What have I said Now?

This Sunday we were hearing in church about the calling of the first disciples from Matthew's Gospel. I'd never really paused to think much before about what Zebedee [no giggling at the back] thought when his sons James and John got up from their nets and followed Jesus. In terms of the theology of vocation, it may be (as in this case) that the effects of that calling, that conviction, are positive for those who are called, those who come to that conviction, but less so for others around them, family, colleagues etc.
On Sunday morning I preached about calling from this story (Matthew 4, 12-23). In the sermon I uttered words I never expected to say again after I said them last when I was about 7:

I am Zebedee

 (we were playing on a pogo stick ...)

You see I suspect that even if James and John and their father had already heard of or about or even from Jesus before this lakeside encounter, with the best will in the world, there must have been a little bit of a sarcastic "oh, well so long and thanks for all the fish then" from Zebedee. Perhaps he did have an appreciation of the validity of his sons' calling, perhaps not, but the stark fact is he was 2 crew members down. That can't have been easy to swallow.

I am Zebedee

 because the diocese of Chelmsford lost 300 or more people over the weekend. They followed their own convictions, their own calling (the clergy among them would probably go with the latter) into the Ordinariate [?sp] - Pope Benedict's accommodation for Anglicans departing to Roman Catholicism. I am Zebedee even though I don't personally know any of these people, but we are a fair few crew members down as a result of their expression of their calling or conviction. My opinion on it is not relevant to the decision, but it has an effect on me because the family that has been torn apart is my family, the Anglican diocese of Chelmsford. Oh yeah, great timing too - a happy "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" to you too Holy Father ! [rant over]

They would say I'm sure (as James and John would say) "We have to go". They don't have to go, the Church wants them to stay and the diocese of Chelmsford is working hard to support them and others like them, but they want to go - it is their conviction, based on their opinion of the matter in hand (namely the making of women Bishops among other alleged 'departures from tradition'). I happen to disapgree with them enormously but I think it is a mistake to go.

Which brings me to the whole concept of the power of personal opinion. This weekend on Sky Sports Richard Keys and Andy Grey expressed personal opinons, which were broadcast unknown to them. The opinions (which I wont repeat here but if you live in a vacuum click the link) were widely condemned as unacceptable. Grey and Keys clearly hold convictions about women in sport which are a little old fashioned to put it politely. Had they been savvy enough to realised their mics were live I'm fairly sure they'd have been more discreet, but now we all know what they think, even though they have apologised.

I don't think those opinions are God-given. When it comes to the Ordinariate, that is a harder thing to say, as I do believe, even if I disagree, that many of those 300 or so souls genuinely did seek God's input on their decision to cross the Tiber. whether they found God's answer for anyone beyond their own selves is another question.

In all of this one thing we should remember (as Yoda might put it); forgiveness is not the same as saying it doesn't matter.

And finally, to bring two great films together in one pastiche, since I am married to a woman priest I can say ...

I am Zebedee and so's my wife

and I think I better think it out again

I'm getting ready for meetings with my first couple of consultees as a Ministry Development Review consultant. In tandem with that, recent events here and elsewhere have also got me thinking again about my leadership style.
Not sure I could pull off this approach, but loved it anyway (h/t anneDroid a prison chaplain)

NB those reading this on facebook, I posted it through blogger and so have not broken my fast!

Graceless lady? I think not.

I don't normally go for Stones covers, but this just blew me away

I wonder who's watching me now

Some good news for a change
NO MORE BIG BROTHER ON CHANNEL 4

In fact it was a little bit frightening

So Farewell then

David Carradine

Out of Kung Fu

I used to particularly enjoy

(if that's the right word, not sure)

the bit with the red hot dragon

shaped stone thing,

which you had to carry

with your forearms

thus proving your worth

to the bloke with ping pong ball eyes

whom we all imitated in the playground

mispronouncing his "r"s.

But the most satifying bit

was when you ran out into the snow

To cool off with an (imagined) hiss,

gaining some excellent body art

in the process.

