O loving heavenly Father we come into your presence with hearts full of expectation. We pray that we might set our faces toward the kingdom of God as your Son set his face towards Jerusalem.
We pray for your servant who has come to minister to us today, may it be that the word that they bring will be an encouragement to each person who joins with us to worship today.
We ask your blessing on this time of worship Lord and may it be we will go out with joy and be led forth with singing into the coming week.
We ask all these things in the name of your son our Lord. Amen
Friday, 26 February 2010
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Book Review - The Voice, New Testament
Book Review – The Voice, New Testament.
I really like this book, it is easy to read, it uses a fairly small font but it is clear and easy to read.
As this was the first book I have reviewed in this way I was anxiously watching the post for it to arrive and when it did I was not disappointed with what was in the parcel.
I started by checking out some of my favourite passages – the sermon on the mount, John 3 v 16; 1 Corinthians 13; Acts 2; Luke 2; and John 1. Having found all of these to be written in a way that made them easy to read I decided it would be good to move on to the remainder of the book and decided to start with Matthew chapter 1 and work through to the end – quite a challenge really and I suppose many people would say missing Matthew 1 with the genealogy of Jesus would be a good idea. I actually found the way it was presented here clear and I think for the first time in my 55 years I actually read all the names. I like the way Jesus is presented as the Liberator and the little boxes with notes about the passage are quite helpful and interesting.
Places where someone is speaking are indicated in a different colour to the remaining text indicating who it is that is speaking so there is no problem following the conversation where this takes place.
While I realise this may not be a version of the Bible that theologians or serious students would like it is certainly a version that I would recommend if you want to read through the New Testament in a relatively easy way.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own
I really like this book, it is easy to read, it uses a fairly small font but it is clear and easy to read.
As this was the first book I have reviewed in this way I was anxiously watching the post for it to arrive and when it did I was not disappointed with what was in the parcel.
I started by checking out some of my favourite passages – the sermon on the mount, John 3 v 16; 1 Corinthians 13; Acts 2; Luke 2; and John 1. Having found all of these to be written in a way that made them easy to read I decided it would be good to move on to the remainder of the book and decided to start with Matthew chapter 1 and work through to the end – quite a challenge really and I suppose many people would say missing Matthew 1 with the genealogy of Jesus would be a good idea. I actually found the way it was presented here clear and I think for the first time in my 55 years I actually read all the names. I like the way Jesus is presented as the Liberator and the little boxes with notes about the passage are quite helpful and interesting.
Places where someone is speaking are indicated in a different colour to the remaining text indicating who it is that is speaking so there is no problem following the conversation where this takes place.
While I realise this may not be a version of the Bible that theologians or serious students would like it is certainly a version that I would recommend if you want to read through the New Testament in a relatively easy way.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com
New resource from Methodist Church Website
It is good to be able to report something that I think is really positive coming from the Methodist Church of Great Britain Website after the flak that was flying a couple of weeks ago.
There is a new page which can be viewed here that collects posts from a number of British Methodist Bloggers - it seems to be a good way to connect the Connexion and hopefully we will see lots of stuff going on there and many more bloggers joining.
Well done to the team at Church House for what I believe is a positive step forward.
There is a new page which can be viewed here that collects posts from a number of British Methodist Bloggers - it seems to be a good way to connect the Connexion and hopefully we will see lots of stuff going on there and many more bloggers joining.
Well done to the team at Church House for what I believe is a positive step forward.
Friday, 19 February 2010
Vestry Prayer for Lent 1 year C
Father God, on this first Sunday in Lent as we consider your time of preparation and temptation help us to see how important that period was for you.
As we enter this period of Lent and begin to think about the meaning of your Son's death and resurrection help us to teach and reflect it through the way we live.
Help us in our worship today and bless your servant who has come to lead our worship and share your word with us.
We ask all these things in the name of your Son our Lord.
Amen.
As we enter this period of Lent and begin to think about the meaning of your Son's death and resurrection help us to teach and reflect it through the way we live.
Help us in our worship today and bless your servant who has come to lead our worship and share your word with us.
We ask all these things in the name of your Son our Lord.
Amen.
Monday, 15 February 2010
How connected are we? 4
How connected are we as a Connexion?
I suppose it would be reasonable to say that with this post we have reached the pinnacle of Methodism – The Connexion and by default the Conference.
I suspect that if I were to look further afield than my own circle of contacts I might find a very different picture but again my thoughts on this are based on what I see and hear in the local churches and chapels that I go into week by week, and what I know of my own fellowship.
It may be that if you went into any of our chapels with a survey giving a range of questions such as, What is the Connexion? Who is the current President of Conference? What does the Connexion do? What does the President do? You would get some interesting answers, you might even get no answers because I believe there would be people in our congregation who would not have a clue and don’t really want to have a clue. Of course it has to be said that there will be some (probably readers of the Methodist Recorder) who know all the answers or would certainly have a good go at them.
I am tempted to suggest that more of our members could identify the Archbishops of Canterbury or York with greater accuracy than they could the President and Vice President of Conference.
