Fools for Christ July 8, 2011

Found this really interesting article about comedy and the Gospel. It was in ‘C: The Magazine, summer edition 2011′. Couldn’t find it on the net, and I can’t sleep at the moment so I will lovingly type it up for you to read

In this age of austerity, laughter is the one thing we mustn’t skimp on. So says comedian John Archer, who brought his special brand of comedy magic to the Christian Resources Exhibition this year. “Humour is like oxygen, it won’t run out,” he maintains. “We must never stop laughing and never grow up. Comedians love to make people laugh. There is spirituality to comedy. It changes the way you feel inside.”

A member of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star, he has won a string of awards and is currently Magic Circle Stage Magician of the Year. Intriguingly, he sees Jesus as a role model. “Jesus did some funny things – spitting in the mud and rubbing it into people’s eyes…I’m sure he was genuinely entertaining to be with. Sadly many Christians see humour as irrelevant and flippant and don’t dwell on the fun because they want to be taken seriously.”

Jane Wyles wanted to find out why it seems so difficult for us to be fools for Christ, and looks at how the power of laughter can be harnessed for the Gospel.

Clergy Training Officer for the Diocese, Australian born Kon Apokis, recently organised a training weekend for curates taking humour as its theme and led by professional stand-up comic, Andy Kind. I asked Kon and two of his curates what they made of it, and how they can see the role of humour fitting into parish life…

“Every person was asked to prepare and deliver a stand up comedy routine and present it to the audience. There was some fear and trepidation but by the end of the weekend we had all laughed, learnt, and been encouraged so much that the love of God was shining upon us. It was wonderful!” said Kon.

So Kon why do Christians often have long faces?

“The English are a funny people. We like humour, we rely on humour and we celebrate humour. I believe that Jesus uses our strengths and draws them into his service and our witness as Christians. So given that we are a funny people you would think we would find it easy to be funny for Christ. Not so it seems. I think we are reticent to be funny when we gather in our services and especially in our preaching – often for good reasons mainly out of concern for reverence. The Christian life does bring its costs, which should be taken seriously, but we are also called to celebrate when we come together. Worship that takes in our whole life but is not funny is not worship with our whole bodies. Laughing is physically part of being made in the image of God. Therefore being funny for Christ is a good thing. If we don’t bring joy and laughter along when we witness to people we do a disservice to ourselves and to God. How you have fun is part of inviting people to join us in the Christian life.”

Curate at St Anne’s, Workshop, Paddy Macbain, found it scary to do a short comedy act. “Even though we are fairly used to public speaking we felt like a group of friends cheering each other on as we ran barefoot over hot coals…but Andy provided a giant flame-proof blanket by his encouraging words. He told us that in preaching the opposite of ‘boring’ is not ‘funny’, it is often ‘interesting’. I sometimes worry about telling set-piece jokes within my sermons – what if they crash and burn? But as Andy said, preachers don’t need to be stand-up comedians, they just need to be themselves. Laughter and fun can be a signpost to joy and therefore a signpost to Christ.”

So any funny stories about parish life Paddy?

“I especially appreciate humour that diffuses tension. A friend’s dad was taking a wedding and asked if anyone knew any reason why the couple should not be married. Suddenly there was thunder and lightning and the church lights went off. After a deadly hush the vicar drily said: “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then.”

Kate Bottley, curate at All Saints Skegby, has often been told that her sermons are a joke and that she’s ‘a bit funny.’ “Not sure whether they mean ‘ha ha’ or peculiar!’ laughed Kate. “I relished the opportunity to have a go at 10 minutes of stand-up in front of my peer group, though others didn’t quite share my enthusiasm. But the amazing and wonderful thing was that everyone shone. Andy managed to draw out of each of us performances that were as individual, diverse and funny as all of us who were there.”

What has made you smile in your parish Kate?

“I recall one funeral visit on a sunny summer’s morning, where the wife of the deceased was very keen that she made me feel welcome in her home and so offered me a drink. Seeing that she was upset and not wishing to complicate matters for her I replied, ‘I’ll have whatever you are having thank you.’ I only flinched for a second when she returned a few minutes later with two tumblers half full of single malt whisky, it was only a few minutes after 10 o’clock, and I had to phone my husband Graham to pick me up and went home for a much needed lie down.”

