grace and peace…?

Last night I gathered with some of the Cranmer students to sing compline in the college chapel. This is my second week in attendance. I’m loving it – not least the fact that we are in near-darkness and that incense was wafting gently around us. Deeply helpful.

After this we headed down into the college basement bar and talked long and hard about how the power of properly inhabiting the daily office is being rediscovered by evangelicals. a good discussion.

After this I went home and eventually tumbled, exhausted into my bed. For the past few weeks our smallest child has been helpfully waking us at 4am-ish. Last night he slept through. Which is surprising given that our opposite neighbour’s alarm went off again and again throughout the night (they have gone away on holiday). It was a robust lesson in getting to grips with my own reaction to events that I cannot  control.

So, this morning, I wish my neighbours grace and peace and I wear my bags with joy…

Toyohiko Kagawa

I hadn’t heard about Toyohiko Kagawa until a couple of weeks ago. I knew nothing about him until today. Wikipedia say he, ‘was a Japanese pacifist Christian reformer, and labour activist. Kagawa wrote, spoke, and worked at length on ways to employ Christian principles in the ordering of society. His vocation to help the poor led him to live among them. He established schools, hospitals, and churches.’ He was frustrated by talk about the gospel – feeling instead, that like the Good Samaritan, the gospel was only authentic when lived. Kagawa seems to have lived it good and proper. Read more about him here.

the wave

On Saturday 5 December 2009, ahead of the crucial UN climate summit in Copenhagen, tens of thousands of people from all walks of life will flow through the streets of London to demonstrate their support for a safe climate future for all.

Part of a global series of public actions, The Wave will call on world leaders to take urgent action to secure a fair international deal to stop global warming exceeding the danger threshold of 2 degrees C.

The Wave, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, will show mass support by people from all backgrounds for a better, low carbon future for the UK and the world.

Organisers say: “We want the UK Government to show leadership at Copenhagen. We want them to Protect the Poorest, Act Fair & Fast, and to Quit Dirty Coal now, to inspire the deal the world needs…”

mission developer…

‘Church of the Beloved say: ‘we are a small, funny, growing group of friends who gather together to welcome strangers, to tell stories of God’s grace, to trust the healing love of Jesus, and dream about where the Spirit is sending us next to be a gift to our neighborhood and world. We also like to BBQ, create art, speak up for the marginalized, throw parties, and pray.’ They’ve written an interesting article on mission developers. read it. digest it. ponder it.

 

Pioneer supervision

The Fresh Expressions team have asked a training minister and his trainee pioneer to pass on their experience of working together. Paul Finch (a training incumbent in the Church of England) and Steve Martin (a curate who for the previous 31 years had been a Church Army Evangelist and Diocesan Youth Officer) came up with a raft of ideas. Based on these, the following points are covered:

• What qualities does a training minister need?
• How can the training minister best offer support?
• What support should the denomination/diocese give?
• What other forms of support might be helpful?
• What resources might be helpful?

Follow this link to Share the Guide to read the full thing.

Blackthorn Crescent

Tom Hiney is training here at Cranmer.

He sent me this image in advance of a sermon I preached at college last night on the great flood. The image is the artwork for something his band (Blackthorn Crescent) have put together.

The text says: ‘Rope Ladder: Chaos and How to Deal With it.’

I like the answer provided by the image…

ReSource pioneer training

The next resource weekend is being hosted by grace and moot in London, Jan 8 – 10. The focus is on mission & worship. More here.

Lumiere

Durham is currently playing host to an incredible light show – a collaboration between 60 sound and light artists from around the world. We took the children into the city center on Friday evening to experience it. I can’t get near to doing justice to any of what we saw with words so all I’ll say is that as we stood with a thousand other people to watch gigantic moving pages from the Lindisfarne gospels being projected onto the cathedral accompanied by an amazing soundscape, for a few fleeting moments I was lifted to another place.

The Guardian say: ‘Durham… was made to be lit up. Dark here by about five, deep dark. A mist comes off the Wear and floats, clogging the dells, snaking high up through the cobbles, darkening the world further. Then, gradually, on come the lights: so many clever lights, in the biggest such show England has known, and it is a triumph.’ read more here. (image theirs, not mine)

If you live in or near Durham, this evening is the final one  – if you can get along then seriously, get along!

the Northumbria community

I spent a good part of today on the receiving end of the generous hospitality of Pete and Catherine Askew of the Northumbria Community. Excellent to continue deepening a new friendship, to learn more about where the community are at, and to look forward to exciting things growing in the coming months.

The image is the road leading to the Mother House at Hetton Hall.

extra-curricular

Some of the guys from the mission module I teach on a Tuesday are up for continuing the discussion out of hours.

We’re meeting for compline at 9pm and then we’ll get stuck into things where all the best missiological thinking happens… over a couple of pints.

(and don’t bother getting in touch about the need for doing rather than talking… we know that. cheers. talking is good too. it means the doing is considered and not a complete waste of time)