Youthworkering about

My previous boss used to spend a good amount of time just "being around" this was christened "vicaring about" by our colleague. I have to say that I think it is a very important part of any ministry job. Obviously it helps to be somewhere where you might meet people which often means being about in town which I often have to do anyway as today when I was buying Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events for tomorrow's film night.

However on my way to youthworkering about the town I stopped off in church to see that everything was in order as I'd left it open for visitors and our verger Hazel had her well-deserved day off today.

Well I was thrilled to have three young lads come into church whilst I was there. Now I think I've seen them come in before and it's possible that they were part of a group who caused a little trouble by running around and making lots of noise. However I could be wrong. Anyway, I was talking to one of the flower arrangers when the boys came in (they were, at a guess aged 9-13 ish) and they asked if they could have a look around and I said that would be fine as long as they respected the building and didn't make a mess or run around. They also asked if they could light a candle and I pointed them to the pricket stand.

I left them to it for a while but when they were having a little trouble putting the candles in the stand (a WHOLE other issue to do with a dodgey batch of candles - the trials of a progressive catholic parish!!!) I went over to help. They asked me about the display that the children who were recently admitted to Holy Communion made as part of their preparation. I explained how they had made a tree to show that we are all part of the family of the church and how the the children then joined us in sharing the bread and the wine.



One of the lads told me that he had put a prayer up on the board before and he started to look for it on the board but I had to explain that we had probably used it in our prayers in the service and so taken it off the board. I left them writing some prayers and went of to prepare our Sunday fellowship group Bible study (about Acts 3 and one of the questions in our material was - "Why do you think the crippled man waited outside the temple?" - freaky!). The lads then had a look around the building and came up to me to ask what "all the cushions and stuff" in the North chapel were.



I explained that it was from a service the young people had done. They listened and then went back there and after a bit more of a walk around they waved and said goodbye and said they'd come back again.

Now when they walked in these boys may well have been hoping to nick some candles or some candle money or to write somethng rude on the board of prayers and I know some parishioners would have been very nervous about them being in church. They didn't swagger in with a yobbish strut but they weren't smart public school kids either. I admit that my first thought was to be a littlw wary but I like to think that I took a leap of faith that they wouldn't (even if it had been their original plan). I kept an eye and indeed I stayed in church when I hadn't planned to, just in case.

I hope that what they saw in our church was a place where they are welcomed, even invited, and not judged or prejudged for their appearance and age. I hope they found a place where they could make a connection with God and see that the chuch may be a huge old building but it is also the loving community that meets in it and makes sure the doors are open.

Going from church I went off in search of Lemony Snicket on DVD and met one of the young people who I haven't seen in ages but who I've been keeping in touch with over MSN. Now sometimes I worry that I'm kidding myself that MSN is alright as the only means of connecting with some of the young people who no longer come to events but the conversation today assured me that we HAD maintained communication and it SHOWED. She had just finished her RS exam that morning and had felt pretty ok about it but missed a couple of questions because she couldn't remember them. I asked what they were and she said the first one was something about what does the Apostle's Creed say about Jesus and the second one asked for the difference between the Catholic and the Orthodox church.

So I ended up in a discussion or rather an explanation of the filioque clause, a brief recitation of a bit of the Apostle's Creed and joking with her that she should have come to Choral Evensong more often (she used to be in our choir) because we used the Apostle's Creed for that!

Ministry of Truth

I've read an interesting couple of posts today about youthworkers and their role in parishes.

I am constantly reminded at how lucky I am to have a wonderfuly supportive church community within my parish and an incredible network of fellow youthworkers throughout the diocese of Oxford (and now a little further afield too!) as well as a fantastic and eclectic group of people learning and praying with me at the SAOMC.

Marko has been extremely open about his experience of an incredibly unsupportive and in fact destructively manipulative church community. Ali C has shared with us something a youth worker had emailed him about the incredibly high expectations placed on a youth worker.

Both these stories show that as gifted as youth workers might be and as strong as their calling is to serve in a particular place, it also takes the community in which their working to find that gift and that calling to support the work. (It seems Ben has been exploring that issue of community ownership recently) I know that the fact that my parish employs a youthworker often pushes the budget to the limits but I also know that you cannot quantify what we achieve in youth ministry. You can make all the targest and benchmark systems in the world. The impact of one person's LIFE and MODEL and MINISTRY on individuals is immeasurable. In fact someone wise (thought I can't remember who) said that it is far better NOT to know the impact we might have on people's lives as we'd only get despondent or arrogant.