Andy Kind is a full-time stand-up comedian known for his ability to develop niche markets. He is one of the pioneers behind the new wave of Clean Comedy hitting the UK comedy circuit, as well as performing at hundreds of comedy clubs and churches around the country. Andy uses his love of life as the foundation which underpins all his comedy, bringing a joyous energy and enthusiasm to any stage – taking pleasure in everything and everyone. Combining the subject matter and his super-strong stage presence, Andy has found a unique and fascinating voice to his comedy.

Does comedy have a place in evangelism?

“I’m a professional comedian. For six years I have made my sole living from travelling up and down the country and making people laugh. In recent times, a lot of my work has involved performing at outreach events for churches, and just being used as a resource to bless their communities and attract people on the fringes. It is, quite simply, the best job in the world. But there are two misconceptions to be found within the UK church about what I and others like me actually do. Firstly, there is a misapprehension that I am a Christian comedian. I’m massively not. I don’t do jokes about church or the Bible or anything like that. I’m a bona fide comic who earned his stripes in the clubs and pubs up and down the land. Yes, I’m clean and as a Christian I want to bless audiences and not discomfort them, but that is incidental. Comedy needs to be funny, before it is anything else.

The second, more annoying misconception, is that comedy has nothing to do with the Gospel. I get an angry email sent ‘in Christian love’ a few times a year telling me this. Now, if you are one of those people who think that comedy has no place in evangelism, you need to grow up.

For me, if God is real (which I believe Him to be), then laughter is no more or less than a gift from Him. Laughter does so much that we don’t realise. When you laugh, your body releases endorphins which act to make you feel better physically and emotionally – it literally heals. Aside from that, it is psychologically impossible to hate someone you have laughed with. How important can that be in the act of witness? We only laugh through recognition, and, subsequently, the moment you chuckle along with someone, a strip of common ground forms between you.

Stand-up comedy isn’t about trivialising the Gospel. Nor is it inherently rude or ‘blue’. When comedy is done best, it is about tapping into a collective mindset, sharing in the ridiculousness of the world and then bringing out the joy. If that doesn’t have a place in outreach, then I really don’t know what does.”

Well known, and well loved, Roly Bain is a full-time, freelance professional clown – and an Anglican priest. His clowning is rooted in the Gospel, and his thought-provoking and entertaining presentation of Gospel themes never fails to provoke a profound response.

He has clowned all over the UK, and throughout Europe, as well as at international events in the USA, Canada and Australia. As a theologian in his college sermons Roly explored Jesus as clown, the laughter and wit of being with his motley band of disciples.

How does clowning impact people for the Gospel?

“I wanted to rediscover the punch lines and the storytelling of the Gospel; by allowing people to get the ‘joke,’ there is a parallel with revelation. Storytelling is all about allowing people to see something for themselves. Humour is a wonderful way of truth-telling. Humour and truth are closely connected. A clown is a truth-teller. If he gets it wrong he falls flat on his face. He deals with laughter and tears. Dictators can’t allow this because it is subversive, it can’t be controlled. We lose control when we laugh and cry and God gets a look in.”

Whether it’s through jokes, stand-up, clowning – or just laughing together over a funny situation we perhaps need to loosen up a bit and let this God-given humour do its work. We’ll definitely feel better for it – and so will those around us.

So, there’s this duck who says ‘quack’ and his friend says: ‘Oh, I wanted to say that…’

Sex and religion: What do young people think? March 8, 2011

I’ve recently been buying the Nottingham Post newspaper and found this article right at the back last Thursday’s edition, and thought it was really interesting the views many students have on sex and religion. I tried to see if they had this article on their website but it keeps crashing on it so I’m going to type it up just for you

Taken from Nottingham Post, Thursday March 3rd, 2011.

Nottingham researchers have carried out the first detailed exploration of religion, youth and sexuality. Oonagh Robinson finds out more.

Sexuality and religion are generally considered uncomfortable bedfellows. But now, for the first time, a team of researchers from Nottingham has carried out a detailed study of attitudes, values and experiences of sex and religion among young adults. Led by The University of Nottingham, in collaborationwith Nottingham Trent University, experts spent two years investigating the often complicated relationship between sexuality and faith. Involving nearly 700 youn people from six religious traditions – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism as well as young adults of mixed-faith – the report reveals:

• Nearly a third of young people think celibacy is fulfilling.
• Almost two thirds are committed to treating heterosexuality and homosexuality on equal terms.
• 83.2 per cent support monogamous relationships.
• Around 57 per cent think sex should only take place in the context of marriage.
• 56.9 per cent believe sex outside marriage can be fulfilling, as long as it is within a loving context.
• 58.1 per cent believe casual sex is detrimental to one’s wellbeing.

