Book Review - Mission Shaped Spirituality

It has been quite a while since I have read a book cover to cover in one go. Maybe it is because I am writting an essay on its contents, maybe it is the authors style that appeals to me, maybe its because the contents are great stuff, I suspect though that it is a comnination of all of these things.

This book goes hand in hand with the Church of England report "Mission shaped church" produced in 2004 which has had an immese impact on the church at home, looking theologically and practically at examples of how church could be changed to meet the needs of those on the outside of the doors.

When we think of spirituality - we look at the personal, the relationship with the almighty wether that be expressed in prayer, Bible reading, quietness, art, poetry ... + 101 other ways. However the Bible also speaks about that relationship impacting the world around us as well. Mission comes from the call to "Go", as Christians we are called to engage or in some ways to re-engage with the culture around. The question this book asks us is there a spirituality for mission? a spirituality which will support mission - an apostolic spirtuality?

Well, there clearly has to be! (Not least because there is a book written about it!)

Mission Shaped spirituality is something which has to span traditional church as well as fresh expressions, we are all called to be "one, holy , catholic and apostolic church". Each christian has that call on their lives to be a person who is sent - to go.

We are called and sent. In the busyness of a typical parish, there are many, many concerns, so much so that the fire and passion of mission is in danger of being extinguished. How can one keep this passion.

(p7) No one really argues that themseleves out of inertia. There is onlu one way to deal with it and that is to exert a counter force. To push through it, to pull against it. As soom as we start doing that, the inertia begins to release its grip ... (The authors experience) is that the fire of mission can re-ignite through the act of going" ...

It is this fire of love for God and the world which has to be the foundation of a spirtuality which is mission.

This mission spirituality reminds us of our lifes meaning - who and what we are, what we are doing and our life's purpose. When we live by it, when we really know what mission is then when times are tough, when all around us we see trouble, at the end of a hard and difficult day, week, month ... the sense that we are living for a purpose for which we are commissioned (Matt 28) then we can return to the central truth that we a members of a missional communuity.

The book also reminds us that there is both a general and a particular call on our lives - The general is "to go" the particular is "where to go". It could be deepest africa, it could be round the corner. We are all called to go.



.... to be continued !!!!

these are only my rambling thoughts on the book!

Sermon Preached in Exegesis class

A reading from Mark 7 : 14-21

14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "^[a]

17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

20He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

Let us pray,

Heavenly father I pray that as we come to your word this day, you would teach us, mould us and challenge us through Jesus Christ our Lord amen.

From the outset of this sermon I would like to apologise for using a geeky computer term but here it is GIGO – Garbage in Garbage out. Basically it means that if you put rubbish into a computer you will get rubbish out at the other end.

This passage is all about purity, cleanness of the individual which affects their relationship with God and does, I believe has something to teach us as individuals and also as a church in our life and mission.

Let us take a step back from this individual passage and look at it in context.

Marks gospel is a journey towards the full revelation of Christ as Messiah and concludes with the centurion at the foot of the cross saying “truly this man is the son of God.” This passage occurs right at the heart of the gospel. Prior to this we have had immense demonstration of Jesus’ power – Baptism, calling of the disciples, healings, teachings, teaching on the Sabbath, driving out demons, raising the dead girl, sending out the 12, walking on water. With all of these amazing acts Jesus is gaining in popularity – feed 5,000 people and you will gain a name for yourself!

Just before we get into chapter 7 we have a summary of what Jesus is up to

“As soon as they got out of the boat people recognised Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. …It is not a problem to say that “Jesus mania” was sweeping the countryside.

As we come to the passage we are looking at this morning – the scene is set – Jesus is in one of these towns and some of the Jewish authorities are out to catch him out. The place is public, a market place, stalls, fruit, veg, and noisy lots of people buzzing about. They have got him now! – The disciples are eating without washing their hands - this is not a hygiene issue – its another 1800 years before our Louis Pasteur gives the health benefits of washing hands – it is all about ritual tradition. In this tradition it was a widespread custom of washing after the market as they may be defiled by touching a gentile in the crowd and so become ritually unclean.

The shadow of a Gentile falling across a dish or plate made it unclean.

These traditions were found in the “law of the elders” that halakah – the oral law which claimed to interpret and complete the Mosaic Law.

Jesus responds by trying to show them how far these traditions have fallen from the law. By quoting text from the 10 commandments – “honour your father and mother” but then your case you can nullify that by doing certain things. This is only one example.

It is then Jesus calls the crowd and says that nothing outside a person can defile him – this was radical teaching – it went directly against the rabbinic teachings of the day. That statement in itself would have been completely stark to Jews of the day listening in.

Then after leaving that public declaration we see the disciples entering the house and his disciples asking him what he meant.

ARE YOU SO DULL! – The disciples don’t get the significance of what he said

Food doesn’t enter the heart – therefore it can’t defile it –

It is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean. He goes on to describe examples of this uncleanness.

So what was Jesus trying to say from this passage?

1. He was not trying to overturn the laws of Moses – in Matthew we read that he came fulfil the law and the prophets.
2. He was not trying to say that you can eat / drink or use substances which would harm you.

Instead what he was speaking against the hypocrisy of ritual cleanliness but the impurity of hearts

It is what comes out of a man that defiles him – it is the heart that is unclean – the thing that needs cleaned not the hands. It’s all about the heart

The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.

I have a story which I think illustrates this

Ray Stedman shares a letter in one of his books from a sharp-minded, Christian business man friend of his. I'd like to share it with you along with Steadman's comments about it.

DON'T TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL, PLEASE!

This scene didn't make sense, There he lay in the street, bleeding -- the hit-and-run driver gone. He needed medical help immediately! Yet he kept pleading, "Don't take me to the hospital, please!" Surprised, everyone asked why. Pleadingly, he answered, "Because I'm on the staff at the hospital. It would be embarrassing for them to see me like this. They've never seen me bleeding and dirty. They always see me clean and healthy; now I'm a mess."