Think about it... Have you ever told someone from your formative years what a difference they made? I know there are some people in my past who have influenced me in ways they wouldn't necessarily look on gladly - people whose leadership style have made me think, "I'm DEFINITELY going to do that differently" but those people don't need to know that. I've also sat in wonder contemplating the AWESOMENESS of the example of some people but I know that to tell them would not help them. In fact I don't NEED to tell them. God pretty much takes care of giving us enough hope most of the time, I find.

Often in working with young people I wonder if anything I do makes a difference to any of them but then I see a small change, a glimmer of Christ's light shining in the life of JUST ONE of them and I KNOW it is all worth it. It may be "through a glass darkly" but ever so slightly LESS darkly and that slight lightening doesn't make me want to see the clear light face to face NOW it simply assures me that it is there and it WILL be there. I keep coming back to Jesus words to Martha:

"You are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing."

p.s. Both of these guys are now on the blogroll and I look forward to hearing what they have to say in the future.Thanks to Ben and Tim for bringing these to my attention!

Are you sitting down?

Now I don't want anybody to get a shock but I've just taken a test and apparently I'm a Liberal Christian! However some of you may be AMAZED at how orthodox I am apparently! 71% more orthodox than most people my age and gender - ha!

A Liberal Christian You scored 29 out of 45 on orthodoxy!

You are theologically orthodox but more socially liberal, at least in the ways that you imagine Jesus would have been. You believe in spreading the gospel but not in bashing other people to do it. Your beliefs are serious to you, but you probably have a pretty good sense of humor about them too. The Episcopal Church welcomes you! Jesus loves you! (But, you know, not in that way)

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 71% on orthodoxy

Link: The What Kind of Christian are You Test written by agape29

In the picture

My mate Mark was taking photographs of all the people at the SAOMC for their new course publicity material. In the midst of lots of serious pics he took a few fab ones of all my friends. Now I wouldn't DARE put those up without permission, as tempting as it is to put up the one of William pulling a grumpy face or Chris looking especially holy.

However, I don't need permission to put up ones of me!

Here is me endeavouring to look studious whilst really contemplating eating cake!



I managed the serious contemplative look much better in this one though!




You might almost believe that I was writing something useful! It was a great evening though the highlight wasn't the theological discussion but the suggestion that it doesn't MATTER if it was a evil snake in the Genesis story as it could equally have been an evil gooseberry. Great image. The serious point being that the DEEP TRUTH of Genesis is FAR more important than the surface story. What the snake stands for is more important than why it is a snake. Is it in any sense a literal story that describes how humanity fell from grace with God or is it a way for us to explore the way that people continue to fall from grace.

Bing Bong

I was out collecting Christian Aid envelopes this afternoon. This can SO often seem like a thankless task. Often you can knock on four doors in a row and get no response even though you can sometimes see people in there ignoring you. Or worse you can be told that “you’re on private property, you know” as one of my young people was told this year. The temptation to stuff a random proportion of the envelopes with coppers from my own purse occurred to me only briefly last year but again as then I steeled myself to knock on that first door and wait for no answer! I think I return to my previous incarnation as an Avon rep to be happy to do all the cold calling. This year I had a new road; flatter, shorter but with more complicated houses turned into six million flats each! Yet in the midst of all the people telling me “no, thank you” (what is that? What exactly was I offering them that they didn’t want??!!) the begrudging pennies chinking, the woman asking me for ID and saying “it doesn’t have your picture on it!”, in the midst of ALL that there was a MOMENT, a wonderful moment of sheer and utter pointfulness.

I had knocked on a door with Arabic writing on the door that clearly showed me it was a Muslin household. As I’ve been doing Christian Aid for a few years now, I know that in fact Muslims give most generously and willingly to Christian Aid. They have a strong belief in the importance of charitable giving. I learned that lesson soon after I learned that people in poor looking houses tend to give more generously than people living in rich, well-kept homes. I suppose the story of the widow’s mite should have taught me that long ago. It’s a lesson in life really; rich people don’t get rich by giving it away do they? That’s harsh but burning shoe rubber for Christian Aid supports the theory.

So I’d walked up to this Muslim household and knocked on the door. It was answered by a woman surrounded by lots of children of different ages. I held up the envelope and said I was collecting them. I was met with lots of blank looks. Then a little boy pushed passed his slightly bigger sister and tilted his head at me then pointed at me, smiled and said, “Church.” There was much discussion in the hallway and people began putting money in the envelope but I was too busy grinning back at this little guy who was still smiling at me. I asked him, “Have you visited our church with school” He grinned more and nodded.

It was fab. This little chap must have been in one of the school groups that visit our church and clearly it was a GOOD experience for him.