The report highlights the challenges young people face in reconciling their sexuality and their religion. It reveals concerns they have about the stigmatisation of religion and Britain’s increasingly sexualised culture. And it suggests today’s religious leaders don’t know enough about youth sexuality.

The project “Religion, Youth and Sexuality: a Multi-faith Exploration” received nearly £250,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council. Dr Andrew Kam-Tuck Yip and Dr Sarah-Jane Page from the School of Sociology and Social Policy at The University of Nottingham, and Dr Michael Keenan from Nottingham Trent Univeristy’s School of Social Sciences, asked all the participants to fill in online questionnaires. Some were also interviewed individually and recorded week-long video diaries.

Dr Yip said: “Despite their diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, many of today’s 18 to 25-year-olds are following their own paths, drawing from a variety of resources such as religious faith, youth culture, the media and friendship networks. They are creating sexual ethics that are informed by their religious faith. Similarly, their sexuality also informs the ways they understand their religious faith and belonging. However, a majority of young people believe religious leaders do not know enough of sexuality – particularly youth sexuality. Others consider institutional religion a social control mechanism that excessively regulates gender and sexual behaviour, without sufficient engagement with young people themselves.” Dr Yip explained the main aim was to document and diseminate the voices of religious young adults. “We hope the research will speak to religious leaders, professionals and practitioners working with young people in secular contexts, and of course young people themselves.”

About two thirds were involved in a religious community and more than half attended a public religious gathering at least once a week. Their experiences in connecting their religious faith and sexuality varied. Some had experienced tension and conflict, while others were able to deal with conflict by “compartmentalising” faith and sexuality.

But Rev Richard Clark, vicar of St Andrew’s Church in Mapperley, said he thought the report failed to take into account the separate sub-divisions within different religions. He cited not separating Christianity in Protestants and Roman Catholics as a particular example. Rev Clark added: “As a vicar in a red-light district for 19 years, I have had to engage with many issues to do with sex and sexuality, and have talked to many people about sexual isssues. It’s not easy to talk about this publicly because of confidentiality issues. I suspect that church leaders know far more about teen sex issues than they speak about publicly. We also would expect lay people with some expertise in the area to be working in schools, colleges and universities. At times, Christians do deliver sex education classes in city schools. Any young adults who wants to discuss sexual issues with church leaders should certainly give themselves the chance to do so. They may find that we are more clued-up than they imagine us to be.”

Rev Clark said he could only speculate as to why some leaders had not been as helpful as young people would have liked them to have been. “It may be because most faith leaders believe that sex properly belongs inside marriage and that they do not want to encourage young people to think too much about sex some years before they get married,” he said. “It would not be surprising to learn that young adults do not consider the senior leader in their church to be engaging in issues in sexuality as they probably have only a little to do with a youth or student group, but may have been employing a designated specialist.”

Views from the Report

“Religious. It sort of feels a bit of a dirty word to be honest. That’s my instinct. And for me when I think about it I get a kind of bit constricted in my chest almost. Kind of lots of rules and sets of beliefs that you have to sort of sign up to.” Heterosexual Christian woman

“I don’t think casual sex is desirable because I think sex is something intimate and should be with a person that you really love. It should just be in a loving, consensual relationship because that is the most healthy way.” Christian-Buddhist woman

“Me and my fiancee, we are not married. We live together, and obviously we do have sexual relations. We think that even though the religion says that you shouldn’t [have sex] before marriage, we are more than married, and so as long as we are happy with each other and we are not forcing on each other…” Christian-Muslim Man

“I have nothing against people who are gay or lesbians. I feel they’ve made a wrong choice, but I don’t have anything against them, because even in Islam we acknowledge that people can be gay or lesbian. But we say it’s haram [forbidden]. A lot of people who are gay or bisexual usually end up growing out of it. In Islam it’s something that you should reject.” Heterosexual Muslim woman

“I don’t know if it’s [homosexuality] right or wrong actually, but it’s an individual’s prerogative as to what they decide, and as long as they are happy with what they’re doing, they don’t bother me.” Heterosexual Hindu Man

