Conference PS

Each year I look forward to the annual Ministers Conference of the Congregational Federation.  Four days with colleagues, relaxing, having fun, worshipping together, and learning together is very special.  This year was better than ever.  The Revd Dr Roberta Rominger, General Secretary of the URC led our worship in a creative and sensitive way that lifted spirits and enabled true worship.  David Clark unpacked for us the nuances of Bible translation, and did so with humour.  Dr Cherryl Hunt, a research assistant from Exeter University took us on a tour of some Bible Society programmes for helping people understand the Bible drama.  Dr Angus Paddison, a senior lecturer from Winchester University spoke about how the Bible makes Christ known, and so much more.  If all that sounds rather academic, let me assure you it was not inaccessible, was not boring, was exciting and fun.

But the cherry on the icing on the scrumptious cake was Bob Hartman, an author and story teller par excellence.  How we laughed!  How we engaged!  How we were enthralled!  I just took video after video.  I wish you could have seen and heard the whole thing.  And I have not said about the two incredible teaching dramas that were put together at short notice by a team of teenager (mostly children of the manse).  Nor have I mentioned the fun of having the younger kids playing around with us.  What a week!  I have added more photos on the right (click to enlarge) and added more to my Facebook page.

Where do we go from here?  Please see the immediately previous post.

Blessings at the Conference

I promised to blog from the Ministers/Church Leaders Conference for the Congregational Federation.  However, very poor internet connections at the Christian hotel we are using has made this impossible.  Even now I will keep this brief as I can only obtain internet access in an inconvenient location at an inconvenient time!

This four day event is intended to be educational experience.  However it is a rich time of fellowship with old and new colleagues, and a time of inspiration.  It is also a family event as we welcome the children of ministers and have had the joy of watching (and admiring) their characters as the grow up.

This year's event is entitled "Bible Based".  We have four guest speakers.  These include the Revd dr Roberta Rominger (Gen Sec of the United Reformed Church), Dr Angus Paddison (a theologian from Winchester University (and one of my supervisors)), someone called David who is an expert on Bible translation, and someone called Cherryl who has worked with the Bible Society on a project.  Roberta's role has been planning and leading worship and she has been excellent as well as good in drawing in other folk.

The conference is in a beautiful part of England and has a relaxed programme.  As part of free time on Wednesday, Doreen and I visited Gay and Fred who were members of our church when I was ministering in Hastings.  It was good to get some time together as they live not far from our venue.  It was good too to discover that Gay has written a book recently.  The pace is relaxed and worship and fellowship has been refreshing, while the main sessions have been usefully instructive.

Rather than try to lay the blog out to include photos I will try to load them into the slide show on the right.  You can click on any to enlarge them.  This also means the photos of the recent walk can now only be found on my Facebook pages.

Sunday we are at Yelvertoft.  Then we are on holiday until 9th.  On 8th we have a family birthday party in Portsmouth and on the Saturday I am working at Winchester University.  I also need to use some time to catch up on study for Uni.  We hope the splendid weather will continue.  Sunday 8th the ministry at Yelvertoft will be covered by Angela - one of the ministry team.

Even though we are having something of a break we still value your prayers.  Thank you.

Barry

More walking for Jesus!

Happy Easter!  He is risen indeed!

Palm Sunday walk

It has been an interesting week.  Last Sunday the folk from my congregation joined others from the Parish Church and the local Catholics for the Palm Sunday service.  As on previous years we walk through the village with a small pony stopping at each place of worship for a prayer and the verse of a hymn.  The Parish Church is at the south end of the village and the RC near the north end, with the Congregational Church in the middle.  After walking the 13.5 miles the day before I did wonder whether I would manage the walking but after a good night's rest I had little after affects.

Many are encouraged by these occasions when we join together, though I confess myself disappointed that we are welcomed as visiting guests when it could just as easily be a proper united service.  It's the usual rural ecumenism problem!  My Anglican colleague gave a good word.  Now he's off for a 3 month sabbatical.

On Thursday we held the last of the Lent Course daytime meetings.  The attendance has kept up throughout and most if not all at both the evening sessions and the daytime sessions seem keen that something like this should continue in future.  We certainly had some useful conversations.  As I have said in other postings this has been a very rewarding experience in ministry.

Waiting for the Open Air to begin

Yesterday Doreen and I joined others for the Harborough Churches Together United Good Friday service held this year at the Congregational Church.  Great hymns, a moving drama, and a good engaging and clear message from my colleague Suzanne.  Afterwards we processed silently from the church (at the top of the High Street) to the Square (in the centre of town).  People were respectful and patient.  I heard one observer say to another, "They're following the cross".  Well, it's certainly the way we ought to walk!

