptians we have experimented with different ideas and spent time in groups discussing what we hope we might achieve.
By chance, certainly not by design, we have been invited to start conversations with friends at St George's Parish Church (Bloomsbury) and St Anselm & St Cecilia RC Church (Kingsway) and a group of representatives from all three churches have met to start a process of getting to know one another better. Ruth and the priest's from the other churches are meeting soon to look at possible ways in which we might share and collaborate on events and activities.
These early discussions are exciting as they clearly come out of a desire from each community to share together and be seen to be in dialogue with each other.
As I reflect again on the persistence of the Ancient Egyptians and the results they achieved which have stood the test of time I wonder whether our own persistence may be rewarded with results that will last as long. Perry Butler - Rector of St George's - remarked at our recent gathering that the greatest potential for church unity comes from co-operation and collaboration at the grass roots. As we embark on this very local initiative let us keep trying together to make something that will stand the test of time, something which others might marvel at like a pyramid.
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