"But the hospital is for people like you! Can't we call an ambulance?" "No, please don't. I took a Pedestrian Safety Course, and the instructor would criticize me for getting hit."

"But who cares what the instructor thinks? You need attention." "But there are other reasons, too. The Admissions Clerk would be upset." "Well, why?" "Because she always gets upset if anyone for admittance doesn't have all the details she needs to fill out her records. I didn't see who hit me, and I don't even know the make of the car or the license number. She wouldn't understand. She's a real stickler for records. Worse than that, I haven't got my Medical card with me."

"What real difference would that make?" "Well, if they didn't recognize me in this mess, they wouldn't let me in. They won't admit anyone in my shape without a Medical card. They must be sure it isn't going to cost the institution. They protect the institution. Just pull me over to the curb. I'll make it some way. It's my fault that I got hit."

With this, he tried to crawl to the gutter while everyone left, leaving him alone. Maybe he made it, maybe he didn't. Maybe he's still trying to stop his own bleeding.

A strange story you might think but unfortunately it is quite close to home. If we think of the man on the pavement as someone we know who has been hit not by a car but by some sin or another. Where should he find somewhere to be helped, somewhere to be accepted somewhere where relationships can be sorted, wounds cleaned, restored.

If we believe that each one’s purity comes not from tradition nor from the outward appearance but from a heart which is made clean from repentance and relationship with Jesus then

I suppose there is a challenge here for us

Firstly as individuals – in looking at ourselves in the mirror – what is there inside us that need changed, values, feelings, sins? How is our heart?

Then again in the mirror as a member of the church – when someone comes in – what prejudices do we have?

And as a body of believers how can we present ourselves not as the museum of saints with all the outward signs of purity and having life sorted but a hospital for sinners.

People who are open about what they struggle with, what they need.

In conclusion I do believe that it is not about garbage in garbage out

The garbage produced is systematic of what garbage is in the heart

Garbage out, garbage inside

And the garbage needs dealt with.

Before we pray let us take a moment of quiet as we listen to a song

Walking on water

Walking on water
Originally uploaded by rferris281

If you want to walk on water ... Don't do it in Glendalough

Today a load of us weekenders in college headed down to Glendalough for the day. It was great to get out and have the cobwebs blown away - photos are on the flickr site!

Robert

Sermon on Sunday 13 January 2007, Bray

Matthew 3:13-17

The Baptism of Jesus

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved,^* with whom I am well pleased.’

Pray

Heavenly Father,

We pray that as we delve into your word today – you would speak to us individually, that you would increase our faith and teach us more about your word. In your name we pray Amen.

It is great to be back with you at the start of this new year.

Today we are looking at the Baptism of Jesus – It is the natural follow on from events which have occurred over the last while

We had advent – the preparation for Christmas, the expectation of Christ coming

We had Christmas day – the Birth of Christ – Immanuel, God with us

And last week we had the magi from the east bringing gifts

Sure after birth and presents – the natural thing is to baptize a baby isn’t it ???

Let us remember that Jesus was not baptized as a baby – but rather 30 something years pass before he comes to john in the wilderness to be baptized.

This passage is one of the passages we look to when looking at the trinity – all three persons are here – son baptized, spirit as a dove and the voice of the father

What about john? What was he doing there? – preaching a message of repentance.

When jesus came to him he realized that Jesus was THE one who didn’t need to be baptized but that he had to set the example. At that moment we read that God spoke to him.

Today I would like to explore 2 questions

1. What does it mean to repent?
2. How does God speak today?

Each Sunday in church we have confession / absolution – what are we doing? – let me show you with this illustration

When God created the world – it says right back at the beginning of the Bible that it was good. – perfect

But sin entered the world because of mans greed – can anybody think of other sins.

Greed, murder, stealing, hatred, envy, lust, alchololism, drugs ….

That is how we look – when we look around our community we see that multiplied – when we turn on the news any night we see the blackness of it all.

It was into this blackness that Jesus came – showing us another way – showing us his example. The need for repentance

The word repentance means turning around. For example if when I was coming here this morning from dundrum and instead of going on the M50 southbound – the way I was meant to go I decided that I just wanted to go home and went Northbound, if at some point I didn’t catch myself on I would end up going completely wrong. I at somepoint need to turn around and come back.

When we come to confess our sins we do say sorry for them but not just a casual sorry but a repentance that means a turning around. That is the symbolism in baptism – dying to sin and rising to life.

Of course we may say that that is too difficult but this needs to affect our lives each and every day- in our offices, at home, at school, when we are with our familes.

On our own this is totally impossible – but not for God. The same God who spoke to his son at his baptism is still speaking to us today.

When we confess our sins god is faithful and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

As Christians, if we really believe this – we are called to action – we are called to share that love with our communities.

That is what repentance is

“The journey that Jesus made from the baptism to the cross, was marked by joy, energy, clarity of focus, friendship, conflict, struggle.

The power that Jesus used to get through the many trials and struggles is available to us. By remembering and learning that we are “Loved by God” and learning to “abide” in God, it is from this place that all daily life has to proceed

To answer the second question as to how does God speak today –

- Through scripture

On your service sheets I have included a letter I found when I was researching this sermon – a scripture filled letter which I think is absolutely amazing and speaks to us today.

More from Kenya

Again from the cmsi website

Kenyan Talks Break Down

Diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving Kenya's ongoing political instability have broken down. The talks, headed by Ghanaian President John Kufuor, had set out to negotiate a deal between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga following December's disputed elections.

It is now hoped that both parties will begin fresh discussions under a panel which may be headed by ex-UN chief Kofi Annan - although Mr Odinga has intimated that the protests, which have caused so much unrest, will now resume.

