April 2009 Archives

Following 74 people or organisations on twitter... 174 friends on facebook... heaven-knows how many RSS feeds in google reader... all of which end up sending me links to other webpages or websites...

That's an awful lot of noise all at once!

Problem is that it's pretty addictive - what if I miss something?

I had four days just after Easter with no internet access at all. It was great.

Current plan is to remove the computer from my study at home (where the idea is I will be able to study, preparation etc.) - but of course I'll scupper that if I ever get my hands on the mobile I'm coveting at a distance...

It comes down, of course, to that most under-rated, most seldom-practiced and most needed of virtues - basic discipline, in particular the discipline of "delayed gratification"... something we're meant to develop as we grow up.

Perhaps I just never did? Grow up, that is...

Our kids love pouring over the family photo albums. Sad, really, that most of our photos are on a computer now, since they love lying on their tummies on the bed, flicking through the (real) pages and asking "who was that?", "why wasn't I there?" ("Because you weren't born then..." "Why not?"). They're a celebration of the past and, I think, give them a sense of security for the future - who they are, where they belong.

God's people are shown doing this sort of thing over and again throughout scripture - sometimes it's with rocks rather than photos (as when crossing the Jordan), other times with words (as many of the Psalms retell the past), but each time, it's stories of God's grace that are celebrated together.

It seems to me that it's one of the very most important things that a church community can/must do - celebrate God's goodness in their midst, tell one another stories of that goodness... open the family photo album and enjoy the snapshots of grace.

Church Annual Meetings have a rotten bad name in CofE circles - but they really needn't. Our's is, genuinely, one of the most spiritually uplifting evenings of the year for me and for many others. We focus on 'snapshots of grace' as a way of understanding our written reports (and by having them written down and minimising elections, we keep the business part of the meeting to less than 30 minutes) and then, in the context of worship, have an 'open mic' for people to bring out their own snapshots - or testimony, I guess - of what God's been doing.

Last Thursday evening, we spent nearly 50 minutes doing just that - and ran out of time for more. People spoke of God walking with them through dark times, mending relationships, answering prayer, helping them belong, challenging their parenting and building faith.

We need to go on finding ways of opening up the photo album - it's encouraged and challenged me no end!

Bishop Tom Wright has prime space in the Times today (and available to read online too) to talk about Easter and - no surprise - grabs the opportunity with both hands.

It's a wonderfully concise and stirring piece on the significance of a bodily resurrection for a world that "lurches between anarchy and tyranny" and a church that needs to take up the tasks of "beauty and justice".

Here's a flavour from the last few paragraphs - do go and read the rest.

Easter is about a new creation that has already begun. God is remaking His world, challenging all the other powers that think that is their job. The rich, wise order of creation and its glorious, abundant beauty are reaffirmed on the other side of the thing that always threatens justice and beauty - death. Christianity's critics have always sneered that nothing has changed. But everything has. The world is a different place.

Easter has been sidelined because this message doesn't fit our prevailing world view. For at least 200 years the West has lived on the dream that we can bring justice and beauty to the world all by ourselves.

The split between God and the "real" world has produced a public life that lurches between anarchy and tyranny, and an aesthetic that swings dramatically between sentimentalism and brutalism. But we still want to do things our own way, even though we laugh at politicians who claim to be saving the world, and artists who claim "inspiration" when they put cows in formaldehyde.

The world wants to hush up the real meaning of Easter. Death is the final weapon of the tyrant or, for that matter, the anarchist, and resurrection indicates that this weapon doesn't have the last word. When the Church begins to work with Easter energy on the twin tasks of justice and beauty, we may find that it can face down the sneers of sceptics, and speak once more of Jesus in a way that will be heard.

I wonder whether I managed to miss it?

I was here, of course - at church most of the day (in my office, though) - and I'd had a week of build up (mostly at my computer, though) - and I'm looking forward to Sunday (though I still need to finish what I'm going to say and how I'm going to lead).

And therein lies the problem : too much stuff, not enough time and space.

Holy Week really and truly ought to be a week to do less of the stuff we do the rest of the time (yes, even for Vicars) and set aside the calm, unhurried time that lets us catch up with the drama and wonder of the week itself.

For me, today has been truly the opposite of what it ought to have been - I've sat at my desk trying to clear stuff through so I can go away for a few days' holiday on Sunday evening. If ever there was an inappropriate way to spend such a day, this was it.

Next year - and here's something to hold me to - I want to plan a week where the week itself (not getting ready for the holiday afterwards, or planning the next term's preaching, or clearing my inbox) becomes the focus.

Otherwise I risk arriving for a celebration on Sunday morning only dimly aware of why it's all such good news.