Expressing our thanks

The sun came out last Sunday!  Physically it was a delight to see blue skies, at least by mid-afternoon, and enjoy a warm evening.  Spiritually there was a different sort of brightness being spread – in the form of the Junior Church ‘Promotion’ section of morning worship and the afternoon social gathering we shared at East Coker village hall.

I still have some, actually when I think about it I have most, of my Sunday School prize books on the study shelves!  Last Sunday we distributed this year’s crop of books to the young people of South Street.  During the service each group was called to the front and individuals received their goodies followed by a prayer for the whole ‘class’ offered by their specific leader.  There was just something very touching about this opportunity to say ‘well-done’ to the youngsters.  The essence of these prizes is that they are not really won as no exam has been passed, instead they are ‘given’ – with love and goodwill – a sort of ‘thank-you’ expressing our gratitude that these young people are part of our church community.

During that service we also showed our admiration for Karen and Pauline for all the effort they have put into Junior Church over the years – now they are stepping down from some of their responsibilities we wish them well.

The day continued as many of us travelled over to East Coker and spent the afternoon together – one of the very best church events of the year.  Games and barn-dancing were the order of the day before a shared tea and all of this was followed by Family Communion.  The Eucharist is another occasion of ‘thanksgiving’ – we express our gratitude for the grace of God expressed through Christ, and we also, I think, express our love for each other as fellow pilgrims – nothing seems to bind us together more than receiving bread and wine.  Perhaps that was even more evident last Sunday afternoon as we departed from our ‘normal’ administration routine and offered the elements from the front, alongside a blessing for children.

As the rest of us drove back home the members of our Solid Rock youth group and their leaders ended their day by walking back into Yeovil together – for another meal, this time of a Chinese flavour!

A great day of supportive fellowship with a real inter-generational mix.  A day when we expressed our thanks and offered our encouragement.  A day when it felt a real privilege and joy to belong to this body we call ‘Church’.

With best wishes,

Ian

Anyone for Clustering?

There’s been a lot of talk recently on Baptist websites and blogs about the ‘Futures’ Report accepted by a special gathering of The Baptist Union Council last week. 

It’s impossible not to sense a deep angst behind the report.  Those who have compiled it have worked hard at listening to as many voices in the Baptist Family as possible and they have done their work against a backdrop of falling finances and dwindling denominational allegiance.  Having read the press releases from Council and the Baptist Times write-ups I confess I’m still looking for a ‘big idea’ in the Futures Report.  For all that I hope and pray its recommendations will be helpful to the churches which make up our Union.

Alongside this development has been the re-emphasis, made by senior staff at Baptist House, that churches should become more committed to ‘clustering’. 

Now that, I know, isn’t always easy.  In theory you might think Christians would enjoy meeting up with other Christians from neighbouring Baptist churches – but the gap between theory and practice here is enormous.  I was once minister of a church with a three sided gallery and there was an element of truth in the myth that the folk who sat in it really didn’t know the names of many who worshipped below them on the ground floor!  If that was true then meeting up with fellow Christians from the church down the road was about as counter-intuitive to them as being in a relationship with Baptists on Mars!

Actually I'm not even convinced that clustering has a water-tight biblical foundation either.  In Paul’s day it’s hard to imagine that congregations could realistically meet up together for fellowship or worked alongside each other regularly in mission.  I suspect that Christians in Corinth, Rome or Ephesus were just as parochial as us.

So if clustering isn’t the most natural or instinctive of behaviours and if its biblical justification is fragile and unconvincing – why do we keep advocating that it’s a good thing; and what are we to make of the mantra that Baptist ecclesiology is essentially about inter-dependence rather than absolute independence?

Well this is where we have to not only read about a good idea but experience it.  On paper getting to know about the other churches in a cluster, praying for them and even working alongside them looks burdensome and unrealistic.  However, when we actually meet up with sisters and brothers from the church down the road – our Baptist or ecumenical partners – I think there is a possibility we might see it differently.

Today I did a fair amount of clustering – perhaps I’d better unpack that!  At lunchtime I had a meal with a colleague from a rural Baptist Church near Taunton.  It was great to share time together in supportive fellowship.  Come the evening and I was off to a meeting of our local East Wessex Cluster at Crewkerne.  For some reason I’ve always loved these meetings – even on a cold winter’s night - or a chilly summer's evening for that matter, they have been moments of inspiration.  Over the coffee we share news of our congregations and through the years a degree of trust has built up which makes this more than superficial.  We then pray together – and it is deeply touching to hear someone pray for your church with such warmth and sincerity.  Ironically it’s often the smallest church in the cluster which sends the most people!

I’m not sure what to make of the ‘Futures’ report but I do know there can be something very precious about meeting up with brothers and sisters from other churches in fellowship and prayer – it's a treasure - and during my time in Somerset these gatherings of our local cluster have been a real highlight.