To date it is estimated that approximately 250,000 people have been displaced and 600 people killed in the violence which followed the poll.

Ronnie Briggs, CMS Ireland's Regional Mission Partner for East and Southern Africa, writes,

"It is now two weeks exactly since the election held in Kenya on the 27th December and it is amazing to see the vast destruction that has taken place in that short time. The serious numbers of people killed and the hundreds of thousands made homeless as a result of the breakdown in political leadership.

The facts and figures will eventually all come in and we will be horrified all over again but what this hides is the real suffering and agony of so many people. Those who suffer most in these circumstances are the poorest and this is indeed the case for many people in Kajiado. There are food shortages in Nairobi and so there is very little food getting to Kajiado. Very little grows in the Kajiado area and so people depend on supplies coming out from Nairobi. There are signs of some food now getting out of Nairobi but this will take time before it reaches people living in more remote parts of the Diocese.

Even more concerning is the fact that the political talks between President Kibaki and Raila Odinga broke down today with no lasting agreed way forward. This will frighten people into thinking that the fighting will start all over again so there is a high degree of nervousness around. The longer the political stalemate goes on the more difficult it will be to find common ground for an agreed way forward.

The drought situation in Kajiado is now becoming even more difficult and the Church is struggling to find a positive way to respond. These are testing times for the Bishop and all the Clergy and for them to know that we here in Ireland are praying for them is of great comfort and really makes them feel part of the world-wide Church. Please take this issue on seriously and bring the situation in Kenya to the Lord in prayer.

The Urban Development Programme of Nairobi Cathedral has also been in touch and the three communities they work with are well - although again the tension is high and the poorest are the ones to suffer most. Nairobi has gone back to more or less 'normality' - shops and offices are open and public transport is back on the road. The ban on live transmissions for TV and radio is being lifted so there is more of a normal 'feel' to life in Kenya. However, we now know how fragile this can be so I would urge you to pray along the following lines:

- For a break through in the political discussions for a lasting peace
- The violence is being perpetrated by a small number of people - pray that they will be able to see more clearly what they are actually doing to Kenya and stop this activity.
- Pray for the Church leaders in Nairobi and also in Kajiado that the message they send out will be one of encouragement and support for people to live peacefully together.
- Pray for the UDP staff - Louise, Kathleen and Lucy - that they may be strong and able to respond to the needs of the people in their communities.
- Pray for Bishop Taama and all his Clergy. That they may show strong leadership and be a good example for others.
- Pray for the Bishop's family and especially Nathan that he may make a full recovery.
- Pray for the CMS Office in Nairobi - Sila, Anne, Enos and Witcliff - for their safety in their work and to encourage them to continue their service to both Kajiado and the UDP as normally as possible."

Making life easy for essay!

I love it when software actually works

One of the problems I have had over the years with essays was the referencing of books - it took up too much time ... way too much time ... that was untill last night!

its name is Zotero and it claims to be the next generation research tool - you can find it

http://www.zotero.org/

What does it do?
Well simply it keeps a library of books you have used / you have in your library. You search for them on the internet - eg on the trinity library site or other book sites. When you find a book a wee book icon apears in the address bar click it and all the information automatically downloads onto your computer - dates, location and publisher author. It stores it in a wee database on your hard drive.

Then the cleaver bit comes when you come to ms word or open office - a new wee tool bar icon appears when you click the button after you have used a quote it will automatically stick in a footnote - then click another button at it will automatically create a Bibliography for you.


What it does is plugin to firefox web browser - so you need that first
Then download the plugin for firefox
Then download the word plugin

Then add your booklist!

I am raving about this to the extent that lastnight I stayed up late and stuck in most of the books on my shelves at college.

Happy New Year

Robert

Normal Christianity

OK, I do not know where this post is going to end up as I write... but in Bible study tonight we got talk around the whole Idea of what is normal ...

Go to parts of africa, asia ... and you will find people of faith, people who are living their lives sold out totally for the kingdom of God. you will find people who have very little but people who have it all. So what are we to expect a normal Christian life to look like?

What do we mean by normal?

It would depend on who you ask: depending upon their custom, their tradition, their culture.

Surely for us as chistians the normal has to be exemplified as Christ - what he did as a example has to be our norm. If that is the case then logically to be normal we have to do what he did, to follow what he commanded. If that is the case then a huge question has to be asked of the church at large - how far are we living up to that norm? how far are our cultural norms removed from that? which normal life are we living - are we taking our norm from our own experience or from the gospel way of life?

Are we doing what he did? are we trying to live to his standards? are we content in living a lesser standard? ... mmm ...

Baden in chapel tonight spoke of a set of stairs - if society could see what lay at the bottom of those stairs we certainly wouldn't go down them we'd choose to leave them well alone. BUT
we don't, we are more on a spiral staircase where we see just a few steps ahead and feel its OK to keep going. That has to be where penitence, repentance comes in we need to instead of going down take hold of our selves and return to the God.

Normality - to be a normal christian surely has to mean being what God has called us to be, and doing what he has called to do. With that in mind i refer to a book which I have just read cover to cover - Mission shaped Spirituality

"All of us are called by the missionary God to share with him in his missionary work". That means we are called to go. All of us are called to go and share that gospel. When we share that gospel as commanded we are being obedient to the call.

In Matthew 10:8 there is a definitive call to "heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy and drive out demons" ... but that's not normal! ... is it?

... it certainly isn't in my church ! ... talk about that in most churches and you most certainly would get strange looks

... feed the hungry (support a mission charity, sponsor a child ...)

there are huge questions around what the holy spirit is doing - the ministry of healing in our churches today - in the BCP there is a service of healing and wholeness, the laying on of hands for healing, prophecy, tounges, prayer, visions ... certainly it could be seen as one particular "box" in the church.