They didn't do that

in Kung Fu Panda,

And I don't like Tarantino.

with apologies to EJ Thribb

You've set this captive free

Well I never watch Eastenders so was mightily surprised to spot, when I turned on the TV just now (to read on the red button about a trillion dollars), Vila from Blake's Seven playing the vicar at a wedding.

I thought that would be the most bizarre thing I saw today but then I saw this from the Ugley Vicar which just takes the biscuit. (s'pose I should h/t Rachel but she may not thank me for it!)

I always thought that chorus "I give you all the honour", when it got to "And I worship you, I give my life to you .. " sounded like the middle bit from the theme from Blake's 7.

what you get is no tomorrow

Following the good feedback from the last time I did this I am encouraged to try another cross post to my sermon blog (whose days are numbered following an offer I have had to set up a site with facilities for mp3 uploading yaay!)

This is a sermon about Jade Goody and our society's lust for fame. It turns out btw that the bloke who has just re-opened our village shop went to the wedding. and the woman priest who took part in Jade's baptism was our college librarian back in the 90's! Talk about degrees of separation.

Subtle innuendos follow

So, Jade Goody.

If you dislike cynical blogging, look away now.

Big Brother for me is a bit like Manchester United - something I used to be into but have now undergone a conversion experience such that I would now rather stick needles in my eyes than watch it. Ms Goody (Mrs Tweed) has a lot to do with that.

Jade of course has made herself more widely available thanks to a tabloid induced extended 15 minutes of fame. We are all gripped by her illness and pleas to "kill me now" etc. OK so she is reported to be reading the Bible which is of course a good thing, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't touched by her fragile elegance in the footage of her wedding (I could be linking all this but frankly can't be bothered).

But that's it of course, it's all in the footage, in the papers. We do not know this person from Adam (or Eve) and we never will. We do not have any relationship with her in the real world, any more than we did with Diana Princess of Wales. Yet the nation including the Prime minister is expressing condolence and "thoughts going out" to her (what a useless empty phrase).

My problem with this is that people across the nation are investing emotional energy and time (and probably some money, thanks to Max Clifford) in a non-relationship with a dying person they have never spoken to or met; at the same time these same people are living lives full of dysfunctionality - in the workplace, the church, the community and supremely the family. People are not getting on, are actively falling out, arguing, splitting up etc.

I think the emotional energy of this nation would be better spent in building up and restoring rocky marriages, dodgy working relationships and strained parent-child bonds. But I am raging against a big machine. Everyone (including me) would rather surf the net, watch TV read Hello or heat or whatever, than make that difficult call or write that emotion-shredding letter. so we all love Jade and follow her every move instead, and our families and friendship networks limp on, when they could be so much better.

Of course it's not Jade's fault; reality TV would never have got anywhere without a public to consume it, and consume we do; Jade and her fellows are exploiting our strange desire to follow from afar, to pry without ever fearing discovery into the intimate details of a stranger's life. Jade seems to love the camera, but I truly hope and pray she has the sense to die in private and in peace.

Relationships can happen by proxy in the media - if I don't believe that what am I doing in the 'sphere, but the archetypal relationship, the ultimate intimacy, is not a cyber or virtual phenomenon; you can't know Jesus Christ just by reading about him online or in a magazine, you have to encounter him in the real world in Word, Spirit and Sacrament; this relationship is not a spectator sport, like Jade watching or Britney or Amy Winehouse or whoever.

I'm not saying they are without worth or talent or beauty, I'm just saying there are people nearer to us that need us more and won't disappoint us as much.

Here endeth the rant
(and I will probably regret this if Jade dies)

I've got all the right money and all that please thank you

Just got home from the annual "Marriage Preparation Day", held in the benefice every year to enable us to provide the (canonically necessary) teaching and encouragement and resources for those who are to be married in our churches this year (first one is next Friday and yes I have seen the date so yes I will be preaching about superstition).
It was most encouraging - as usual all the couples rock up not sure they want or need this kind of thing, probably expecting me to tell them about sex (one lot have been living together for 17 years), and all leave most thankful for the opportunity to have talked with their partner and others about stuff like arguing, expectations of marriage, initmacy needs, with the good old "Mr and Mrs" game as a warm up. The day took place in the Friends' Meeting House that gave its name to this blog.