In some senses this is understandable because of the democratic way in which the system works – to become a member of conference for most of our grass roots members involves some degree of commitment – you have to be on Church Council, Circuit Meeting and District Synod and you have to attend lots of meetings each year (at least that is one view). In reality then out of a Synod of around 200 members we then elect a small number to go off to conference each year and it seems to me that you have to have been there a while for people to know who you are and therefore feel confident in voting for you. I know I was most unusual when I was elected as it was my first ever attendance at Synod, but I was fairly young and was unemployed at the time so I think that helped.
In a fairly sizeable district I would think it would be very unusual if many of our members knew those elected to go to conference on their behalf and equally unusual if the local members actually got any real feedback from conference except perhaps in the local church and circuit that the person belongs to.
In respect of conference and what is does I suspect for many of our members they see it as the source of much that is a nuisance to the ongoing work in our local fellowships – health and safety, safeguarding, fire policies, a new hymnbook, statements about this that and the other. I can sympathise with this view because it would seem that much of what we get from conference is this sort of stuff but very little concerned with the mission of the church and of course part of the reason is that much of the stuff is government inspired and we have to do it because of one piece of legislation or another.
It may even be that many of our members view conference and head office with the same sort of disdain and apathy that they view government and politicians.
I am writing this just after the President of Conference has made a speech to the Church of England Synod in which it appears he is saying Methodism may need to die to enable our collective mission to continue – I do not intend to comment on that as many more people have done elsewhere – however what I will say is that at the end of the service I led yesterday someone asked me what I thought of David Gamble’s speech and two people standing nearby said ‘who is he?’ I do think this is quite sad really!
So how connected are we? If I am honest I would have to say we do not seem to be connected very well at any level with the exception of those who are really committed to our cause and will be found on committees, church councils, circuit meetings, district synod and maybe even conference – but of course they are few and often the same faces will pop up at every level.
Unfortunately I cannot offer any answers to how we might connect better but hope that we might start to do so.
I suppose it would be reasonable to say that with this post we have reached the pinnacle of Methodism – The Connexion and by default the Conference.
I suspect that if I were to look further afield than my own circle of contacts I might find a very different picture but again my thoughts on this are based on what I see and hear in the local churches and chapels that I go into week by week, and what I know of my own fellowship.
It may be that if you went into any of our chapels with a survey giving a range of questions such as, What is the Connexion? Who is the current President of Conference? What does the Connexion do? What does the President do? You would get some interesting answers, you might even get no answers because I believe there would be people in our congregation who would not have a clue and don’t really want to have a clue. Of course it has to be said that there will be some (probably readers of the Methodist Recorder) who know all the answers or would certainly have a good go at them.
I am tempted to suggest that more of our members could identify the Archbishops of Canterbury or York with greater accuracy than they could the President and Vice President of Conference.
In some senses this is understandable because of the democratic way in which the system works – to become a member of conference for most of our grass roots members involves some degree of commitment – you have to be on Church Council, Circuit Meeting and District Synod and you have to attend lots of meetings each year (at least that is one view). In reality then out of a Synod of around 200 members we then elect a small number to go off to conference each year and it seems to me that you have to have been there a while for people to know who you are and therefore feel confident in voting for you. I know I was most unusual when I was elected as it was my first ever attendance at Synod, but I was fairly young and was unemployed at the time so I think that helped.
In a fairly sizeable district I would think it would be very unusual if many of our members knew those elected to go to conference on their behalf and equally unusual if the local members actually got any real feedback from conference except perhaps in the local church and circuit that the person belongs to.
In respect of conference and what is does I suspect for many of our members they see it as the source of much that is a nuisance to the ongoing work in our local fellowships – health and safety, safeguarding, fire policies, a new hymnbook, statements about this that and the other. I can sympathise with this view because it would seem that much of what we get from conference is this sort of stuff but very little concerned with the mission of the church and of course part of the reason is that much of the stuff is government inspired and we have to do it because of one piece of legislation or another.
It may even be that many of our members view conference and head office with the same sort of disdain and apathy that they view government and politicians.
I am writing this just after the President of Conference has made a speech to the Church of England Synod in which it appears he is saying Methodism may need to die to enable our collective mission to continue – I do not intend to comment on that as many more people have done elsewhere – however what I will say is that at the end of the service I led yesterday someone asked me what I thought of David Gamble’s speech and two people standing nearby said ‘who is he?’ I do think this is quite sad really!
So how connected are we? If I am honest I would have to say we do not seem to be connected very well at any level with the exception of those who are really committed to our cause and will be found on committees, church councils, circuit meetings, district synod and maybe even conference – but of course they are few and often the same faces will pop up at every level.
Unfortunately I cannot offer any answers to how we might connect better but hope that we might start to do so.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Vestry Prayer for Sunday Before Lent Year C
God our Father as we gather today help us to see what the disciples saw on the hill of Transfiguration, reveal yourself in our worship, in the reading of your word and in the preaching of your word.
We pray Lord that our experiences of your glory may strengthen our discipleship in the ordinary and difficult times of our life as well as in times of joy and excitement.