"Missionary engagment needs to draw on a particularly robust spirituality, which can take on the powers, whether social or supernatural. We need, as Christians to be assertive and engaged. The roots of taht assertiveness are not found in ourselves but in the authority that has been given to us: 'heal... raise... cleanse .. drive out'.

Churches as it suggests in the MSS must come to terms with this authority and also the responsibilty which comes with it. It is only through this growing up and responsibility taking this to the secular polis can the church grow further.

One sees hope, when you look around the globe where healings and lots of other miracles are taking place. where the gospel is being proclaimed.

What are we passionate about? what are we doing if we are not seeing lives changed for Jesus?

the gospel needs to be shared ... lives need to be changed with it ... what are we doing about it?

when miracles happen ... is that the norm? or should we be surprised? are we praying for it?

surely we do every time we pray the Lord's Prayer -

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Mission is about life ... life is about mission

mmm... lots to ponder on

are we normal? am I normal ?

what is normal? do I want to be normal?

is society normal or abnormal?

... mmm ... mmm ...

Flickr'd

Home
Originally uploaded by rferris281

I have now joined the photo community that is flickr

- Photos will appear on the Right and my page on that website is

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertferris

photos from the latest snowfall are there

Kenya problems

From the CMSI Website

Kenyan Leaders look for support in the face of violence

Church leaders in Kenya are asking for prayer support in the wake of the violence that has followed last week's disputed elections.

Supporters of Mwai Kabaki, who was re-elected president in the 27th December vote, and those of opposition leader Raila Odinga have clashed across Kenya with both sides accusing each other of 'ethnic cleansing' and 'genocide'.

Around 300 people have been killed - more than 30 of those burned to death while sheltering in a church in Eldoret, in the west of the country - and the Kenyan Red Cross estimates that approximately 70,000 people in the rift valley have been displaced by the continued unrest.

The violence follows accusations that the December elections were rigged and while falling short of condemning the process, EU observers have stated that the poll "fell short of international standards".

Diplomatic efforts to diffuse growing tensions are now underway as Kenya looks to avoid the type of ethnic and political crisis that has dogged the wider region in recent years.

Ronnie Briggs, CMS Ireland's Regional Mission Partner for East and Southern Africa, says, "As many of you will know Kenya held it's general elections on the 27th December to vote for a new President, MP's and local Councilors. While the actual voting day was reasonably quiet the delay in announcing the Presidential winner caused the beginning of some serious reaction all across the country.

The sitting President - Mwai Kibaki - was eventually re-elected and after the announcement on Saturday last the country was thrown into chaos with riots in all Cities and Towns and also in smaller towns like Kajiado. This is likely to run for days to come as more demonstrations are organised and tension mounts as a result.

Bishop Taama of Kajiado has been involved with other local community leaders to try and resolve the situation but it is not easy. There is a lack of leadership in the whole country at the moment and while that vacuum exists there will be tension and fear. Much of Kajiado is also facing a serious drought situation and again the Bishop is trying to work out ways of supporting his people through this. When these things are put together the people who suffer most are those at the bottom of the economic chain".

Following conversations with church leaders in Kajiado Ronnie asks that CMS Ireland members and supporters would pray:

- For peace in the whole country and an end to the unrest.
- For all political leaders that they may be wise in their use of power.
- For wisdom and understanding as decisions are made over the next number of days that the needs of all Kenyans be taken into account.
- For Bishop Taama as he provides leadership in Kajiado - for wisdom and clear guidance as he gives direction.
- For all those suffering from both the political situation and the drought in Kajiado.

Please pass this information on to your Parishes, prayer groups and as many family and friends as possible and let's all make a difference through the power of prayer.

Photo Credit: BBC

Christmas spirit

Just sitting in Trinity Library and got an email through - thought it was interesting statistics


As it's nearly Christmas, we've found some amazing Christmas stats to put you in the Christmas spirit!

The UK sends nearly 1 billion Christmas cards each year**
4 million Brussel Sprouts are usually purchased the week before Christmas.**
This year 1.3 million fresh Christmas Trees will be sold, 9% less then last year.*
Each person will spend on average £435 on Christmas gifts, 12% more then last year.*
Sales of Mince Pies are expected to reach £33 million this year, while an estimated £21 million of Christmas puddings will be sold!**
An estimated £42 million worth of Turkeys will be sold this Christmas, 7% more than last year. Organic Turkeys have the highest estimated sales growth at 46%.*
Each household will spend approximately £169 on Christmas food and drink, up 4% on 2006, pushing the actual cost of Christmas lunch to almost £16 per head, up from £14 in 2006.*
Each person takes on average 15 hours to complete his/her Christmas shopping.**
Each person spends on average £33 on last minute panic purchases.**
41% more alcohol is drunk during the holidays than the monthly UK average.**
Christmas 2005 the most popular Christmas cards featured Brussel Sprouts and Cows wearing antlers.


Stats from BRC research, the BRC - KPMG Retails sales monitor for the UK and Nielsen's Point of sales market track data.** Reported in the Independent 12th December 2006

Advent Sermon Bray

Sermon Preached on Sunday 2nd December 2007 in Christchurch Bray

Preparations

Before I begin, could I take this opportunity to thank Baden & Avril, Alan and Liz and their families as well those who I have got to know on a weekly basis here in Bray – especially David and Joe at the back and Derek in the choir– you guys are great craic. It has been good to find my feet in my first parish placement outside Banbridge, so thank you. I am here to the end of January.



At the moment in college there are lots of essays being done - lots of work being completed before the end of the term - as I was sitting in my room on Wednesday evening one of my friends came into my room and said - as he was fire warden, he had received a message from one of the staff members that there was going to be a fire drill on thurs morning at 7.45 - he was just warning people so that they wouldn't get caught in the shower when it happened - I thanked him immensely.