So I may have collected only something like 12 envelopes out of 71 potential households but that one really made a difference.

Tolerance of Intolerance

So many issues arise in the Anglican church at the moment concerning inclusion and exclusion, acceptability and unacceptability, tolerance an intolerance. Whether it’s an issue of human sexuality or the consecration of women priests as bishops the wider church seems focussed on issues that divide.

I have to admit that, as one who believes with a passion in Jesus’ own model of acceptance of all people with love, I find the issues that divide the church difficult. I consider myself a tolerant person and have difficulty understanding those who cannot find that tolerance in their hearts. I advocate the standpoint of the organisation Inclusive Church:

We affirm that the Church's mission, in obedience to Holy Scripture, is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in every generation.

We acknowledge that this is Good News for people regardless of their sex, race or sexual orientation.

We believe that, in order to strengthen the Gospel's proclamation of justice to the world, and for the greater glory of God, the Church's own common life must be justly ordered.

To that end, we call on our Church to live out the promise of the Gospel; to celebrate the diverse gifts of all members of the body of Christ; and in the ordering of our common life to open the ministries of deacon, priest and bishop to those so called to serve by God, regardless of their sex, race or sexual orientation.

However, recently I was challenged about how far my tolerance stretches. I’m clear that I tolerate those who are often not tolerated and yet my tolerance does not always extend to the intolerant themselves. For example, I find it difficult to accept those who themselves cannot accept the ministry of women in the priesthood. Yet if I am to be truly tolerant I should be able to respect their deep-held, prayer based opinion even though it differs from my own.

"You have heard that it was said, "You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous." Matthew 5:43-48 43

Last week I heard the Very Revd Jeffrey John speaking about Jesus’ ministry of miraculous healing. Jesus went to the margins of society and crossed them. He did not simply cure the physical symptoms of the people he met. His ministry was far more radical. Jesus went out to those who were unacceptable to society and brought the excluded back into acceptability.

The Levitical laws; the ancient rules of the Jewish Temple, declared that some people were not acceptable in the worshipping community; those who were not entirely physically whole or fit, those who seemed to be possessed by demons, women with bleeding. The Samaritans were considered less than perfect because of their ancestors. There were also laws which said a person was unclean if they touched a dead body. Jesus turned all these rules upside down as surely as he turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple. He cured the blind, the lame, the woman with internal bleeding. He touched lepers, including a Samaritan, and cured them. He raised Lazarus and Jairus’s daughter from the dead.

Jesus’ Gospel is one of love of all. Yet is it easier somehow to love the poor, the suffering, the excluded than to love the wealthy, the oppressor, the excluder? Perhaps we find it harder to show the Gospel of love to those whom we see to be falling short of it. Yet Jesus did not preach to people who were already fulfilling his teaching. His message to them was a challenge to do what he asked of them. He did not wait for them to be right before he spoke to them.

“The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5.30-32

God’s call for each of us is to live a life of example to others. To know our own failings and acknowledge them, and to show our love for both the tolerated and the intolerated, the tolerant and the intolerant not only by our words but by our actions:

“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13. 34-35

Blog silence

Apologies that the blog has been rather blog free this week. I hadn't even really noticed the gap since Wednesday.

In my defence I have been rather busy with two visits to the church - one from our Cubs and one of 90 year one children from Hamilton school - and a session with years 6 and 7 at the CofE school planning their mural as well as youth holiday planning and working out what we were going to do at the chillout worship on Saturday.

Normal blogging will resume shortly but until then I'm filling with a sneak preview of my Parish Magazine letter.

Swings and roundabouts

Apologies for the mega-blogging followed by a lull. In fact it is goodnews as I have been directing my literary endeavours towards the novel again. Tonight I topped 12,000 words. Hurrah! More than my BA thesis, nearly up to my MA thesis though decidedly less than the PhD but hopefully much more likely to get published than any of those!

I had a real time of personality dichotomy over the last few days. A great evening at SAOMC looking at the letter to the Hebrews and 1 Peter on Tuesday night and then a school visit of 90 children from year one on Wednesday morning. Both fabulous, challenging and fulfilling in their own ways.

I had a fabulous time with children asking all kinds of questions about church and the things we have in a church and what we do and who does what and what is that for and how long does that take and how old is that. You really can't help but be enthused by the overwhelming enthusiasm of children. Its their incredible honesty of response. They LOVED the church and were totally bubbling over with questions. If they hadn't liked the place, it would have been obvius by their disengagement but so clearly that wasnot the case. It really does make you understand why Jesus said we needed to become as little children to enter the kingdom.

