where am i?

Where am I?

Once a week I feel compelled to join a community for an hour or so, so where am I?

I am greeted by the Shepherd of this flock, whether they are on duty or not they're always there to check who is attending and who is not.

I'm inspired by this Shepherd, where they show concern for all, even those who are clearly hard work and who often make a nuisance of themselves. This Shepherd is there almost every week without fail serving this community in many ways which are not noticed or thanked, and when this community is threatened the shepherd stands tall to protect their flock, so where am I?

My hour or so in this little community always has the same rhythm, the same sacred topics of conversation, those whose voices are heard louder than others and those whose voices ignored when they bravely speak up.

Everyone has their own seats! Their own positions of residence within this little community and every week there in the same place, they gather to reflect on the their day on their week on their life, so where am I?

The seasons have their rhythm, Christmas, st Georges day, Easter, Guy Fawkes and others are observed, with the buildings decorted accordingly.

There are those who control the music, mainly tunes from one era, the era of their hayday, these are played and played and sung along to, unless of course someone younger makes a radical choice which is often bemoaned as being too trendy or inappropriate for the occasion.

A community which welcomes it own with open arms, but on the whole is sexist, racist and homophonic , so were am I?

I am humbled by the way they care for each other, yes there is plenty of gossip, and moaning about the way things are and the way they are not as they once were, but this little community know how to gather around one another to offer support, in this community those without work are found work and those without a home and Christmas day, gather for lunch and eat together as family.

So where am I, my local or my local church?

"Just cause chaos and give them back!"

Good news!,

Alison I have finally become an aunt and uncle. (Hooray) And in the next couple of days we are due to become aunts and uncles again. My younger brother has been an uncle for 6 years now and so for the 1st time in my life :-), I had to ask him for advice.

"Simon, what's your advice on being an uncle?"

“just cause chaos and give them back." Was his advice, which if we are being fair to him is definitely how here's been an uncle with our children and they love him for it.

My brother's advice was wise, and I have every intention of following it and it got me thinking about church.

Often the tactic of the church, is to take someone, challenge their worldview, suggest a different moral system and value system to live by, and then to try and keep them in the church as part of the church for as long as possible. Which invariably means that within a short space of time they have left the community there once belonged to and have become part of the church family.

Perhaps, we should do church in the way my brother does being an uncle.

Maybe, we should cause chaos with someone's value system, understanding of the world, and most importantly their understanding of Jesus and what he offers them and the universe. Once we have caused chaos their understanding of the world rather than hold on to them, perhaps we should send them back to allow them to cause chaos in their communities.

When my brother taught our son to Mooney, not only did it challenge my sons worldview about what body parts he should show in public, it also caused chaos in our family when he returned with this behaviour.

Wouldn't it be great if the people the church I contact with went back into their communities and caused chaos because what they have learnt to challenge the norms of those communities.

Maybe we should see ourselves more as spiritual aunts and uncles to those Christ is in the process of saving rather than as spiritual parents wanting to hold onto them.

May you have a great week causing chaos and giving people back to where they came from.

R.

PS now that my brother is about to have children the chaos is going in the other direction.

sorry it's been so long

Sorry it's been a while!! so so much has happened in the last couple of months.

• We helped run a churches together stall at the Harold Hill festival, which meant local churches working together in an amazing way.
• We have run an evening for families asking " Is God a good parent?"
• We had a 10th wedding anniversary party at the pub which was an amazing opportunity to have a party with our friends from Harold Hill, Steve and Lauren did the catering and it was an amazing time together.
• We continue to work very closely supporting some families and this is a big privilege and we as at times a bit of a burden as we serve these wonderful people.
• We have had significant chats with those we are serving and what is encouraging us the most is the way that God is on the agenda so often in our conversations, whether it's at the pub, at a ladies coffee morning or at any of the other times we have interaction with the community.
• Alison and Lauren have put on some amazing pamper session for some of the moms.
• The community meal has exploded numbers wise, BBQ's and sun are proving great pulls.
• People have started to ask for prayer and support which again is a great step forward.