So... the alarm clock beside my bed got moved back so that I would be up and ready to go when the fire alarm went off ... I was up, showered and ready by 7.30 - I got my scarf, coat and bag ready - so much so I went up to the kitchen, boiled the kettle and made myself a cup of tea! All ready to go. The alarm went off and it was clear to see who had been told and who hadn't - those who were ready and those who weren't.



Today we are talking about preparation



Today is one of those days that the church begins a preparation period – Advent {{- it is also the new year of the church – so happy new year}}

Looking around the church – the liturgical colours have changed from the pastoral colour of green to the Penitence colour of Purple. It begins a time when we focus on the incarnation of Christ. The coming of Jesus into the world.

It is a time when we remind ourselves of the huge – mega event the incarnation was – how it changed the course of human history. It is a time when we focus on what does it mean to believe in Jesus and prepare for the baby in a manger 2,000 or so years ago.

In 23 days time Christmas will be here and Christmas presents will have been opened and the turkey will be soon coming out of the oven, the preparations will have been made, cards sent, Presents given, office parties celebrated, carol services attended.



{{of all the passages in the Bible to preach for a first sermon in a parish as a student this certainly wouldn’t be top of my list! – judgement and end of the world but ...}}



Our Gospel today exorts us to make preparations, to be ready for the coming of Jesus, but hold on ...

... he came at Christmas 2,000 years ago as a baby

... he lived, he taught, he died, he rose full stop

Well, that’s not quite what the Bible says – its more of a comma than a full stop. Our gospel this morning

... is from the mouth of Jesus about the coming of the son of man.

The reading this morning is the last of the 5 main sections in Matthew’s Gospel – it is known as the eschatological – the end times.

The second coming of Jesus.

[ Looking through the passage it is hard to see good news – gospel.

... especially when it speaks of Noah and the flood

It is speaking of the end of the world as we know it – It is speaking of two people in a field – one taken, one left

This to us is not nice, it’s not neat – it cuts us to the core –this is one of the passages in the bible which many would prefer not to visit.

“some will be taken, some will be left” – that is painful –its doesn’t sound like good news but lets look at it again - He is not willing for anyone to perish [2 Pet. 3:19]. from the relationship with Jesus is what will get us through.

I read this passage as a signpost – just as a sign on a power station may say “danger keep out – risk of death” This rather says – Danger outside come on in – Certainty of eternal life











This passage speaks of preparation

... it urges preparation

It does not tell us when he is coming back.

Many cults and false prophets have tried to predict when the world will end – that is foolishness.

But what we can do is prepare for his coming.

How?

Get in a right relationship with him – he invites us to simply come . Once we are there we can deepen that relationship with him – through prayer, through Bible study – getting to know him better.

We can share him with others – talking about him- Labouring for him. We are all called to do something for the kingdom. Do you know what your god given gifts are?

As we make our lists and check them twice – what priority are we going to make God – Immanuel “God with us” this advent time.

Are we, am I going to be happy to leave Jesus as the cute little baby in a manger this Christmas?

Or are we going to heed the signs? Are we going to come and ask Immanuel – god with us to be with you?

How are you going to prepare for the coming of Christ this advent time ?



Let us pray



Lord Jesus, Immanuel God with us, help us to prepare our hearts and minds and lives for you this season of advent

Stuff from My CMSI Blog

Not just another mission conference

Okey Dokey ... just to continue my blogging
Today a couple of us from college gave up our day off from lectures and placement to head up from the South to pay a fleeting visit to the bright lights of Belfast.To a conference run by "THE" diocese :o)
It was great to hear what was happening around the parishes in Down and Dromore. In a church which can get negative about itself sometimes it was refreshing, revitalising to hear church leaders speak about renewing the vision of parishes, challenging the status quo. Looking at the positives and the negatives.
I went to two of the seminars as well as sitting in on Bishop Harold's Keynote address and all were impressive - and I am not just saying this stuff here because its down and dromore but putting it here because it's important to look at mission at a local level as well as in the international level.
This is going to be quite a long blog ... but no appologies for that ...

Harold's Keynote began with a quote from Bill Hybels - The local church is the hope of the world
He then went on to describe a vision of the church on this island has had over the years a rich heritage of landmarks - Ancient landmarks in all arts and parts and we need to develop what we have. Which is amazing to think that what we have inherited from past generations needs to be revitalised and reenergised with vision.
Throughout the diocese we have connections made in networks we need to keep these links of support and communication so that they can be used to build strength within the diocese.
The realisation that there are gaps - the analogy he used was gaps in the cheese (from the fresh expressions movement)- there are people groups within parishes which are missing from the pews we need to actively target them.
He explained the good points of the diocese and the Bad news but for each of the Bad news items presented solutions on how to solve such items.
It was also presented that there are 3 things which a focus group of students came up with for their ideal church
Relevant Bible Teaching
Vibrant, Engaged worship
Real relationships
The need to be a welcoming church also featured highly.
All of this stuff was reinforced by Mark Melluish from St pauls ealing who gave some points on how to grow churches
EXCELLENCE - Everything has to be done well, to the best quality
GENEROUSITY - everything needs to be in generous supply "if you don't eat - don't meet" conversation happens over coffee and biccies naturally - why not be providing things that help break down barriers
BLESS - We are called to go out and go to where the blessing is - we are called to be a blessing to the world
BELONG -People want to belong to something - we need to make that possible for people -
BELIEVE - the church needs to provide the opportunities for people to believe, to have space for people to come and explore their questions programmes like alpha or tough question groups may help BUT NOT as a one off thing
BECOME - the church need to allow people to become the people God called them to be.
Practical ways
MISSION & OUTREACH - Prioritise and set aside a bit of a budget for it!
PLAN THE YEAR - What are you planning for the year - what can people invite people to? and what will follow it that you can invite them to?
PLAN THE FOLLOWUP NOT JUST THE EVENT
GIVE A LEAD - if you as a leader are asking people to do it then you need to be doing it!
LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES - where can the church serve - the example was given that Danish pastries and coffees to local businesses, language schools, parenting classes, after school clubs
GENERATIONAL FOCUSED EVENTS - Kids, Ramblers, Garden visits, Films
INTEREST GROUPS - Jazz dancing, Arts, Football, Netball, Classical Music, Bookclubs ....
WHOLE CHURCH & SMALL GROUP EVENTS to bless the community
PREACHING THE GOSPEL MESSAGE REGULARLY
ATMOSPHERE - welcome and expectation
The Mission to the More Affluent
The afternoon session I attended was another very thought provoking session
A chruch that is missional understands that God's mission, calls and sends the Church of Jesus Chirst to be a missionary church in its own society and in the culture in which it finds itself ( Eddie Gibbs and Ian Coffey ' church Next p55)