In contrast, at SAOMC I had a splendid stroll and chat with Jo and then a stimulating discussion about the varying perceptions of the Kingdom of God in the Epistles [Did they consider the Kingdom had arrived or were they working towards it?] with a deeply insightful contribution from William on Paul's "through a glass darkly". He argued that it is not as simple as to say that the glass in now dark but one day it won't be. In journeying to faith and in deepening our relationship with God we see through the glass less and less darkly and when the time comes that we know God fully it will be all light. Wow! Just wish I could have been as adept at explaining my point about endurance.

We were talking about Hebrews and its take on suffering. The text seems to imply that there's a beneficial nature to suffering in terms of spiritual development (not really meritorious as such but evidently not all bad) and Alan was rather doubting the validity of that proposition. I, somewhat ineptly, endeavoured to suggest that it was much like John Cassian's reflection that self-discipline of thoughts and routine brings a spiritual freedom. I didn't argue the case well enough as people thought that couldn't apply to involuntary discomfort. However I would firmly disagree. It goes back to that great line of Viktor Frankel. The greatest freedom is to choose one's own attitude. Whether one is suffering due to persecution or as a result of imposing self determined discipline, it is the attitude that one takes to it which can make all the difference to oneself and to those who witness one's attitude.

So deep theological thinking one evening and overwhelming youthful exuberance the next morning and I loved them both. Can life really get better than this? Well in fact it can as I came home to a marvelloously tidied house! No I don't have a fleet of house elves just a fantastic housemate. :oD

Korean up the Khyber

Just can't resist putting this in for you all.

Someone found the blog yesterday by typing in "Sarah Hamilton" Wycombe and as there are a few of us Sarah Hamiltons out there I thought I'd see what actually came up for this serch. However I wasn't prepared for the Korean to English translation (of what had originally been in English as a press report about the library poster incident in 2003).

I think my favourite has to be how it translated the bit that described me and what I did. Orinigally it must have said something like, Sarah Hamilton, the Youth worker but the translation gives: "the young people employment self-acknowledgement Sarah Hamilton"
In my defence, I'm sure I described Christmas more accurately than it says here!!!


So for your delectation, here it is

" Is a religion partial " one possibility forbade the public library notice of the Christmas worship guidance poster of the church with reason.

Until now the British churches Christmas and the Easter Day gadfly will give the congratulation worship which invites the local resident, will reach and and the public place gadfly it notified the poster for.

pe The king of the British central part em sourly above high khom All Saint church Chengtu which are to the rain (High Wycombe) in the watching library (Listing time of service) notify the Christmas poster. But watching forbids in singing together grade cause Bridget Adams what kind of specific religion B or record notifying expression the poster of the public performance which it does pe khim em in policy to be sourly violated, it refused.

The Bridget " does not attend in the church and the residents which are many it attends in Christmas music worship. Consequently the watching library most the place which is most it informs music worship to this field suitable thought with language." |#ed20{mal_hayss_ta. Her in the last month library staff it discovered that it is not notified in the notice board case you to give the poster but and it had the different poster and in the notice board directness attaches the flaw library staff became India in the library market.

And the library market explained to be soft pe the king em to be sour in order not to notify a what kind of specific religion or the poster of the political group in library policy, that.

And the Dewar which is a watching interested party who takes charge of the library " it is a shock in of course like this policy but as watching e ccel there is not a possibility because all religion group does not give music worship at Christmas." |#ed20{tap_pyen It did.

The Bridget when it means that this problem is limited in one church there is not a star problem, but against like this policy that against this policy the important religion groups to propose a problem re-lon is necessary it talked. And it was British Anglican Church Chengtu, the young people employment self-acknowledgement Sarah Hamilton talked to demand a library whole, that knows at Christmas simple only the birth of a king tree or the light bulb Christmas meaning where the fact that it exhibits is not one field which it re-describes minutely it is necessary in the people.

Copyright (C) 2003 " beautiful house " All rights }reserved{.

Veni Sancte Spiritus

Shameless publication of my sermon at Choral Evonsong for Pentecost yesterday evening. Intoning went well so I was pleased.

The last time I preached on the feast of Pentecost, it was a very different setting; a family service celebrating the admission to holy communion of a group of children. I used a visual aid to illustrate to those children and to everyone else there what difference the Holy Spirit can make. When one of my colleagues heard that I was to be preaching again this Pentecost, she asked me if I would be using the same illustration again this evening. No. I’m sorry. There will not be a large inflatable cube floating around the church this evening.

Instead I want to talk about Peter’s experience of the Holy Spirit and what he had to say about Pentecost, as we heard in our second reading.