Once in the Square the crowd grew larger as we waited for the Open Air to begin.  A local transport firm provided a large trailer for the platform.  Tesco and Sainsbury's provided hot cross buns for us to give away.  It was strange to find ourselves standing in the heat as it often snows around Easter.  While we waited, a small group of singers and instrumentalists ran through several of the newer appropriate songs. Then the formal part was opened by the local vicar followed by various people from many of the local churches taking different parts.

Brian in mid-flow

We had a moving puppet show performed as a mime to a song about people needing Jesus.  We had a brilliant solo without accompaniment of "Were you there?".  Then Brian, the Methodist minister spoke on five crosses (the one you get at school if you get something wrong, the ones on the bottom of a letter, the one on an ambulance, the one on a treasure map, and the one on a voting form).  I had done the same thing at a school assembly a week before.  Incidentally, Brian and his wife used to be associate evangelists of ours back in the 1970s.

After the event some of us made our way to the Baptist Church where we had a frugal lunch of half a cup of soup, a small piece of bread and two small cubes of cheese.  For this they took £3 off us towards Christian Aid.  Talking of which, if all my sponsorship for the walk comes in I would have raise £373.  I am grateful for those who helped me in this regard.

Most of the rest of the week, and throughout today, has been a struggle with some Sunrise Ministry accounts which have to be ready for a trustees' meeting in mid-May.  I should have been doing study for my research degree!  Aaargh!!  Tomorrow we have no instrumentalist for our Easter Service at Yelvertoft.  Attempts to find someone to cover for our regular musician have failed so I guess it will be unaccompanied Easter hymns.

From Tuesday to Friday we will be at the Church Leaders Conference in Derbyshire.  The following week we will be on holiday in Hampshire ending up with a birthday celebration for a sister-in-law on Doreen's side of the family.  So it could be two relaxing weeks ... only I have to catch up with my study!

I'll blog you mid-week from the Conference.  You have a great Easter celebration.  What a victory!  Hallelujah!

Walk completed!

Walking on the Jurassic Way

Yes!  We did it.  16 of us altogether, with most walking the whole 13.5 miles (though it felt more).  I had definitely reached my limit by the end but I managed to raise £300 (so far!) in sponsorship.

Some of the pictures I took are on my Facebook page.  Try http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.10150167847783193.287922.696458192 as a link.

I have added some of the photos in the slide show on the right.

Clicking on them should enlarge them.  Don't look for me as I was taking the photos!

Thanks to all my sponsors.

Barry

Lenten Delights and more

The week started well with services taken at Blaby and Theddingworth, both in Leicestershire.  At both occasions it seemed the word was warmly received.

If you have been involved in Lent Groups then, like me, you might have found this something of an experience like the curates egg: good in parts.  Over the years I can recall three occasions when the experience was wholly excellent - this year being one of them.  One of my treasured aspirations is to hold regular informal discussions on biblical topics, reflecting theologically with others interested in drawing truth from God's word.  It was the work of Francis Schaeffer at L'Abri that first sowed the seed in my heart.

To some extent this year's two Lent Groups provided a taster.  The Wednesday evening was a small intimate inter-church group starting as eight and becoming five after some found other responsibilities took them away.  The Thursday morning group was eleven people from various denominational backgrounds and with various levels of Bible knowledge.  It was almost entirely a gracious gatherings but both were spiritually stimulating.  As I write this blog and instantly recall the warmth of fellowship and eagerness in the group I am reminded of the Bereans who listened eagerly to Paul's message and then examined the scriptures to check it out (Acts 17:10, 11).  What a joy!  What a privilege!

An added bliss to the Thursday sessions has been the opportunity to support the local MU who provide nice soup and salad lunches on Thursdays.  This extends the fellowship.

Far too much of the week was taken up struggling to get the email service working correctly.  I had transferred our domain (ruralmissions.org.uk) from one host to another.  It seems that in the process the email management system at Google automatically suspended the service.  This has been complicated by my so far futile efforts to put this right (though it has worked efficiently in part).  I now hope that I have done all that is necessary and we will be back to a fully functioning system soon.  Along the way I have been reminded of my limitations despite the many years of IT activity.  So some wisdom has been imparted!

The newly acquired Vauxhall Meriva

Another activity this week has been the acquisition of a new (used) car.  I have realised that before long I would need to obtain a newer car that would be more economical to run and possibly see me through the coming years.  Now that Doreen is less mobile I sought advice on how to combine those needs with something that might accommodate her electric scooter.  I was pointed in the direction of a Vauxhall Meriva and also advised to consult a particular dealer with a good reputation.  On arrival at his garage I found he had just taken delivery of a 2008 1.4 litre ex-Motability Meriva with only 10,000 miles on the clock.