“So I guess telling my parents maybe I will feel very relieved, but if it did get out into the community it will just hurt my parents, and I know it will be hard for me to face the community again, maybe I’ll be thrown from the mosque. It is quite scary.” Bisexual Muslim man

“I don’t feel that people need to know about sexual orientation. I think I have got to a place where I am quite comfortable in my parish and I don’t really want to rock the boat too much there, because occassionally it can be quite hostile towards people. There was a woman and she had got divorced and she actually had to stop [church activity] for a while.” Homosexual Christian woman

“Sex before marriage or engaging in sexual activity before marriage is completely unlawful so you have to try and avoid that.” Heterosexual Muslim woman

“When I tell people of my aims to live as a Christian in a relationship where I am not having sex, people see it as impossible, and I guess that is because they are seeing things in a more worldy way. I think with the strength that God can give, it is a possibility.” Homosexual Christian Man

Text a Toastie March 7, 2011

Last Wednesday (2nd), Trent CU did Text a Toastie instead of their usual main meeting at student halls Blenheim and Norton. How does Text a Toastie work? Basically you hand out leaflets with a mobile number which you can text with your order of filling (ham, cheese, baked beans) flat and room number and your question about Christianity. Once your toastie is made, someone from the CU will deliver it to your door and answer your question.

We advertised it from 7 – 9pm and after a slow start it began to pick up quite quickly with several orders coming through with some really good questions. I didn’t know how it was going to go because I have never helped with a Text a Toastie before , but it went really well, and no one asking questions was rude or aggressive. Often it was people sitting in their flat kitchen with their friends ordering toasties at different times with different questions, so we ended up talking to the same group of people several times but that was good as everyone could hear what answer we gave for the questions.

At the end of the night we had answered 13 questions and I can’t remember how many toasties we made (as some had asked for two) and here is the list of questions that were sent through by text that night.

1) Does God answer your prayers straight away?

2) It’s a bit of a tough question but who created God?

3) Hello. I was just wondering does God forgive all? If so how do you have to show you know you have done wrong?

4) Will God forgive anything that I do?

5) Is God ok with art and music? (this was the one I jumped at to answer!)

6) What’s the difference between Catholics and Protestants?

7) What is the date of Jesus’ true birthday?

8 ) Is there such a thing as Heaven and Hell?

9) Is God ever going to visit earth?

10) Does God forgive all sins?

11) Where did Noah keep the woodpeckers in the ark? (this was one of my favourites)

12) Does God really allow us to eat meat? Isn’t it cannibalism? (only if the meat you’re eating is human meat, then yes)

13) Why is Jesus often depicted as a small framed white man when he was most likely dark skinned and strong due to his profession?

It was really interesting that 3 of the questions were about forgiveness of sins, obviously it’s an issue on most peoples’ minds. Hopefully the answers we told them about God’s grace and love will give them the opportunity to think for themselves whether they believe it to be true or not, and hopefully they’ll keep pursuing truth.

February Update March 4, 2011

For the shortest month of the year, February was crazily busy with two Mission Weeks back to back and Forum Midlands (New Leader’s Training) Weekend as well! So here is an (overdue) update on what has been happening so far…

Nottingham Trent’s Events Week 7th-11th February

Only during Mission Weeks do you see students up before 11 o’clock. Every day they started with a prayer breakfast at 8 in the morning, with a short devotional and prayers committing the day and the events to God, before setting off to either flyer or help prepare food for the lunch bar. Trent’s theme was ‘I Heart’ and all the lunch bar topics were about what mostly dominates students’ lives; parties, sex, material possessions, love and life. Their guest speaker for the week was Henry Olonga who was the first black cricketer to represent Zimbabwe at international level and was exiled to England after wearing a black armband during a game in protest against Mugabe coming into power. He was such a good speaker, down to earth, honest and direct, you could tell he had the respect of the students who came to the lunch bars to hear him talk. Of course being a former cricket player, some students came to get a photo and an autograph! It was such a good week, God’s hand was in it and it was evident to see. On Tuesday night, Trent CU held a pub quiz which traditionally doesn’t get a large crowd, but to everyone’s surprise, over 100 people showed up. And on Thursday, over 50 people came to the lunch bar on the topic ‘I Heart Love: What is True Love?’ and we ran out of food. It was so good to see how increasingly encouraged the CU got over the week, and at the end 4 people signed up to the follow up course the CU were running called ‘Christianity Explored’.

