The Passion of the Christ

I saw the much talked about and hyped film the other day. I don't know about you but I do find that I get complacent about biblical stories that I've heard many times before and was concerned that I might even get bored during the film. (I know I'm shallow.) In fact if challenged me to think again about the cross, the sacrifice, Peter's denial, the spiritual battle & the last supper. For me it was a great preparation for Easter and my prayer as I went in was that the passion of the Christ would make me more passionate about the Christ, it helped.

On Friday Thomas was Jesus in his school assembly where they were acting out the stations of the cross. (Yeah I didn't know it was a Catholic school either and who is Veronica?) But seeing your own son being nailed to a cross also helps focus the mind and spirit.

Had an email from Malcolm in Thailand yesterday complete with pictures of completed building. Sam has graduated and is now the pastor of Wangjao, I look forward to seeing the pictures of a new community in the building.

Come on the Gooners make up for Englands poor show..

As I type it's nil nil at Old Trafford and I'm hoping that Arsenal are going to continue their glorious unbeaten run. I need some consolation after last nights Rugby, which I watched with a friend in a really rough pub in Northampton. We managed to get out without getting in a fight just..

We've been at a weekend away with some of the Church's small group leaders looking at Mentoring, it was a good time and reminded me of the importance of encouraging younger leaders.

Luke (my 8 year old) has headed off to Wembley Arena to hear Busted in Concert..I wish I'd been as cool as him when I was a kid!

Read this quote the other day from a book called Journeymen – “The biggest sign of a good journeyman is that he’s not afraid to ask questions. When they’re apprentices they’re afraid to ask, so they act like they know it all.” “When we’re on a complicated project, we’re always getting each other’s ideas on how to go about it, and it saves time, and when we’re done it wasn’t just one guy’s thing.”

I've got lots of questions and am enjoying getting other people's ideas as we deal with this complicated project called life.

Increasing the Depth

Well so much for quantity, I think I've posted less since that bold statement. It's been a great week although their have been times when I've felt more than a little overwhelmed by all the things that are going on around me, a number of which I have a degree of responsibility for.

Good to catch up with Andrew Wallis at Heathrow, although the trip across a security conscious London to get there was even slower than usual. Trains seem to be regularly cancelled and delayed at the moment. We definitely agree that the way forward in terms of our network involvement is going to be more relational beer and fine wine times.

There was one of those heaven touching earth moments before Holy Space when I arrived at the pub first on Sunday morning and was chatting to Ian the manager. He said "Simon I need to ask you something." I thought he was going to ask us to find a new venue but rather he asked us to pray for a friend of his Katy whose been seriously injured in a traffic accident. We prayed together and later as a group for her, it was a powerful morning.

Today I took some time out to read, reflect and chat. I read this great quote from Eugene Peterson
“Being the kind of pastor that satisfies a congregation is one of the easiest jobs on the face of the earth – if we are satisfied with satisfying congregations. The hours are good, the pay is adequate, the prestige is considerable. (OK so maybe that's an American thing)Why don’t we find it easy? Why aren’t we content with it? Because we set out to do something quite different. We set out to risk our lives in a venture of faith. We committed ourselves to a life of holiness.” “Most of the people we deal with most of the time are dominated by a sense of self, not a sense of God.”

I want to be dominated by a sense of God - don't you?

Ok, I've decided to go for quantity rather than quality. In 10 minutes I'm off to the Police Academy for a tour and some role play with the police cadets. All part of my training as a priest, it's so I know what to do when arrested for civil disobedience or something.

I still feel like I'm recovering from Thailand, it was a good weekend with some great feedback from Holy Space, but Saturday spent doing some teaching stuff down near Canterbury set my jet lag back, that's my excuse anyway.

I'm thinking through issues of reality, integrity, identity and community, recognising that there's a thread running between them all.

Had a great night with some of our emerging leaders last night, we spent time praying for each other and it's a real priviledge hanging out with them, and ministering to each other...I love it.

Now I'm off to be arrested!

Holy Space and other stuff

Just enjoyed another Holy Space. It was feedback from Thailand time and I love the informality and the growing sense of community, at the Autumn House. The staff are increasingly warming to us, and conversations with them are getting deeper.

A couple of things lately including Thailand and Andrew W's post have got my thinking more about the communal nature of faith. I wonder if the past emphasis on personal commitment and personal spirtuality has contributed to the consumer attitude towards church & faith. Don't get me wrong I think that it's important that we make our own choices about following Jesus, but I'm intrigued as to how the body of Christ looks when it really functions as a body working together for the common good, rather than individuals "working" for themselves.

The team time away in Thailand was a real priviledge because in 10 days we forged close bonds and a commitment to each other and the people over there that I haven't often seen or experienced. I know it was a bit like a holiday romance and would be hard to maintain at that level, but it was great being in a completely different culture with some good friends doing stuff that I've never done before.

Swimming in Waterfalls was definitely the icing on the cake.

Back home after an amazing time

Well it's 6am and I've been up for an hour feeling wide awake as jet lag gets involved. Got back early yesterday morning after travelling for about 30 hours. It's been an incredible 10 days with lots of memories and reflections. I've posted a few photos and intend to post a load more in the next week. Didn't have much time for the internet while away hence the lack of comments and photos over the last week.

Just to say the whole trip was fantastic, the team were magnificent, food was copious and very enjoyable, the building was flipping hard work but great sense of achievement, the waterfalls were beautiful and it's good to be home.

More posts to follow