This seminar started with an exercise to look at affluence

In world terms -Ireland is 4th and UK 13th in GDP per Capita
In the second quater of 2007 car sales in NI increased by 32% on the previous yr
40% of households in the UK have average incomes of over £40,000
Avg Household debt (exc mortages) in the UK 2006 stands at £8,600
Total Credit card debt in the uk in 2007 stands at £51bn
The avg house price in jun 2007 in N.I was £250k
The avg elect appliances on standby or charging at anyone in the uk household - 20
In 2005 the avg outstading debt if students attending scottish univ was £5795
In 2006 ice cream sales in the UK totalled 1.5 billion ( More than the total Education budget of the whole of Sub saharan Africa!)
all this as 1 Billion people in the world are living on less than 50p Per Day

__________________________

24/7 Prayer
Well, This week is another part of my journey on discovering about prayer and what it is all about - it's my first opportunity with a couple of people to organise a 24/7 prayer room in college.
It started at 9am this morning and will continue right through this week.

If you don't know that much about 24-7 take a look at their website www.24-7prayer.com - especially look at the vision of the thing - its quite amazing
Please join with us as we pray - pray for us, pray for the world, pray for CMSI Mission partners, pray for the staff, pray for ... what ever you like as nike says JUST DO IT!

Added on 12/11/07 at 12:25

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Missing the blessings??
This is a strange wee thought I had the other night.
On sunday, after a busy day on placement, I arrived back into my room and was quite exausted. then someone said - that they were going to go to CORE chruch in the evening - mmm... all day had been thinking about it and wanting to go ... but then could I really be bothered?
I had just spent 5/6 hrs in a church why go again
In the end I did go and boys a boyz it was really good - the worship was great, the speaker spoke directly into the situations. The guy who prayed with me at the ministry time again spoke into various situations!
So what?
well this has got me thinking some strange but important questions
For members of the congregation - what are we missing by lying back and saying - "I couldn't be bothered going today" or "not tonight - I'm too busy"
For those preaching - what an amazing opportunity for God to use them - not by preaching something they have rolled out before but looking to new bread for taht day. Keeping in step with the Spirit and proclaiming the word.
Surely that is what is needed in our churches?
Well thats my wee bit of a rant for today! :-)
Added on 06/11/07 at 09:02

What a privilege to serve ...

There are times at college, in ministry when we may feel

nExcited…Terrified?

nEncouraged …Discouraged?

nPeaceful…Frightened?

nRelaxed…Apprehensive?

nRefreshed…Tired?

Sometimes we may feel all of these on the same day!

But there are also times when we are filled to capacity and others when we are running dry.

Bishop Fanta Clarke was in college this week with Fellowship looking at the topic - The Shepherds heart and he quoted the following

“Take heed to yourselves lest you perish while you call upon others to take heed of perishing: lest you famish yourselves while you prepare their food.”

The Reformed Pastor: Richard Baxter

We all in ministry need to remember whose we are.

With my reflections in the past on prayer I really do think that prayer is essential to all that happens in our ministry.

I know that I can ramble, not really knowing what to pray sometimes but sometimes we just need someone to draw alongside us on our journey and offer prayer.

Again with Prayer Min at madness this summer I know that prayer does accomplish much more that we can imagine. I know I only am a baby when it comes to prayer and understanding the implications of real prayer.

Over the course of this week I have experienced much prayer - in youth group, in church at the Min of Healing service on sunday, at CORE on sun night, in college this week, in intercessions at CU tonight ...

OK, CU Tonight - I went along - not knowing what time it was at - for those who want to know - it starts at 7:30 above the arch in TCD - their website is www.bebo.com/TCDCU

I headed up and the topic was prayer ... see lots of prayer this week
Scott Hill was speaking and really spoke into a lot of the questions I asked myself at the beginning of this week.

Using the text from Revelation "knocking at the door" as well as Elijah and the Prophets of Baal where through prayer the door can be unlocked and God will answer. He explained that lots of people pray but for the Christian there are certian keys to prayer.

1. Knowing and praying to the father (Matt 6) It is not enough to be babbling meaningless texts but that we need to be praying to God who is our father - our perfect father.

2. Trust (Ps 13) - There are times when things are going pearshaped but we need to wrestle with the difficult questions - we need to be able to ask - "why God?" and trust him through it all

3. Cross (Matt 27:45ff) - Through the cross we are brought into the prence of God, acess the most holy place - an amazing privellege and responsibility

4. Imagination (2 Cor 4:4ff) - We need to pray to God to give us ideas, challenges as we pray - it is more than 1 way traffice us->God but rather dual traffic. One way he does this is via ides, visions of things. Apparently R...

Blogging as a spiritual discipline

Today, over lunch I got asked to think about chatting to our year about blogging - I suppose I have taken for granted.