Nottingham’s Events Week 14th – 18th February

Compared to Trent, Nottingham University is massive in terms of size of campus and student numbers, and of course the feel of the week and the way it was organised and run was completely different. There are around 200 members in their CU and during the week I was staying with a female student in Florence Boot hall as a CUG (Christian Union Guest) and would be working with her and the hall small group as well as eating in halls and talking to other students. Coming straight from one Events Week to another, I was already physically and mentally drained but it was such a good week. Nottingham ran two lunch bars a day, one from 12 – 12:50pm and another repeated at 1-1:50pm as well as evening events. Tuesday night was planned so that all the different Halls of Residence could have their own event to invite people to. Flo Bo planned to have an Open Mic night on Thursday in the bar and after waiting for ages, they finally got the go-ahead from the Warden only to find out the Wednesday that bar has decided to change it’s opening times. After trying to find another time in the week to do it but finding dead ends, sadly we had to admit defeat and arrange it for another week. Despite that disappointment, it was really good getting to know the small group’s friends in Flo Bo and I had lots of interesting conversations with the students who had been going to the lunch bars as well. Also I was able to tell someone my testimony when he asked how long I had been a Christian for. It was amzing to hear from the other CUGs what had been happening on the other Nottingham campuses and at the end of the week 3 people decided to become Christians!

Forum Midlands Weekend (New Leader’s Training) 25th-27th February

Held at Quinta in Shropshire, Forum Midlands Weekend is when students elected onto the new committee from 20 CUs across the Midlands, come for training and support in their new leadership roles. Jason Clarke led talks on the book of Hosea showing how even today, people can so easily turn their backs on God and seek fulfillment in other things, yet claim to be spiritual, and how God’s judgement is real and great but also how amazingly tender and greater still is his mercy and forgiveness. Trent’s new exec seemed to really enjoy the weekend and the teaching and it was so encouraging to hear their plans for the CU and how their relationship as a team is building. It was a good weekend, but also for me an exhausting one. As soon as all the students had left and everything had been packed away, I sat down and suddenly felt so tired I just wanted to cry.

Through out this month God was truly working in it. Before Trent’s Events Week I was reading my daily devotion book (hearing God through the year by Dallas Willard) during my quiet time and read this from Leviticus 26: 8 “Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you”

And Dallas Willard writes:

“The sense of God’s presence is sometimes accompanied in Christian experience by extraordinary events or powerful effects not attributable to merely natural causes. The mark of the working of God’s Spirit with us is the incommensurability of the effects with our merely human powers. A hundred soldiers will be cornered by only five, and ten thousand will run in fear from only one hundred. The working of God’s Spirit produces disproportionate results that do not make sense humanly. The outcome is beyond human logic to understand or natural powers to accomplish. Such humanly unaccountable effects fit into, and even certify, the principles and purposes of the rule of God in human history, as manifested in the works of Christ”

After I read that, I prayed that during Trent’s Events Week unexplainable results would happen which could only be explained with the fact that God must have had something to do with it, not only our human efforts.

A gentle whisper… January 11, 2011

I had an epic 1-2-1 today with a student and I really wanted to share something that touched me. She was asking lots of different questions and I can’t remember exactly how we got on to it, I think she asked why did Jesus come down as a man, instead of coming down as God? and I tried to explain to her that though it wasn’t beyond God to come down in all his glory, complete with thunder, lightning and angels, he isn’t a God who just barges in and forces people to worship him, he respects our free will. He gives us the option to choose to believe in him or not through his son Jesus, who came down from heaven to our level, and instead of twisting our arms, invites us to follow him, and tells us the consequences of whether we accept his invitation or not.

Anyway (rambling away!), I remembered a passage about Elijah meeting with God which I thought would help her see God doesn’t always choose to come surrounded with flaming fire and lightning.

1 kings 19 v 11-13

“Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the LORD told him. And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And the voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

As I shared this passage with her, I was nearly crying because I was really overwhelmed. God doesn’t always come to us with an obvious show of might and power like we sometimes expect him to do, but often speaks to us with a gentle whisper. To me it shows how God wants us to be close to him, as you have to be pretty close to someone to be able to hear them whisper. And I think what got me was this big mighty awesome God can also be the most gentle.