This text, from Luke’s story of the Acts of the Apostles is an absolute gift to any preacher. Not simply because it is a passage rich in scripture and in theology but because it presents to us the first Christian sermon of the early church. Indeed it is perhaps a model for ALL Christian sermons.

It begins, in fine tradition… with a joke. Peter protests to those who had witnessed the coming of the holy Spirit on the disciples: No, these men are not drunk… after all it’s only nine o’clock in the morning.

For those gathered the apostles, Pentecost must have been a rather shocking experience. Tongues of fire, the sound of a rushing wind and then all that curiously coherent babbling in different languages. I don’t think the average Anglican evensong congregation is in that state. However I think there is often a moment of trepidation, of expectation perhaps of apprehension when a preacher steps up into the pulpit.

Perhaps this is the root of the common practice of setting the listeners at ease with a light hearted comment or perhaps something to catch the attention. Whatever the motivation may have been, Peter is demonstrably the first to have begun his sermon in a light mood.

Yet soon thereafter, Peter proceeded to the first, rather meatier course of his speech. He quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures. A good solid piece of biblical teaching. Yet, again, somewhat reassuringly for the modern preacher, and as the juxtaposition of the reading from Joel with the reading from Acts this evening shows, Peter didn’t actually get his scripture word perfect. What matters is Peter’s choice of scripture and his accuracy of its message. That he does get right. Peter picked a passage which spoke to the situation he was in. He showed that the passage had relevance to his audience not only in terms of being an important religious text from the past, a link to their religious and spiritual heritage, but also as a description of the events they have just witnessed and the future they will face.

“In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

This is a message of inclusion for all.

And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Joel, a minor let’s be honest, lesser known book of prophecy might seem like a curious choice for such a momentous day. One might expect a meaty bit of Isaiah, something from Moses, a speech by Elijah – some big player. Yet Peter’s use of Joel is not, I don’t think, inappropriate. The book of Joel is a later prophecy and sits, in terms of its composition on the cusp between the age of prophetic texts and the age of apocalyptic texts. This passage we have heard contains something vital for Peter’s message. Peter could have sought the authority of the great prophets to illuminate for people what they have just witnessed but instead he chooses a more lowly text. A text which makes clear that the day itself had been foretold. The gift of prophecy that he and the other disciples have received is a sign of the universal gifting of God’s people. It is no longer to be the great prophets alone who will have the gift of God’s inspiration. More than that, this gifting of God’s people with his Spirit is, for Peter, a mark of the fulfilment al that God had promised to his people. Moses himself had asked God that “all people might be prophets”. To Peter, this is what is happening at Pentecost. ALL people are being given the chance to receive the Holy Spirit.

After recounting this historic, old covenant text Peter springs from that foundation to talk about the new covenant with Jesus. Peter’s message for the people gather that day on Pentecost was that it is essential to grow out from their history. To see that their past not only precedes but also shapes their present and their future. That following Jesus was not some new-fangled idea but something rooted and grounded in his people’s history. Joel had talked about how times were bad but how they could and one day would be good. Peter considered that time to have come on the day of Pentecost.

As Peter’s audience are caught up in this image of Young men having visions and old men dreaming dreams he goes on again to remind them of their history and again he backs this up with more scripture.

He states clearly that this man Jesus whom he has been describing was the one David had spoken of and the one the Jews had been awaiting; the Messiah.

Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."

“This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear.”

This passage from psalms is also one which speaks of life after death. Part of the essential message of Jesus’ salvation

“Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, "He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.”

Peter has talked about the history of his people; the distant history of their ancestors and about their immediate past – of the life and ministry of Jesus; of his passion and resurrection. Yet there is MORE.

In the true style of the sermon, Peter doesn’t not only tell people about their faith, but tells them more. Peter concludes as all good sermons should conclude. Having set out his texts and interpreted them’ having made his message clear, he has already made an impact on his listeners but finally he presents them with a challenge. He tells them not only what they should know but also what they should DO.

He tells them to turn away from sin, to be baptised and then, being forgiven of their sins receive the Holy Spirit.

Peter is saying that you can have tradition and history but that is not enough. That is not the end. You need to turn from that to look forward to receive the Holy Spirit. Just as the richness of the music we have heard comes from a strong tradition so too, it can’t merely stay as a tradition, as something written down. For the message of those words and notes to come alive, they need to be breathed. Not only by our fine singers but by the Holy Spirit. If those words were merely sung and not prayed through the Holy Spirit they would mean nothing. So too if our Christian beliefs, our history our practices are not breathed through by the Holy Spirit, then it means nothing.

