McChurch, iChurch etc.

Branding is big business. When we hear certain names we get an immediate picture conjured up for us and these pictures have a variety of accompanying connotations. Supermarkets, banks, sportswear and so many other things have their brand leaders. Some brands become very all-embracing. It is difficult to find somewhere with no coca cola. What kind of brand picture does the church give? Is it one that pulls people in to the picture, or one that drives them away? We may think we don't want McChurch or iChurch - but we do need to get people in our culture engaged with church.

Golden Rules for Prayer

I have just begun reading "Finding Your Hidden Treasure" by Benignus O'Rourke (DLT, 2010). It explores the value and the place of silent prayer. Too often, as for other parts of life, we make prayer too busy. In the Introduction O'Rourke suggests two golden rules for prayer (p. 11) - "One is that we have to pray as we can in the way best suited to us, not in the way we think we ought. .... And the other rule is: the less we pray, the harder it gets."

Sacramental Church

An important aspect of the role of the church is to link the world and God. Simon and Garfunkel famously sang of a “bridge over troubled waters”. I think that is what the church is called to be and do. One of the words that we sometimes use to describe things that convey the special from God to us is the word “sacrament”. Sacraments bring us special things from God. In my tradition, on the whole, we only recgnise two sacraments, Holy Communion and Baptism, though there are other things that bring us the sheer joy and wonder of God’s presence. This is certainly superbly demonstrated in these two sacraments which offer us something, which we sometimes call “grace” from God. In “A Generous Orthodoxy” (Zondervan, 2006) Brian McLaren reminds us that: "A sacrament .... carries something of God to us .... all things ... can ultimately carry the sacred: the kind smile of a Down's syndrome child, the bouncy jubilation of a puppy, the graceful arch of a dancer's back, the camera work in a fine film, good coffee, good wine, good friends, good conversation" (p. 254). Let’s be ready to see the special things of God in a wide range of places!

Justice Matters

For me, for several years, one of the driving forces of my engagement with justice matters was work with and for asylum seekers. It began one Sunday afternoon in the latter part of the 1980s. I received a telephone call. I was, at the time, minister of two tiny inner city URC congregations in Islington. My caller said: we’ve got a problem. There’s a big influx of Kurdish refugees from Turkey to this part of London and we don’t know what to do with them, where to accommodate there. Is there any chance that your church could house a group while we sort things out? The lettings policy, not that we probably had one, went out of the window, as did some elements of Health and Safety, as I said ‘yes’. By the time the evening congregation were arriving, so were a group of approximately 30 Kurdish men, non- English speaking of course. And all credit to that congregation, which didn’t bat any serious eyelids. And so began a period of about, in the end, three months that some of them stayed.It was a fascinating time and experience. It taught me a lot about hospitality. It taught me a lot about welcoming the stranger. It taught me a lot about justice. I spent quite a bit of time fund-raising, and quite a bit just going and do the practical things – accompanying them to Sainsbury’s and buying food, driving down to Burton’s in Oxford Street who offered a car load of clothes. I was part of a group of local church people who did a bit of crisis management and campaigning. I also used to just sit and drink tea with my new Kurdish friends – and that probably achieved as much as anything. I saw, in some cases, the marks left behind by torture. I saw photos of family left at home. I shared the frustration of their not being able to work. One of the great joys later on was to accept an invitation to share some food at the home of a couple of these men once they had been rehoused.

Discipleship's for Life

Discipleship is for life, not just for Christmas, not just for Easter, not just for Advent, not just for .... At the moment I am reading John's Gospel alongside Richard Burridge's "John - the People's Bible Commentary" (BRF, 1998). Commenting on that great passage about freedom in John 8 - you will know the truth and the truth will make you free - Burridge says: "Discipleship is not a single event, an instant reaction to someone speaking; it is a life of constant listening and learning" (p. 116). Discipleship is ongoing. It will take us different places. We can't be doing all our discipleship all the time, but should always be looking for the discipleship call of the moment.

God's Agenda

We tend to be good at agenda setting but sometimes - perhaps often - need to step back from that and rather look to follow God's agenda. Equally we talk about our mission or the mission of the church - actually it's God's mission. Sometimes we get frustrated because we don't seem to be achieving what we want - when it might be that we should be looking for what it is that God wants us to do. Let's find ways of listening for what God is calling us to do. Let's remember that God doesn't call us to do things that are impossible for us. God will ensure we have the available resources for what we are called to do. Let's discover God's agenda and follow it!

The Beehive Principle

I am not sure where I got this idea, but I think it's a helpful one. Honey bees have a highly developed social structure. A beehive may house as many as 80,000 bees, each of which performs a specialised duty. Some are forager bees, flying great distances to collect food. The guard bees protect the hive entrance from intruders. The scout bees alert the hive to opportunities and dangers in the outside world. A few bees serve as undertakers, responsible for removing dead bodies from the hive. Others are water collectors. They bring in moisture to regulate the hive's humidity. Some are plasterers, making a cement-like substance to repair the hive. The scent fanners station themselves at the hive entrance and blow the scent outward so that disorientated bees can find their way home. The Bible illustrates this "beehive principle" several times. In the Old Testament, Moses is overcome by the burdens of his office and appoints others to help him. In the New Testament Paul says to the church at Corinth that there are varieties of gifts, varieties of service, and varieties of working, each inspired by God for the common good. Every Christian has received gifts and has a role to play in the beehive of God's Kingdom.