Snowvember November 30, 2010

I’ve been loving the fact we’ve been having snow recently, though not the ice that comes with it! On Saturday (27th) I went out to Wollaton Park to take photos. The hall and the park look so pretty in the snow. Winter is my favourite season and all the snow on the trees and the deer in the park made me feel like I was in Narnia. One of my favourite moments was when the wind blew some snow off a tree and the tiny flakes sparkled as the sunlight streamed in behind it. Unfortunately my camera couldn’t catch that Also as the wind blew some of the snow off, some of the flakes flew into my face and it felt like a thousand little icy kisses. Sorry if it sounds really mushy, but I really enjoyed myself and I was surprised by how happy it made me, even though I was freezing cold! And even though it was cold, it was really funny to see an ice cream van in the carpark!

 

 

Anyway Trent had their weekend away nearly two weeks ago. We stayed at Letton Hall, Norfolk in their converted stable block which had a fantastic cosy room with a log burning stove. The speaker for the main meetings was Joshua James, youth and student leader at St. Nicholas’ Church in Nottingham, who did talks on the book of James. The weekend was really good, though I was ill during most of it. On the Friday morning before we left I came down with a cold and on Saturday it got worse as I tried to lead the girl’s seminar. On the Sunday I felt better then Monday ill again. Despite feeling rubbish, I had a really good time with the CU, highlights were definitely the cardboard testimonies where people would write on one side who they were before they met Jesus, and on the other side who they are now because of Jesus, and of course the games like corridor rugby, which was terrifying to watch! and Team Sardines, where instead of just one person hiding, a team of 6 would hide together. Our team managed to fit 6 people into a shower cubicle with the door closed. I also accidentally stood on a student during another round of sardines, which I felt really bad about! There was also a very violent game of Spoons where I ended up getting a scratched hand and a broken watch.

Nearly straight  after the Weekend Away I was off to London for the first Arts Elective meeting. I have never been to London before by myself and I hate travelling alone to somewhere I’ve never been to before. To me London seemed so big but then I thought ‘But God is so much bigger’ so I didn’t have anything to worry about, and then I saw it more as an adventure than a scary journey. I arrived a bit early and waited in a coffee shop for about 2 hours until Ally Gordon, the organiser of the Arts Elective module came back from work. I stayed with a really lovely woman from his church, named Rosie and it was so nice to have a bed to sleep in and not need to use my sleeping bag I’d been lugging around with me.

I really enjoyed the couple of days with the other Relay Workers doing the Arts Elective, hanging out and talking. There are six of us in the group and we all have different gifts and talents, so someone does Fine Art, another does illustration, one guy did landscape design at uni,  another graphic design and one girl does textiles and weaving.  During the 2 days we discussed the first 4 chapters of Steve Turner’s book ‘Imagine’ which is about why Christians can and should be in the art and media world, as well as looking at Genesis and Revelation to see how God creates. We also each did a short presentation of work we have done to show what out particular area is, what we like and what we’re interested in. Mine was the only work that wasn’t visual, as I’m doing script writing, so I had to read out my script, which I have never done before and could feel my cheeks getting hotter and hotter as I did. It was amazing to see all the different work people did, and to learn what their ideas were behind it.

London on the whole was great, though I wished I could have seen more of it. I only got to see the London Eye and the River Thames from the train. I didn’t think London was so great though when I got stuck in a freezing cold St Pancras station for 3 hours because my return ticket wasn’t valid until 7pm! Stupid London…

The Christmas Spirit is already at St Mary’s as well. On Sunday (28th) a group of us personally signed 1,200 christmas cards and posted them to the houses in the parish with leaflets about the Carols by Candlelight and other events happening at St Mary’s. Luckily no one fell on the ice and injured themselves and me and Jo had a fab time singing christmas carols as we went

 

Relay so far… November 11, 2010

I’m now in my 3rd month of doing Relay and an update on how it is going is long overdue!

It’s been really good getting to know the students at Nottingham Trent and finding out all about them, and learning how to best serve them and the Christian Union. I’m also meeting up regularly with two students for 1-2-1s, having a chat over a cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate, talking through any issues or problems they’re facing at the moment, and later on hopefully do short bible studies together as well.