With best wishes,

Ian

Family Planning!

No not the sort you’re thinking of! Instead I’m thinking of the logistical nightmare which is our family diary at the moment. 

Ever since our children started school we realised that the last weeks of each term, be they Christmas, Easter or Summer, are always chock-a-block with wonderful, worthwhile yet time-consuming and routine-busting additions.  We love the plays, concerts and parties but they cause havoc with the diary.  We thought that as our children got older these delights would slim down – how wrong we were!  The addition of School Proms, School Play, School Concerts, an over-seas orchestra tour and Grade VIII music exam have this year blown any idea of a quiet end of term out of the water! 

Don’t get me wrong – it’s all good fun and we try to enjoy all these occasions and are very grateful for the inspiration and experiences they offer.

Spiritually speaking I often long to inhabit the routine, predictable and comfortable.  It’s in these rose- tinted contexts that I expect to find God.  Yet however much we cling to that delusion I suspect we all know life just isn’t like that.  God meets us ‘outside the box’ and has a habit of revealing himself in the A.O.B section of our carefully planned agendas.


Many years ago when I was a young minister (!) the Baptist Area Superintendent came to our church to talk about ministry.  I forget his actual words but the essence of his wise reflections that evening was that ministry is all about dealing with crisis. He believed we rarely spend long dealing with the routine and predictable – no, our regular, even ‘normal’ challenge is how do we find God, follow him and represent him in a crisis.  Discuss!

Well all of us probably identify with such an understanding of life – and today, to varying degrees, we will have interruptions to our routines, threats to our expectations and disappointments to our hopes – the challenge is: how do we meet these moments?  It’s all too common to think God is absent from our difficulties yet ever present in our joys.  To think like that is to just about ignore every bible story we have ever read!

He is the God who sat alongside his people by the waters of Babylon and wept, he is the Christ who felt the pain of two sisters grieving a brother’s loss, he is the Spirit singing with Paul and Silas in a prison cell.

He is the God who is to be known to you and me when our routines are interrupted and our plans are dashed.  Perhaps, even, never known more than at times like that.

With best wishes,

Ian

Racing through Acts

Last week our Theology Group at church finished a four week mini-series for this Pentecost season focusing on The Acts of The Apostles.  As we raced through these twenty eight chapters it was something of a whistle stop tour – and that became a feature we valued.  Instead of lingering over specific stories we saw how they fitted into the context of this early, and often turbulent period of church history.  A fortnight ago we even covered the entire three missionary journeys of St Paul in one session – some felt they needed to take the afternoon off afterwards!

Many things struck us as we travelled with the apostles through Acts.  It all begins with the starting gun of Pentecost and from Jerusalem the activity of The Spirit widens out further and further – finishing at the end with Paul ministering, under house arrest, in Imperial Rome.  Along the way we encounter theological debate and the setting of ‘rules’, characters who inspire us such as Barnabas and personality conflicts that sadden us – such as between Paul and Mark, preaching the gospel in synagogue and Roman living rooms, and countless snap shots of the embryonic church.

I was struck by the depth of ‘relationship’ Paul builds with local Christians.  The Ephesian Elders wave him off with hugs and tears as he boards ship and sails away – in some places he passes through whilst in others he puts down roots for up to three years - the Roman Christians come out en masse to meet him as he arrives in town under armed guard. 

It’s all about people, relationship, and the community The Spirit builds.  From day one until now the church has been a wonderfully diverse, difficult and thrilling body of Christ. 

I love the piece of artwork alongside this blog – reminding us that the Church is essentially a group of believers – people – gathered round Christ.

That sense of relationship came home to Rachel and me last Sunday when so many at South Street greeted us with generous good wishes upon hearing news of my appointment to Amersham.  It would be an understatement to say how much we appreciated the grace and love behind these words – contained in the conversations we had and emails we have unexpectedly received.  It has reminded us once again that it is a real privilege to belong to the Body of Christ.

With best wishes,

Ian 

Amersham

Amersham Free Church

It’s been quite a week in our house.  Last weekend we travelled up to Amersham where I ‘preached with a view’.  We were received with great kindness.  After I preached we joined the congregation for a light lunch before a Question and Answer session in the church hall.  Two days later, on Tuesday evening, I was telephoned with the news that the Church Meeting has invited me to become the next minister of Amersham Free Church (Baptist/URC) – an invitation I have gratefully accepted.

Of course a beginning in one place means a period of service in another is now coming to a close.  I was honoured to be ‘called’ by Yeovil in 2006, starting in March 2007, and it has remained an honour and privilege to be minister of South Street and Lockwood Court.  Perhaps these last years will be seen as something of a ‘transitional’ ministry – I hope, in time, that folk will look back on them as a moment when we wrote a new chapter in the long story of Yeovil Baptist Church.  My prayer is that a new pastor, with different gifts to me, will eventually be able to minister here in a way that brings God’s blessing.