So it was that I bade farewell to the Vauxhall Astra that has served me well for the last eight years and collected the Meriva this week.  To our utter amazement we also received a generous donation specifically towards a new car.

On Wednesday I also attended the Induction of the Rev'd Michael Heaney as Moderator of the Free Churches Group and Co-Moderator of Churches Together in England.  It was a happy occasion and the opportunity to meet with good friends in other Churches.

Plans to try to get some more exercise in before the big walk tomorrow failed to materialise.  I am so grateful to all who have sponsored me.  Currently this stands at about £300 provided I complete all 13.5 cross-country miles from Yelvertoft to Market Harborough.  Two new folk from the congregation at Yelvertoft are also walking and have raised some sponsorship too. The weather forecast is for heavy rain around 7.00am but hopefully this will have cleared by 9.30 when we start.  It then is expected to be overcast for the rest of the day.  We will be walking across some super countryside.

If I can still move on Sunday morning my church will be sharing with the Parish Church and local Catholics for a joint Palm Sunday Service in Yelvertoft.  It is preceded by walking from one end of the village to the other with Palm branches and a donkey!

The Coming Week
Sunday - Joint Palm Sunday Service, Yelvertoft
Tuesday - Gartree Prison
Thursday - morning Lent Group, Yelvertoft.  In the afternoon we shall support friends from Torch Trust for the Blind reading from the gospels at Market Harborough branch of Waterstones.
Good Friday - Supporting Open Air Meeting in the central Market Square, Market Harborough.
Easter Sunday - Yelvertoft

Please note that after Easter Doreen and I are attending a Church Leaders' Conference at Matlock, Derbyshire. We return for the weekend but then leave for a week's break, during which I have sessions at Winchester University on Saturday and a special birthday party for one of Doreen's sisters.  I am still preparing for the Uni activity so I am sure you will understand if news is brief next weekend.

Finally
I hope you have a really great Easter.  Jesus has conquered sin and death.  Hallelujah!

Barry

The need for clarity

The Lent courses in Yelvertoft have continued to go well.  I found that the CD content for session 4 of the York Course which focuses on the power of the Holy Spirit rather disappointing for various reasons, so I prepared my own material.  Up to now the CD contents have been helpful.  So this week I share with you some of the things about which we reflected.

It is the person of the Holy Spirit that makes actual in our experience all that the Father purposed and the Son made possible through his life, death, resurrection and priestly ministry in Heaven.  In John 14 Jesus speaks about another... Comforter (AV) Counsellor (NIV).  The Greek word parakletos used here means one who comes or is sent alongside to support and strengthen, or to be an advocate.

The Greek word here for another is allos which is normally used for another of the same or similar.  (Heteros is the Greek word in the New Testament for another that is different.)  Jesus also goes on to speak about the fact that they already knew the Spirit of Truth (another identity for the parakletos) because he was already with them.  When we look at this part in the conversation and look back through the whole of chapter 14 we can see clearly what Jesus meant.  Earlier, Jesus had stated that if they knew him then they already knew the Father.  The persons of the trinity are not different in character from one another.  So it is with the Holy Spirit.  The presence of God that they encountered in Jesus would be the same when he left and the Holy Spirit came, not only to be with them (as Jesus was with them) but to dwell in them.

50 days after the death of Christ and ten days after his ascension the Holy Spirit was poured out on 120 people as they met in the upper room in Jerusalem.  As Peter afterwards explained to the crowd, Jesus having been exalted to the right hand of the Father had received the promise of the Father had poured out the Holy Spirit on them.  Now the promise was for all who believed... to all who respond to God's call.  So it is that in the Acts of the Apostles we read of the Christians in Samaria, Ephesus and in the home of Cornelius also receiving the same dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  So it is experienced by people today, sometimes after this blessing is purposefully sought and sometimes unexpectedly.

But we need to be clear that the Holy Spirit is not given to all.  This promise is for those who repent of sin and put their trust in Jesus.

That this experience gave the early disciples boldness is clear from the account we have in scripture.  Paul also writes to the Christians in Galatia about the transforming work the Holy Spirit does in our lives by which the fruit (singular) of the Holy Spirit is manifest.  The nine elements of this fruit are not a list of options, nor is it about our changing our behaviour.  If we are truly living in the Holy Spirit then all those nine elements should be discernable - at least to some degree.  So our transformed lives witness alongside the words the Spirit empowers us to share with others.

It is the Holy Spirit who baptises us into the body of Christ and then gives gifts that enable us for the part he plans for us (1 Corinthians 12).  The commentary on the CD wrongly identified some of these as mundane and some as glamorous.  It further suggested that we should be satisfied with the mundane.  But in writing to the Christians at Corinth Paul makes clear that no gift is of less value than another.  To suggest that some are inferior is to speak against the giver (for they are not earned).  Paul exhorts us to covet earnestly the best gifts, but he does not categorise these.  The best gifts are whatever we need for the ministry God has entrusted to us as part of the body of Christ.