You have heard the message of Peter:

Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jeffrey John

As promised, a bit from the Very Revd Jeffrey John's reflections on REAL Bible Study.

Jeffrey began his talk with a recollection of those bizarre passages from the Bible which involve smiting, stoning, and general damning which have then been followed by the immortal and eternal THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD THANKS BE TO GOD!

He went on to explore what exactly the Bible is - not a book but a library. He argued that there is not single passage that can truly be called the word of God though the Bible as a whole might well be considered the word of God. However it is far better to think that the Bible "can be the vehicle of God's word to us now but connot be God's word.. there is only one WORD of God, that is Jesus Christ."

He used various models for the Bible and I think my favourite had to be the kaleidoscope with "many different authors' reflections and refractions of God's word" which produces different patterns some lighter and some dark but "white light is always there behind it." Because of this, there can be "no such thing as THE Biblical teaching on anything."

Jeffrey was keen to impress on his audience the importance of reading not only the text of the bible but also commentary on it. He said that in order to understand any passage in the Bible we must understand where it comes from. All good solid exegetical stuff really but it is shocking how often, perhaps especially in youth work, we expect to have a group read a text from the Bible and understand its meaning without any more support or insight.

He went on to show how a deeper reading of the text could help with a greater understanding of what the "white light" might be in certain places.

I particularly liked his highlighting of the nature of the recipients of Jesus' healing miracles. Not to say that the stories were created by the authors of the Gospels but that the selection they describe of the miracles Jesus performed was deliberate not accidental. Amongst those cured are all those who had been ostracisedfrom society by Levitical law; the crippled, the blind, the leper, the possessed, those who were ritually unclean because of bleeding. This shows that Jesus was, as Jeffrey John said, "absolutely revolutionary, absolutely hateful to the religious authorities of his time." By healing these people he was accepting them and showing the world that their understanding of God's laws was skewed.

Contraversially, though clearly stating that it was only one interpretation and neither his own or one he would die to defend, Jeffrey recounted how the curing of the centurion's servant could perhaps have been one of these miracles designed to show acceptance. It is nothing new to suggest that the centurion's "beloved" servant might have been intimate with the centurion. Perhaps Jesus' curing of this young man was a sign of Jesus' acceptance of the centurion and his lover as they were. A challenging interpretation for all of us!

Exhausted

Life got far too exciting yesterday as the exhaust disconnected from my car on the way to London Colney. At least I was on the A404 near AMersham not somewhere on the M40!

A slight bruise, a wander in Chesham and a hefty bill later I finally made it to the SAOMC weekend and went to a session on Baptism and then heard Jeffrey John in the evening. More on his REAL Bible study anon.

This evening I am leading and preaching at evensong. Not at all scared! Me? No! Ridiculous!

Call me a cock-eyed optimist

Great day yesterday swanning about in Oxford having coffee then lunch then a drink with three wonderful people. I also did a bit of writing and continued the search for my outfit for my friend's wedding. We also chatted later in the evening about the recent film I saw THE WEDDING DATE which made me think maybe I need to get me of those too, not a rented one, of course but a willing chum - eek!.

It really was a great day and still unspoiled by what could have been DREADFUL...

I was humming my way home on the park and ride bus when, without knowing it, I somehow let my purse slip out of my handbag. I didn't realise this at the time at all.

As I was driving home from the park and ride, a friend called me several times, and left a message which is unlike her. I picked up the message as soon as I parked back in High Wycombe and phoned Hazel straight back as her message had requested.

It seems that an extremely MARVELLOUS person (called Michael) had found my purse on the bus and discovered Hazel's number on the sponsorship form for my Charity Parachute Jump (anyone still wanting to sponsor me do let me know!). So this man ( I really should call him GENTLEMAN - his actions deserve the epithet!), this gentleman had told Hazel that he'd found my purse and would I like to collect it? I then phoned him and arranged collection.

So I am driving back over to Oxford today to collect it from his office.

Anyone else have their faith in humanity restored? I think this shows how GOOD people are on the whole.

Isn't the world fabulous?

Wholly Spirit

Wonderful evening at the confirmation of three young men I have known for years and spent the last couple of months preparing for confirmation. It was incredible. It felt so HOLY, so RIGHT and so TIMELY. The highlight for me was standing together with David (our vicar) by each of the boys as the bishop confirmed them. I trully felt part of something tangibly transcendent and evidently life-changing.

The service was in one of the other team churches, St Mary's and St George's, which is decidedly smaller than All Saints' and being a week night it wasn't terribly full of people however it was clearly full of the Holy Spirit and indeed of some great incense!