We pray for our brother/sister as they come to minister to us today and ask that they too would have a revelation of you as they lead us in worship.
We come in the name of him whose name is above all other names.
Amen
We pray Lord that our experiences of your glory may strengthen our discipleship in the ordinary and difficult times of our life as well as in times of joy and excitement.
We pray for our brother/sister as they come to minister to us today and ask that they too would have a revelation of you as they lead us in worship.
We come in the name of him whose name is above all other names.
Amen
Monday, 8 February 2010
How connected are we? 3
How connected are we as a District?
Not sure if anyone was waiting for part three of this series looking at how connected we are but here it is! In this one again I will be looking at how connected we are to the district from my perspective. I do realise that the experience of readers may be different but I share this as my view.
I have recently started attending Synod after a 26 year gap so I have had two very different experiences. My early visit to Synod in the early 80’s led to me going to Conference in Plymouth so was in some senses a meteoric rise to fame as they say. As I remember it Synod back then was very much a business meeting and very formal in the way that things were done and CPD was always quite obvious sitting in the front of the Chairman (proper title for this back then). I was almost certainly the youngest person there and as I looked round I saw what appeared to me at the time as a fairly exclusive club and while there was some interaction between people I got the feel that they were people who knew one another quite well. As a newcomer I found it very difficult because I knew no one apart from the people I had gone with from my home circuit.
Our Synod is different in the way it works now – while there is business we also have workshops and special speakers come along and I find this quite interesting. As the new boy I don’t feel much different to when I went years ago – I always seem to have to make the effort to engage people in conversation and still feel that there is a degree of an exclusive club about it.
I am certain that there are some people who have been at Synod ever since I last went in the early 80’s and I know that one of the ladies in our circuit has apparently been going for thirty years. In our circuit meeting when we look at selecting representatives to Synod most people duck or look at the floor just in case they get chosen. It often seems that even the people who go automatically would rather not.
I suspect that many of the points about circuit events are even more applicable to District Events – a number of our District Meetings are held at a church that is fairly central to the district but attendance will still be quite poor.
I am aware that many of the people in our churches are very committed to what they do, but it seems unfortunate that they often end up going to circuit meetings and then to Synod.
I don’t have any answers for most of these points but it may be a good idea to apply the six year rule to Synod to enable some new blood to be involved – I know in our circuit meeting there was always one person who volunteered as soon as the Chair of the meeting asked if anyone was interested in going. I think other people were then able to stand back because we had a willing volunteer.
One of the other issues with the system at present is the lack of feedback to the local churches –although we do have a session in our circuit meeting I am not sure that then goes back to the churches. I wonder how many of our folk could tell you the name of the Chair of our district or who the secretary is or even the treasurer but then I suspect they would not be able to tell you the name of the circuit officers either.
Next time a look at Conference and Connexional Offices.
Not sure if anyone was waiting for part three of this series looking at how connected we are but here it is! In this one again I will be looking at how connected we are to the district from my perspective. I do realise that the experience of readers may be different but I share this as my view.
I have recently started attending Synod after a 26 year gap so I have had two very different experiences. My early visit to Synod in the early 80’s led to me going to Conference in Plymouth so was in some senses a meteoric rise to fame as they say. As I remember it Synod back then was very much a business meeting and very formal in the way that things were done and CPD was always quite obvious sitting in the front of the Chairman (proper title for this back then). I was almost certainly the youngest person there and as I looked round I saw what appeared to me at the time as a fairly exclusive club and while there was some interaction between people I got the feel that they were people who knew one another quite well. As a newcomer I found it very difficult because I knew no one apart from the people I had gone with from my home circuit.
Our Synod is different in the way it works now – while there is business we also have workshops and special speakers come along and I find this quite interesting. As the new boy I don’t feel much different to when I went years ago – I always seem to have to make the effort to engage people in conversation and still feel that there is a degree of an exclusive club about it.
I am certain that there are some people who have been at Synod ever since I last went in the early 80’s and I know that one of the ladies in our circuit has apparently been going for thirty years. In our circuit meeting when we look at selecting representatives to Synod most people duck or look at the floor just in case they get chosen. It often seems that even the people who go automatically would rather not.
I suspect that many of the points about circuit events are even more applicable to District Events – a number of our District Meetings are held at a church that is fairly central to the district but attendance will still be quite poor.
I am aware that many of the people in our churches are very committed to what they do, but it seems unfortunate that they often end up going to circuit meetings and then to Synod.
I don’t have any answers for most of these points but it may be a good idea to apply the six year rule to Synod to enable some new blood to be involved – I know in our circuit meeting there was always one person who volunteered as soon as the Chair of the meeting asked if anyone was interested in going. I think other people were then able to stand back because we had a willing volunteer.
One of the other issues with the system at present is the lack of feedback to the local churches –although we do have a session in our circuit meeting I am not sure that then goes back to the churches. I wonder how many of our folk could tell you the name of the Chair of our district or who the secretary is or even the treasurer but then I suspect they would not be able to tell you the name of the circuit officers either.
Next time a look at Conference and Connexional Offices.
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