When I got in I checked the email and found this, which I will admit to sniggering at but which I do not think is "serving the planet". The reinforcement of gender stereotyping (and this from a dutch firm) kind of shot me down, having spent the day rejoicing with those about to wed (and those who have been married a while who came along as home team) in the joyful unity of egalitarian marriage (ain't nobody in my churches gonna say "obey" in their vows).

I always liked Amstel better anyway. Maybe my sense of humour is lacking that continental something ...

Frankie goes to Gaza

They say the BBC did the DEC a favour by refusing to air this video, as they did to Frankie goes to Hollywood by banning their song "Relax" - no way would that tosh have been number 1 without a ban. However, I'm not hearing people talking about this much so am posting it here and would encourage others to do the same to spread the message.

salaam

Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha (yes that is a lyric)

They say you should laugh 17 times a day for good health

Watch this 17 times then!

Tell me are you a Christian child, and I said "ma'am I am tonight!"

Watched "Make me a Christian" on channel 4 last night. It was quite good viewing but raised a number of concerns too.



It's like a cross between "the Monastery", Big Brother, supernanny and life laundry. The idea is that a motley selection of people of all ages and social backgrounds are mentored by a group of ministers (all capable of landing modelling contracts, in passing) as they attempt to live a Christian life for three weeks.



All the Biblical input was fine; the starting point was "God loves you, no matter what you've done".



The thing was, they started with a formal Eucharist at York minster - hardly the most user friendly service for unchurched or ex-church people.



The mentors were then shown visiting some of the group in their homes to get to know them. This looked fairly innocuous to start with, but then the alarms went off because there was some pretty heavy insistence on change - removal of books and other items from houses and flats, and an enforced change in behaviour (in the case of a sexually promiscuous man).



Now here's the rub; in real life, when discipling a new convert, you might want them to change certain things but (in my book) you wouldn't wade in quite so heavily, being instead a little more patient and reliant on the power of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of the church, to transform the life of the disciple.



In this show, though, the starting point is not a conversion to a living faith, but a TV camera driven decision to live by a set of rules; this is not the same thing. I don't think prayer got much of a mention last night, although Bible reading was high on the agenda.



I guess the time constraints have meant that things are hurried up, but in real life if I did that sort of thing to someone I wouldn't see them for dust! It may well be that this would be the case on the show were it not for the 15 minutes of fame that having cameras along will bring.



What worries me most is that people like the participants - say "seekers" or whatever you want to call them, will watch this show and think that all ministers behave in this way towards their flocks. Nothing could be further from the truth from my perspective.



Yet it wasn't that I disagreed with the aim - it was just the means that made me cross. In a way this is like the thing about Rowan Williams and his two opinions about gays. If he only had 3 weeks to sort it out, he might be a little more forthright in his leading, but as he is a patient, prayerful and humble leader, he is listening to other voices and allowing his theology to be shaped by the place he finds himself in. So he keeps his personal theology in the background.



By contrast in "Make me a Christian", what would be many church leaders' underlying personal beliefs and practices are dragged to the surface and put into practice jackboot style, for reasons of brevity and "to make good TV". We all wish things would move along faster, but it would be disastrous if we pushed them this hard in real life.



In our churches here our outreach and pastoral care is founded on the principle of "belong, believe, behave", i.e. get people to feel they belong, give them the opportunity to find out what they do or don't believe (giving them the chance to encounter and respond to Christ through the Holy Spirit along the way), and thereby with God's help enabling the transformation of their behaviour.



Don't get me wrong, I do believe in the power of God to transform lives overnight (hence the title of this post which by the way refers to Marc Cohn's original not the Cher cover version), I just think that "Make me a Christian" is doing it the wrong way round and seems therefore to have shut God out of the process.

According to the taster clips though, this rather extreme pastoral method bears some fruit in the next episode. We shall see.