Some have become confused by Paul's comparison of speaking with tongues with prophecy.  In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul returns to the theme of desiring these gifts of the Spirit, and highlights prophecy.  But the text makes clear that on its own speaking in tongues does almost nothing for anyone other than the speaker, who is edified.  It is only once what has been spoken in tongues has been interpreted (not translated) that others can be edified.  Prophecy does not need an associated gift.  We note that speaking in tongues is an utterance from the speaker to God (not the reverse).  A person speaking in tongues might also speak of God (e.g. on the Day of Pentecost they declared the wonderful works of God - or praise).  But we do well to note that Paul celebrated his ability to speak in tongues and his longing that all might have that gift.

Whether that gift is given to all is thrown into doubt by 1 Corinthians 12:30.  But I have yet to meet anyone who has this gift who would want to be without it!

Another aspect that clearly confused those providing the commentary on the CD is that reference to wisdom and knowledge in 1 Corinthians 12 is not general wisdom and understanding but moments of revelation.  The Holy Spirit might give occasions of supernatural understanding in a situation or supernatural wisdom to know what has to be done. These are singular experiences.

The purpose behind the Lent course we are using is to explore the legacy Jesus provides for his disciples.  It is good that the five suggested by the course includes "Power".  This is one element of the legacy about which I wish I knew more experientially.  But the closing reflection on the CD helpfully points out that this is not power as the world understands power.  If the loving sacrifice of Calvary is not seen in an empowered ministry then we will have lost the plot.

Barry

Thoughtlessness or plain stupidity?

Before I share a reflection on the past busy week I'd like to express my anger and disappointment over the recent activities of Terry Jones in the USA who put the Koran on trial and burned a copy.  There is an interesting parallel news story released this (Sunday) morning from Libya where thoughtless jubilation by Libyan opposition fighters precipitated an air attack by a coalition fighter.  Libyans fired weapons including an anti-aircraft gun into the air leading the coalition fighter to believe it was under attack.  It responded and at least 13 men died unnecessarily.  The worst of "own goals".

That some Muslim extremists use Koranic texts to justify violence against other religions is well known.  It is also well known that the vast majority of Muslim people and scholars condemn such interpretations and actions.  For Terry Jones to act as he did was at best a mindless act of stupidity and he is culpable for the reaction he then precipitated.  Of course, that said it does not justify the attack on the UN staff and premises in Afghanistan or subsequent attacks on churches in Pakistan.

Americans assert that their First Amendment provides legal grounds for Terry Jones' actions but while a court of law in America might find it impossible to hold him accountable, I am confident that a far higher seat of judgement will take a different view.  For ourselves, where our own society is increasingly pluralistic, we need to learn how to live out and share the gospel in the Spirit of Christ.

Now to my own news.  Firstly, this has been a busy week at Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire where I took a school assembly on Tuesday and led Lent Groups on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.  Both groups are working well and the larger group on Thursday has developed into one of the best Bible discussion groups I have ever encountered.  It is a delight!

On Tuesday evening Doreen and I travelled to Hastings for an overnight visit to our sister-in-law in advance of attending the service of thanksgiving for the life of one of our friends at Herstmonceux, East Sussex.  The occasion provided an opportunity to visit old friends from the church in Hastings where I ministered for 21 years, and to spend time with friends from Herstmonceux where I ministered for almost 15 years.  We shared sorrow at out temporary loss of a very dear friend and sister, and supported her husband, who personally gave the best eulogy I have ever heard.  It was personal, touching, endearing, honouring, and full of the Christian hope for that better life still to come.  Doreen and Colin Porter were a wonderful joint gift from God to the church at Herstmonceux.  Tragically, they lost their daughter only a few weeks ago after a long battle with Leukaemia and I commend Colin to your prayers.

Coming this week
Sunday 3rd - Yelvertoft with a focus on Street Pastors in nearby Rugby.
Monday 4th - School Assembly in Lubenham, Leics.
Tuesday 5th - "Holiday at Home" mission planning meeting and Gartree Prison.
Wednesday 6th - Lent Group 1 session 4, Yelvertoft
Thursday 7th - Lent Group 2 Session 3, Yelvertoft
Sunday 10th - Blaby Congregational Church, Leicestershire.

Also this week:  (a)  some intensive reading and research for my university work, (b) some articles to write, and (c) some further training preparation for the 13.5 sponsored walk on 16th April in aid of a charity based in the Dominican Republic (sponsorship appreciated if possible please).

As ever, our very sincere thanks for your interest and prayers.

Barry