One thing that the girls in the CU particularly wanted was a girl group, a chance to meet up together, hang out and talk to each other. The guys have football every Saturday morning which they can bring their friends along to and use that time to bond, but there was nothing for the girls. On Tuesday 9th November Trent’s Girly Group offically started upstairs in the Malt Cross (they do amazing hot chocolate with crushed malteasers on top!). It went really well, 12 girls turned up, 5 of which were 1st years and out of those 2 were non christians which was brilliant. Kirsty, the CU president and I wanted the group to be a place where we could share and discuss ideas and anything that was troubling us and that night there was such an instant atmosphere of openess and the girls were comfortable enough to share personal hurts and situations they were facing and we were able to pray for each other. They enjoyed it so much that people didn’t go home until half 11!

As well as working with the CU, another part of Relay is studying bible doctrine. So far I’ve done reading and listening to sermons on the Trinity and God’s Sovereignty. Christianity is the only faith that has a God that is 3 yet 1 at the same time and of course this can be really confusing and hard to get your head round! But from learning about the Trinity I’ve realised God is so  much bigger and more complex than I had previously thought and it’s amazing how the Trinity works together perfectly. God the Father used God the Son, Jesus, to reveal himself to us on earth and uses God the Holy Spirit to reveal himself as well.

Also I have to do an Elective Module as part of my study and I chose the Arts Elective. Recently I went to Edinburgh back in October for the Scottish Interface conference. Interface was set up to unite and equip Christians in the creative arts and media. One of the people leading it was Ally Gordon who is also responsible for the Arts Elective Module. After our Relay 1 training in August at Quinta, he did a seminar at Forum (which is an annual meeting of CU leaders from all over Britain) on Art for the Glory of God – How does Art function in the Kingdom of God? A lot of these have come from my notes which were mostly bullet points, so I’m sorry if this doesn’t flow well.

He argued that there is no such thing as ‘Christian’ art, no ‘Christian’ genre or style. Everything in the world, not just our time spent in church or praying belongs to God including art. He used Psalm 24:1 ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all it’s people belong to him’ and 1 Timothy 4:4 ‘Since everthing God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks’. There is no such thing as ‘Christian’ art, but there is a Christian ethos, a christian view of the world, Colossians 3:23, ‘Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people’.

We looked through Genesis to see how God creates. He divides and separates, makes harmony structure and order. Someone had with them a bible in welsh and it was translated as ‘to make something wild not be wild’. God saw his creation as good, there was no need to make it again, it was perfect first time. God is his own critic and he said it was good. Every that is made is necessary for the next thing to be created,it all functions; Day 1 he creates Day and Night and Day 4 creates stars, moon and sun to go into the day and night; Day 2 creates sky and water, Day 5 he makes the birds and fish to go into the sky and waters; Day 3 he creates land and on Day 6 he creates animals to go into the land. He works bit by bit, building it up slowly, each creation is more complex than the first. In chapter 2 v9 form seems to come first; ‘The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground – trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit’. He’s interested in the aesthetic, to look beautiful can be its function. God also names his creation, he gives it an identity. This is God’s authority over his creation, ‘this is mine, I named it’. Yet he gave Adam the privilege to name the animals himself, which I realised we still do today when we find a new species. And when God created Eve, Adam gave her the name ‘woman’ and created the first poem in v23 on the theme of the woman’s identity not about God and the rest of his creation, but God seems ok with this.

In Genesis 1 v27 we were made in the image of God, so to be creative is good, and in verses 1:28 and 2:15 God has given us dominion over creation and we are to look after it and take care of his creation in the arts, active in it and work in it.

I’m also settling into St Mary’s. Lodging with the vicar and his wife makes it quite hard not to get involved! Have also realised how much tea is a vital part of being a vicar and in the daily running of the church and vicarage. I’ve signed up for the choir and other musical goings on and got to sing as part of the worship team on Sunday after one girl had to pull out because of a stomach bug which later turned out to be appendicitus! Luckily she had it removed and is now recovering. And because of my hobby of knitting, a knitting group is in the process of being set up which would be a great opportunity for the students and the older generation to socialise together and lessen the giant gap between them. Been teaching Kate (the vicar’s wife) how to knit but completely confused her when I tried to teach her how to purl!

Hopefully I will keep using my blog to keep you up to date with what I’m doing (I keep forgetting I have one!) Thanks for reading!