Please pray for us, to be honest we're tried and still have some exiting things coming up but we're also really busy with all the normal stuff and i'm doing a lot of preaching in the next couple of months.

It would be also really good if you could pray for Steve and Lauren, they are considering their future at the end of their training ( 9months time) steve is off to thailand for 3 weeks in Sept with BMS, but then hopefully steve will be free to focus on his studies and on Harold hill from Oct onwards. please pray for him as he does this.

Once again, sorry it's been so long and thank you so much for your prayer support and encouragement.

R.

handing out leaflets

This week we're having a family gathering asking the question "is God a good parent?" judging him on the parenting course we run!!

So on Monday i went out to deliver 10 invites to families to attend a gave myself a couple of hours to do.

The evening proved to be a complete failure as well as a complete success. i only got to deliver 4 invites, but all the families invited me in and so i got to spend 2 hours hanging out with those we're here to serve.

Please pray that these parents and children come to see that God is the greatest parent ever.

and now the end is near it's time to face........

On saturday as a family we had the privilege of being at Shoebury Baptist for Jim Hamilton's leaving do/ retirement. The church, as ever did a great job, and it got me thinking about loads and loads of different things.

One of which is that for Shoebury it now has to face the reality that change must come, as they pursue a new man or woman of God to be part of their team leadership.

Change is never easy to face and churches aren't known for being the best at accepting change, change is not easy, painful or always welcome. Often we seen the need to change, but doing it is another matter. (I speak as daily failing dieter)

Just as shoebury baptist must now face the reality of change, i think the THE church must also face the same reality. Today i had lunch with my amazing 91 yr old grandmother. i was asking her about her early life and she was telling me how hard it was to find a church which was alive to bring up her children 60 years ago!! (They ended up commuting 30mins to find such a church). Seeking a way to honour and be faithful to God and have mission as high as a priory as HE does is not going to easy. I just hope most churches don't leave so late that the church is going to be retired/ shut.

As for us, i pray that we have courage to be open to God and what He is calling us to here. (Not easy, even i like the old ways, well some of them!!) And give thanks to those who are faithfully supporting us in exploring what church is for today, tomorrow and most importantly for God.

I'm sure the people of God at Shoebury will have the ability to get to know, love and support whoever comes in and the changes that it will bring as it's a church in which many people know that 'it's not that the church of God has a mission, but that its the God of mission has a church.' (Rowan Williamson said that not Jim H!!)

And breath..……

Took Monday out to pray and to listen, in tray full, diary full, but boy did I need it. The next month has a lot of churchy meetings and to be honest although all good I find it hard to square away in my mind, I love spending time with those who don't yet know Jesus, but I need the time I spend with those who do.

Why do I ( and others ) feel guilty for spending large chucks of time with you father? Jesus did it and yet the perception today of ministers is a couple of retreats a year will do!!! Pray I/ we get the balance write and pray that Jesus is always my model for this.

'mate well done'

I realised that there are people in my life for whom the only way I've been able to really connect with and talk about life to is only possible because we've moaned and been talking people down.

These people have find it hard to praise encourage and listen. People that I've gone to with a good idea are a deep question only to be dismissed or to only have a short conversation. However if I'd gone to the very same person and said, I've just been to that church and the sermon!! So bad, have you heard xxxxxxx preach?? We'd have had a twenty min passionate and animated chat putting the person/ church down. Shame . And to my shame I've become the same sort of person when people come to me.

Two weeks ago I spoke to a dad who had been meeting with different professionals all day. He'd done some really good things and made some good steps forward, but he'd not been encouraged all day, only the negative had been focused on. This I didn't know when I praised him saying ' mate well done' . He told me it changed his day.

When in the pub and other places in which the conversations are founded upon the same negative Tone I try to only run myself down or be positive, it's hard work, tiring but in the end I believe makes a difference.

If I've led you to talk too negatively about someone God loves forgive me, let's try and speak differently to the way the world does.


Lord may we lights of hope not pessimism, joy rather than despair and encouragement over unnecessary criticism and lord if I can be those positive things help me keep my mouth shut!!!