It made me reflect on my own confirmation (many years ago now - good grief!) which was a BIG event at All Saints' on a Sunday morning with no spare seats in the house (must have been about 500-600 people). I was prepared for confirmation in a large group of I think about 8 teenagers and in fact there was ANOTHER group of a simialr size of just teenagers. It was in the days when it was "my turn". I'd reached the age that one reached and so it was time to be confirmed. I ddin't feel then what I felt yesterday evening.

I'm not saying I regret being confirmed. Of course not. It's merely that I think the idea we have now of admitting young children to Holy Communion in a big group and then waiting for individuals to ASK for confirmation.

So often in the Church and in youth work we focus on the BIG events with LARGE numbers. God does not measure success in numbers (does God measure success at all?). God calls us one by one as the words of the confirmation service yesterday said:

God calls you by name and claims you for His own

.

Dream a little dream for me

Barrie had a link to this Cadbury's Dream Factory with THE BEST IDEA I've seen in a while.



Cadbury's are proposing that people submit their dreams and are offering to make some of them come true. Barrie suggests that we all submit a dream about Cadbury's and FAIR TRADE chocolate.



Just think. If enough people submit a dream about Cadbury's using Fairly-traded chocolate. Maybe, just maybe, Cadbury's might bow to the pressure of the buying public and trade fairly with their cocoa suppliers.

Any one can dream

CREature Discomforts

Had a good day at CRE yesterday with the colleagues, including schamozzling with Dave at his ever so distinctive booth promoting his new CARTOON CHURCH.

Yes it is a SHAMELESS plug. I think his stuff is great and I don't mind telling you all LOTS!

However I also got measured by J and M Sewing for my new cassock (well FIRST (ministerial not choir) cassock) and they were so surprised at how short my legs were (compared to my body) that they double checked. Depressing or what? There were also FAR too many scary looking religious puppets about.

**shudders**

I don't know why I find them freaky. I LOVE the muppets but these nearly humanoid puppet things they have just "give me the wiggins" as Buffy would say!

Then in the evening I went along to SAOMC for a fascinationg couple of sessions, one on Human development and "attachment" and the other on the letter of James, its theology, authorship and place in the canon. They may not seem as directly relevant as some special practical youthwork training but having just used an absolute tonne of what I learnt through the course last year in preparing three young people for confirmation, I was really pleased to be learning and exploring theological issues once again.

Face ache

Fantastic time with my friends Kerry, Roland and Nicola yesterday evening. I haven't laughed so hard or so long in a while! My face hurt, my chest hurt, and I was exhausted.

FABULOUS.

Today I'll be off at the CRE being a groupie of Dave and his new CARTOON CHURCH which is now launched.

Check it out guys!

I'm a real Princess

This afternoon I had some time to kill between coffee with one friend and supper with some others and as I was in the incredibly shopping-temple that is the Oracle in Reading, I decided to have a bit of a look for an outfit for my friend Lis's wedding in October.

Unfortunately in looking for wedding outfits my attention was drawn to the lovely evening gowns that were also there. I found an absolutely beautiful creation of green and cream flouncinessfor the shocking figure of £95.



It was one of those rare times when I wished I had not only the money to be able to afford it but also the occasion on which to wear it.

Why am I not the kind of person that gets invitations to balls, galas and regattas? My name MEANS princess. That should count for something!

I love my job and watcing DVDs and eating pizza with the young people... but once in a while it would be WONDERFUL to be a real princess!

The Sith Sense

Fantastic news from Matt that the new Star Wars film is FANTASTIC, a revelation, a return to true pre CLONE nightmare quality. Ok I guess I'm sounding like far too much of the anorak so I'll stop! So who wants to see it with me?

... and just cos it's so great, here's Darth Tater again!

Passion powered

Great meeting with the young people who are going on the youth holiday this evening. LOTS of passionate discussion - though not all entirely focussed on what we were talking about! It reminded me of the session with the pupils of the school I visited on Thursday to plan their mural. Full of ideas: some fantastic, some not so great but all bubbling from enthusiasm, that PASSION which we're all practicing! I've now got as far as Chapter to in Kenda Creasey Dean's book, Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church
and I'm hoping to get a few more concrete ideas about working WITH the empassioned young people and harnassing that passion. I know we manage it most of the time but I'm not quite sure HOW we do it! We seem to manage to funnel the ideas of the young people and channel them into the work but I'm not sure whether it's something we're doing as a youthwork team or weather it's serendipity. Perhaps the Holy Spirit is working without me noticing exactly how. I don't know. What I do know is that we have a flipchart full of ideas for activities for our youth holiday (and we have a fabulous mural in the offing at the CofE school too!)

