Yesterday in church

We have an annual open air service at one of my churches. Still being new to the ministry means I am constantly asking what has been done in the past (not wanting to reproduce a previous theme if possible) so that we can be fresh and hopefully look at Scripture from a different angle. Yesterday we remembered Gospel stories that were lodged in our memories - perhaps because we were told them in Sunday School lessons or from our private reflections. We then talked to the person next to us and discussed why they were in our memories. We then wrote down the title (like 'woman at the well') and pegged them on a washing line in the church garden. Later the church was the crowd from the Feeding of the Five Thousand (Mark 6 and John 6). I told the story using the congregation who dressed up appropriately as people who may have followed Jesus. We also threw in a few contemporary suggestions like a diver (thanks Roger), policemen and Turkish belly dancer etc. The point was that on the line was our collective memory/history and putting them on the washing line in a roughly chronological order (which was an interesting exercise!) was a pictorial representation of our living history. These accounts were chosen for a good reason and we looked to think where God had been in our lives. Being the crowd (hopefully) fused a new memory of another story but this time we were all together so we now had a collective memory and just as we acted out the story, so we are encouraged to act out the Gospel accounts that are lodged deep within us.
Did it work? I think it did. Would I do anything differently? I used Mackerel for the fish - I'd go to Morrison's earlier next time and get Sardines - they don't smell so much!

who are you?

As a part of my dissertation I am researching some Fresh Expressions of church. I phoned up someone yesterday who heads up a FE and had a great conversation. Great that was until he asked, '..where do you stand on this...? What's your theology?' Now this is the question I've been dreading. In fact Hazel and I had been talking about this just the day before. I have been doing a lot of talking lately at meetings and churches and have often mentioned my conservative evangelical roots, especially my formative years at Bromley Baptist and Honor Oak Baptist churches. I remember them and the leaders with great fondness, putting me on a very stable road to pursue my christian life. So when someone asks me what my theology is I find it hard to reply. I am now a Methodist minister and have been exposed to a lot of different theologies, from conservative evangelical to pentecostal to Third Wave Charismatic to liberal and that includes the House Church movement and New Frontiers (Heaven help me!).
I told the chap I was talking to that I was probably a Post Evangelical (after Dave Tomlinson's book. He needed some clarification on this which I didn't want to give. I am forever trying to get away from labels because they don't say who I really am. Jonny Baker makes this point on his recent blog. Here he suggests he is more Catholic (I presume it's with a big 'C' 'cos everything he types is in trendy lower case. I expect there is some deep theological reason behind it) than he thought. Today I picked up a book by Rob McAlpine called Post Charismatic? which does a good job of describing me too.
In truth what I have found is that, rather like a bendy bus, I am having to flex and be remoulded rather than try to force God into my pre-determined doctrinal box. This is a painful process and as yet I can't say what I am. Does this make me a wishy-washy Methodist who doesn't know which way up he is or a faithful disciple who is waiting on Jesus for the next instalment to be revealed? Don't answer that!

How much do we change?

Some years ago I was preparing a sermon when I saw a kestrel swoop down and take a small bird. At that time I felt it was significant for the congregation and I remember saying, 'something like that doesn't just happen when you are preparing a sermon. What is God saying to us...?' Yesterday, I was going over a sermon for one of my services on Sunday when I saw in my garden a kestrel come down and take a small sparrow. It landed ten feet away from me and killed the sparrow. It stood on it for about 30 seconds before flying away. It was a bitter-sweet moment for me because I have been encouraging birds into the garden for ten months and this sparrow was probably one that I have cared for and put out (expensive) seeds and mealworms for. Now it was being killed right in front of me. I was caught between scaring off the kestrel and rescuing the fluffy sparrow or letting the kestrel feed its chicks. In the end, I let the kestrel have its meal and was left with the wonderful feeling of having been so close to a beautiful hawk. Not once did I feel this was a spiritual moment that needed to be relayed to the congregation.
So I am left wondering how much does our relationship with God/spirituality change over time? I'm not sure and right now I don't want to look too hard. It may be that we are changing for the better or we might be too busy to consider where God is.

centenary

I was invited by one of my schools recently to be at the centenary celebrations. In fact, I was asked to give a short talk which I readily agreed to. It was quite a big occasion with lots of old pupils/teachers attending.
It was a great time and although I messed up blessing the stone (I'll know the next time they ask me to the bicentenial celebration) it was a great. In my short address, I mentioned that the kids coming into the school were like sand brought in by the tide...you know, there's that time when the tide is neither coming in nor going out and that's where the sand is dropped to the sea bed, albeit momentarily. I likened this to the children resting in the safe environment of this very lovely school before they are taken off elsewhere. This is the stone that will be laid in the vestibule although I've not seen it yet.