Not that the decisions taken this week will come into force immediately.  I guess it won’t be until middle to late autumn until I take up my new post – until then my energies will be taken up here helping to get things in place for the Pastoral Vacancy.

Discerning God’s will and direction is no easier for ministers than anyone else.  We have stirrings in our hearts and conversations with trusted mentors and friends.  Bit by bit we inch forward and try doors.  The journey has led me from Yeovil towards Amersham – and I believe God has been in it step by step.

One of my favourite stories is of Lincoln saying goodbye to friends at his home town railway station as he made his way to Washington to take up office.  He said: The God who goes with me stays with you...  and I’m sure that will be the experience of friends at Yeovil Baptist Church as they begin a new chapter of their 357 year history this autumn.

With prayerful best wishes,

Ian

Trinity Sunday 25 years ago...

It was Trinity Sunday on 14^th June 1987 – why do I remember?  Well that evening in a small chapel in a Southampton suburb called Locks Heath I was ordained.  The day before I had left Spurgeon’s College, London – it had been Speech Day with lots of goodbyes.  The next day, Trinity Sunday, I was the first of my batch to take ordination vows – day one of being a Minister of Word and Sacrament. 

It was a sunny evening and before the service I remember we had strawberries and cream on the church lawn.  I was touched that so many family members – and college friends – attended the service.  I already knew I was going to Fuller Baptist Church, Kettering in the autumn and the Senior Minister from there, The Revd Donald MacKenzie, came down to Locks Heath for the service.  I just recall it as being a very special – I would even say ‘sacred’ moment – and one I’ve never forgotten or regretted.

Every church I have served since has been enriching and different – it’s been a privilege these twenty five years to be a minister – hard to convey how precious are those one to one encounters with folk or the joy of leading festival services such as Easter Morning.  I wouldn’t have missed it for the world – and it’s not over yet!

I’m very grateful to everyone at South Street who did so much to mark this anniversary last Sunday – it meant a great deal. The cake – pictured above - is now gone but was very delicious!

The words ‘minister’ or ‘deacon’ simply mean ‘servant’ – we are called to be servants of Christ and His Church. 

Yesterday, on a visit to the opticians, I was asked my occupation.  'Minister of Religion' I said . I never know what people will make of that answer!  However, I know what I make of it and to me it means a very great deal.

So I hope I never lose the sense of privilege this office holds – and I’m grateful to all those fellow pilgrims on 'The Way' with whom I’ve shared the journey so far.

With best wishes, 

Ian

Stories

We have spent this grey, damp, soggy half-term holiday on the outskirts of London.  Our holiday destination was chosen deliberately to enable us to travel into the city and experience some of the Jubilee celebrations first hand.  So on Sunday, after attending morning service at Westminster Abbey, we stood next to Lambeth Bridge and cheered as the Royal Barge sailed passed.  On Tuesday we were less successful.  The Mall had been closed a full two hours before we turned up because the crowd was so large.  Consequently we saw nothing except the fly-past!  It was an ‘interesting’ experience to actually be there yet have to wait until we got home to see it on the telly!  We were, in a way, part of the story of the day because we made up part of that 1.2 million strong crowd – yet, in reality, we were barely spectators.

Later in the week we spent a fantastic afternoon at The Harry Potter Studio Tour.  Once again there were crowds yet this time our tickets guaranteed that we would see what was on offer.  So we walked through the Great Hall, peered into Hagrid’s Hut and drank Harry, Ron and Hermione’s favourite tipple of ‘butter-bear’!

In the final exhibit, a splendid scale model of Hogwarts, I overheard a teenager exclaim in wistful tones: ‘Ah, it brings back so many memories’.  This prompted some unspoken questions on my part.  Did they actually go to this school of witchcraft and wizardry and share a dorm with Harry Potter?  Of course not!  I think the misty-eyed teenager was simply recalling the time they saw the film or read the book.  They were re-living the story and it felt to them, I suspect, that they were part of it.  Perhaps that’s a true mark of success for any fiction writer – to draw you into the narrative so much that you actually believe you’ve been to a place called Narnia, Hogwarts or Casterbridge.

So this week has got me thinking about stories.  In the Jubilee we struggled to even get a view – in a way we didn’t quite make it into that story.  As for Harry Potter – as the tour finished and we stepped back into a damp June half-term we realised that we had to leave the story behind.  However inspirational and enjoyable we found it – it was after all nothing more than a wonder-filled work of fiction.

What then do we believe about another story – that of Jesus Christ?  Can his story become ours?  Can we get involved or do we feel excluded at the back unable to participate?  Is it simply a work of fiction or does it touch our every-day lives?

I believe that anyone can be part of the continuing story of The Church and that we can all have a personal faith-narrative.  And in this story we are never spectators but participants, eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

With best wishes,

Ian