There are now many different people blogging - but why?, are people interested? is there any purpose to it all?

this article may help

1. How to Get Blogging in About Four Steps, Five Minutes [See below]
2. Why I Suggest Pastors Use Blogger.com
3. Blog Your Passsion, First and Foremost
4. 10 Topic Ideas for Blogging Pastors
5. Blogging as the Spiritual Discipline of Journaling
6. How to Read a Blog ... for Pastors
7. Make a Blog Posting Schedule
8. How to Write a Blog Post ... for Pastors: 6 Ideas
9. The Best Blog Posts ... Are Often Lists
10. Writing Effective Headlines, or Post Titles
11. Handling the 'Comments' Function of Blogs
12. Get Subscribers with an Email Newsletter
13. Feed Your Readers with FeedBurner
14. A Play Button for Your Sermons
15. Using Photos in Blog Posts
16. Linking and Getting Linked 101
17. Tracking Your Web Site Statistics
18. Building Your Blogging Network
19. Tagging Your Posts the Easy Way
20. Show Who's Linking To You
21. Give Readers Your Bookmarks
22. Building Your Blogger Own Network
23. Designing Cool Graphic Blog Headers
24. Using Google Alerts to Track Topics, Who's Talking About You
25. Claim Your Blog with Technorati
26. Earning a Couple of Buck with Amazon
27. On Blogging Goals and Strategies
27. Owning Your Own Domain Name Versus Free Hosting Sites


5 QUESTIONS WITH BLOGGING PASTORS/BELIEVERS:

1. Mark Batterson of Evotional
2. Andrew Jones of Tall Skinny Kiwi
3. Ben Gray of OpenSwitch
4. Michael Spencer of InternetMonk
5. Tim Stevens of Leading Smart
6. Tony Morgan of TonyMorganLive
7. DJ Chuang of DJChuang.com
8. Gary Lamb of Mad Babble from a Church Planter
9. Darren Rowse of Problogger.net
10. Marty Duren of SBC Outpost
11. Anthony Coppedge of AnthonyCoppedge.com
12. Joe McKeever of JoeMcKeever.com
13. Ben Arment of History in the Making
14. Micah Fries of Friesville
15. Kent Shaffer of Church Relevance (Bombay Creative)
16. Mark Roberts of MarkDRoberts.com
17. Wade Burleson of Grace and Truth To You
18. Ariel Vanderhorst of BitterSweetLife
19. Tim Ellsworth of Tim Ellsworth.com
20. Gene Mason of Communicorps
21. Kem Meyer of Less Cluter & Noise [Link corrected]
22. Steve McCoy of Reformissionary
23. Drew Goodmanson of Goodmanson
24. Perry Noble of Perry Noble
25. Todd Rhoades of Monday Morning Insight
26. Dan Lee of Blog Ministry
27. Alan Nelson of Rev! Unplugged (Magazine)
28. Peter Bishop of Peter Bishop
29. James Higginbotham of Agile Ministry
30. Joe Carter of Evangelical Outpost
31. Jon Edmiston of As Far As I Can Tell
32. Terry Whalin of The Writing Life
33. Greg Atkinson of Church Video Ideas
34. Dr. Hershael York of Confessions of a Pastor
35. Dr. John Jackson of Pastorpreneur
36. Dr. Alvin Reid of Books, Culture and the Gospel
37. Chalan Thibodeaux of ChalanThibodeaux Dot Com
38. Michael Foster of The Gaslight Gospel
39. Dan Ohlerking of The Pursuit
40. Jim Walton of Church Tech Matters
41. La Shawn Barber of La Shawn Barber's Corner
42. Mark O. Wilson of Revitalize Your Church
43. Bob Franquiz of Bob Franquiz.com
44. Brad Hinman of Churchonomics
45. Tim Challies of Challies
46. Dr. Mark DeVine of Theology Prof
47. Frank Johnson of Strategic Digital Outreach
48. Kevin Hendricks of Church Marketing Sucks
49. One Great Answer with CopyBlogger Brian Clark

50. My Answers to the 5 Blogging Questions


***

LINK TO THIS SERIES: Grab this graphic or code below.



***

ABOUT THE 'I HELP PASTORS BLOG' SERIES:

This is the first inaugural post of the I Help Pastors Blog series. You could probably call it "Blogging for Pastors 101."

My goal is to show pastors, ministers and church leaders how easy and effective it can be to blog.

In the next few weeks and posts, I'll attempt to show almost any pastors how they can blog with maximum impact and minimum efforts.

In essence, I'll show you how to: create,maintain, and write a blog.

So ... for the first inaugural post, I'll show you -- Dear Pastor -- how to stake your claim on the blogosphere.

TIP NO. 1: HOW TO START A BLOG IN ABOUT 4 STEPS AND LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES

So you've decided to start blogging? Or at least take it for a test drive?

With the simplicity of Google's Blogger.com, you can create a blog in about 5 minutes or less.

Here's a short 4-step checklist for getting started blogging:

1. Determine how you will host it -- There are two basic options here: Free or paid. I suggest pastors just taking a step out into the blogosphere start with the "free" option. For a paid account, I would suggest going through GoDaddy.com or your church's existing Web site hosting company.

2. Get a free Blogger.com account -- Assuming you chose the "free" option for hosting and Blogger.com for your blogging platform, you'll need to get a free Blogger.com account. Click on this link and do that now.

3. Name your blog -- for the free BlogSpot site through Blogger.com, you'll need to figure out what to name your blog -- this is usually your blog's site address also (i.e. for this site, it's: http://www.churchcommunicationspro.com, or for one of Blogger's hosted sites, it'll be: http://___[YourName]____.blogspot.com).

I'd suggest using your name, or if your preaching ministry has its own name, using that. Give it a name your congregation will recognize. Although this can be changed later, once you start promoting the site, you'll want to find a name (and thus address) and stick with it so people can find you easily.