What You Can Get From A Sweet Pea Plant August 14, 2010

Yesterday I stayed home because it was raining, as it seems to do during summer now, and as I was making my lunch I looked out at the garden. Through the massive raindrops on the window I could see a sweet pea plant my Dad had planted a while back and was taken by how bright the orange flowers looked even on a really dull day. Then I noticed the other parts of the plant, the twisting tendrils that cling to the bamboo cane structure holding the plant up and looking for new places to go, the large leaves and also saw some pea pods had begun to form. All different doing different things but all part of the same plant.

And I thought it was like a picture of church, a community of Christians working together using their different gifts. Now I often do this, look at things and go ‘Ah! Wow, where did that idea come from?!’ and as I write this I’m now doubting this will make sense and you might not agree at all with me on my analogy but here goes.

I thought how each part of the plant used it’s own unique feature to work together and help the plant grow.

First of all you have the flower which is often the first thing you notice about the sweet pea. They’re bright and colourful, they have a lovely scent which brings all kinds of insects to the plant, attracted by what they see.

This is a type of person you might have in church. Their love for Christ shines in their lives and the fragrance of God surrounds them (Eau de Trinity). People notice it and are drawn to it. To everyone else it seems they bring a non christian friend to church every Sunday and can help lead 10 people to Christ before breakfast (I know I’m exaggerating before you comment). These are the people we may become envious of and wish our Christian lives were as bright as theirs. However being a Flower can be a natural gift or a progression, you may find you become a Flower as you mature as a Christian.

Then you have the twisting tendrils. They grow fast, going ahead of the sweet pea, always reaching out and looking for a new place to take the plant and help it grow further and expand.

Tendril people are on the front line. They can be the missionaries, the church planters, the evangelists etc. They go where God sends them, to spread the gospel to places and people that don’t know Jesus. They help the church to grow and expand. They have to depend fully on God to provide for their needs and protect them as they go off into the unknown. This of course applies to all Christians.

Then the leaves. Sometimes the leaves get overlooked. They’re green and leafy and that’s it. But they do so much for the plant. They help to turn the sunlight into food for the plant (remember primary school science?) and help to sustain it which helps it to grow.

Now as the plant as many leaves, so the church has many leaf people. Though they are not as bright and colourful as the flowers or going off around the world like the tendrils, but they are mightily important. They support and sustain the church, keeping it going. A leaf may be the little old lady who makes the teas and coffees, the one who sets everything up before the service and cleans up afterwards, the one who gives lifts to and from church to those who might have otherwise be able to go Their prayers and support help the Flowers to shine for God and the Tendrils to go for God. The leaf may now and again resent the fact that their efforts are not appreciated and are being taken for granted. Maybe you should take the time to see what leaf people do in church and thanking them?

Then the peapod. These contain the peas, the new generation of sweet peas. They look after them, helping them grow and mature before the peas leave the pod and go to grow into sweet pea plants.

Peapod people give support and encouragement to young and new Christians, to grow deeper in their relationship in Christ and mature. This person could be the youth leader or an older member of the church or family member.

If the sweet pea  lost any of these it wouldn’t be a sweet pea, and probably wouldn’t even survive. And the same can be said for the church.

Without the flowers, no insects would come to the plant, without the tendrils, the sweet pea would be static and not grow any any higher or further, without the leaves, it wouldn’t get it’s food and sustenance from the sun and without it’s peapods there would be no new sweetpeas to carry on after that plant had died.

So the church needs different people with different gifts and we should be thankful for our differences and not be jealous of one another, as we should concentrate on building up Jesus’ name not our own pride and self importance.

Anyway, I wanted this to be encouraging and hopefully you enjoyed reading it and gives you something to think about.

Christian Shop Manager Dissuades Would be Armed Robber July 30, 2010

Found this on the BBC website about how a Christian Shop Manager stopped an armed robber from stealing from the store by starting a conversation with the words “I’m just going to talk with you about Jesus.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10822923

Strange but true… June 20, 2010

Recently I’ve just come back from Wales and Thursday while I was on the train I found one of those free Metro newspapers and found this in it…

Germany: A student was arrested after he made a rude gesture and hurled a puppy at a group of Hell’s Angels, before fleeing on a stolen bulldozer. The 26 year old then dumped the bulldozer, causing a 3 mile traffic jam near Allerhausen, and fled to his nearby home where police caught him.

Also there is an article about a nine year old girl in the US who wrestles alligators and has even trained US soldiers how to do it and a owlet made friends with a lioness after falling into it’s enclosure at Paignton Zoo in Devon, before safely flying off 3 days later. Now this is my kind of newspaper!