4. Choose a template -- use one of Blogger's templates -- they're nice and simple and easy-to-customize. I really like Rounders and Minima for templates, but look through the templates and find the one that best suits your fancy!

... and you're done!

You have staked your claim on the blogosphere!

Back to school ...

Well there you have it, the summer is officially over, four months of fun all gone - where did they go??? its amazing how quickly they have gone and we are now back into the routines of college life again.

today was such a busy day - woke up here in Dublin (mum and dad were down painting and laying the carpet in si and my rooms- thanks dad :-) ) then off to bray for worship, O'sullivans for lunch, back to college and then said bye bye to the folks and hello to the new intake who seem to be great.
after a communion service and reception, dinner was served - later a few people came round for a hot chocolate and off to bed. Then came the idea to Blog!

Please do pray for the guys who have just started- it is difficult to start a new way of life in a place such as a theo college - I know in my first few days it was difficult, new faces, the number of times i was asked "well what did you do then before coming down ..?" and all of these things so please do pray that they would find their feet - pray also for their families at home.

Pray for our year group that we would continue to be united in our friendship and laughter together and that this year we would continue to hold each other up in prayer. College can be a difficult place sometimes.

This week is soooooooo hectic for us 9-5 lectures of various kinds then i'm off mon/wed/fri to CMS things in Dublin and Armagh - which i am looking forward to then on sunday i am meant to be doing something in Banbridge about the Zam Trip

Mid Africa Conference -

Challenges Galore

There are those days which just simply just fly by without much thinking, others simply make you stop and take stock about we are actually doing. I suppose we need to be prepared for both.

Today I headed across to Newcastle to the Mid Africa conference that was held by CMS Ireland, supposedly to give jules a wee hand with the kids work but over the hours in the Glenada I had some amazing challenges presented.

Stuff to think about

- Mission in Ireland – How seriously do we take our mission?, what could the church be doing? What does it mean to be missiological in our thinking within the local church?

- Bridging the gap between the pew and the pub? Mission agency / Local church?

- Discipleship as a major challenge in the African church

- Paul in Athens

- Theological education in Africa – training the next Generation of leaders??

- What does it mean for us guys in college to do be missional?

Stand still long enough and you’ll get challenged – definitely want next year to spend the weekend there – there are soooo many inspirational people at this conference – if you can GO next year! People who have lived an exciting, incredible and amazing adventurous life in God’s call. People who are just so infectous with passion for their father and first love God and who are willing to get up and GO! But also people who are just sitting and willing to share their story of faith with people who just ask! It’s not the easy life but its the best!

To look at a wider perspective on mission and what we are actually doing at college is actually quite amazing and worth reminding ourselves what we are doing. Being “equipped to serve”.

I am looking forward to a couple of days this week to sit down and do a bit of thinking about these sort of issues and generally just taking a bit of time out.

As you can see I was a bit affected by today’s stuff! To say the least! :-)

As Promised - The Alton Towers Pics

Alton Towers - Courtesy of Tom's My Space!

Challenges over the last couple of weeks

At the minute I am still trying to find time to process the lessons that rose in Zambia.

However there was many things over the last couple of weeks God has been challenging me

Yesterday a couple of things happened

We (tom, Ra, Laura and myself) were on AIR - we had queued for about an hour and once we got to the coaster station decided we would go to the front line queue. This was the second time we had been on this ride. Once we arrived we sat in the seats and the harness came down. the seats then turned through 90 degrees so that you are actually lying facing the ground- the whole idea is that you are flying. Then we sat off. With most roller coasters you are sitting but this one you are totally dependant upon the harness holding you. We went up the ramp at about 10 or so feet up the ramp the cart stopped just above where people were sitting we gave them a wee wave and had a chat which was lovely!! :-) then up we went a little bit further. the stopped again we were now about thirty feet above the ground and stayed there. This was a little bit scary as we began to talk to each other. thought of what happened if the brakes failed and we headed back down the track. Then the thought which we must have all been thinking but dared not ask "what if the harness released?"

mmm... How much faith, trust, unbeliveable dependance do we place in the designers of the coasters? Surely we need to do the same day by day.

Some of the rides I didn't like - ripsaw for example was not good! Corkscrew was a bit sore!

Others were amazing - Air - I love, Rita is class!, Nemesis was good, Obvivion was breath taking (literally!!)

Then was the water park - its great!

Another day another Airport Lounge! / Alton Towers / New News

From the blog entries you will notice since me getting off college in May I have been through many airport lounges

Dublin (being the hub)
Glasgow prestwick
Manchester
Liverpool

Then Belfast city, Heathrow and Lusaka

And now East Midlands - where I am sitting at present. The reason for this trip was to visit Alton Towers with friends Ra, Laura and Tom all of whom I worked with a couple of years ago - Tom is posting the pics on the web - once I get them - i'll stick them up here.

The other piece of news worth blogging about is that Seapatrick Parish has a new youth worker - more details later!

Getting Round to it now!!!

It has been difficult over the past couple of weeks to find time to blog - it has been one thing after the other.

Returned from Zambia tuesday 2 weeks ago and then headed on the Thurs to Bray for a "happy feet Holiday Club which was just great!! the people in Bray are great - a good introduction to placement starting in October.

At the moment I am writting this in college where I am spending the night before heading off to Alton Towers with Ra, Tom and Laura whom I haven't seen for a couple of years!

All of whom can be seen in this terrible picture! - thanks Drew!!! hi to emma and hols and Mel who cannae make it to the towers - My camera is coming with me so hopefully we'll get a few more picts along the way over the next lot of days





So thats about it from me for a couple of days - Omagh on Saturday/Sunday to visit the Quills
Monday meeting Ali and next week is the Bishop's Bible Study with Ed Vaughan speaking - I'm looking forward to that.