Worth a look

Now that Dave has his cartoons in the Church Times each week, I've made a point of sitting down and reading it in a little more depth than I have done. The guide to the church this week warns against the dangers of confusing a shed with a church - be warned Ian!

Anyway, the edition this week has a certain youthwork spin to it. There's an interview with a youthworker who's on the archbishop's council. According to Mark Russell, Dr Rowan Williams is excellent with young people. This is good news for those who will be taking teenagers to meet him tomorrow. Wish I could join you everyone! There was also an article reviewing some youth and children's work resources though some of them seemed less than recent.

However the article that interested me most was the plug for The Monastery. This is the latest in reality TV and I'm hoping it will be a revelation to people. Five men joined the monks at Worth Abbey for forty days and nights. It screens on Tuesday at 9pm on BBC 2 - take a look.

For your shedification...

Ian seems a little bit SHED obsessed at the moment - especially with his post today! Apparently he's had more comments on his blog about the post on SHED than on his youth work postings recently.

This shouldn't be surprising, really, as sheds play an important role in church life, don't they?

You don't agree?

Well I think you must have forgotten the many FAMOUS hymns about sheds!

Some reminders for you:

In the hymn See, the Conqueror mounts in triumph one verse begins:
"Holy Ghost, llluminator, shed Thy beams upon our eyes,"

or in "Alleluia, alleluia! Hearts to Heaven and voices raise"

we have: "Christ is risen, we are risen! Shed upon us heavenly grace,"

or from "Through the night of doubt and sorrow"
"One the light of God’s own presence,
O’er His ransomed people shed,"

and what about
"Bread of the world, in mercy broken,
Wine of the soul, in mercy shed,"

and

"Blessèd city, heavenly Salem," which gives us:
"From celestial realms descending,
Bridal glory round thee shed,"

and who can FORGET the immortal

"Sunbeams scorching all the day;
Chilly dew-drops nightly shed;"
from "Forty days and forty nights"

or

"And Thy fullest benediction Shed within its walls alway" from "Christ is made the Sure foundation"

and finally I don't know them myself but apparently there is a hymn called:
"For man the Savior shed"

and another:

"Sweetest joy the soul can know,
Fairest Light was ever shed,"

Yet the one most appropriate for Ian I think must be:

"Thou Lord, defend this land of ours,
Its smiling shores, its mountain towers;
Thy blessing on its future shed
Like morning dew when night is fled."

Many thanks to Cyberhymnal for the lyrics! and yes... my brain has gone loopy from the stress of our church hall being out of action!

ABC easy as 123

Fabulous time wasting link from Kazza. Can you stop playing with these fridgemagnets?

This was a great diversion for me after a day of RUSHING ABOUT trying to sort out alternate youth events because our church hall is out of action indefinitely - aaaaaaaaaaagggggggggggh!

A Treasury of words

I was fascinated by Tim's adventures into the realms of treasure-hunting - I can just see him in a Captain Jack Sparrow kind of a style. Nice.



(Ok so it's only partially a good excuse to get a pic of Johnny in there!!!)

Yet these are not the only treasures to be discovered out there apparently. Peat Weblog has a fabulous link to a wonderful idea of a site recommended by Radio 4 apparently!

Book Crossing is a scheme whereby people DELIBERATELY leave books in public places, log the place they left it and await to see where it might have travelled!

Only trouble is I have to dig out some books I enjoyed but didn't love SO much that I can't part with them. I do have just a FEW books around the place. In fact someone sitting in my dining room recently looked up at the groaning shelves and said, "Sarah are those all your books?" "No," I answered, "the rest are upstairs!!" When I like to think I'm not too materialistic I have to remind myself about my love of books.

Christian Creature Comforts

I've only just had a chance to sit down and enjoy the new series of Creature Comforts from Aardman. Jonny Baker used the one about Cats and Dogs as part of our worship at The Matrix Youth conference earlier this year and I see a lot of potential for laughter and discussion with some young people.



There are sections on creation/evolution, Christmas and aliens as well as a fabulous episode apparently about buying pets but based on intervews with people about the dating game. It has a lot of really good stuff about self-worth.

I think this is why I have always LOVED the original Creature Comforts and why I was gutted to realised I'd missed the new series when it was on TV. I find the way that Nick Park et al. connect the human situations with our preceptions of corresponding (though not identical) situations in the animal world. Genius!

Well Ben M has taken up the challenge to write bible discussion notes for the series for me. What a star! Leaves me with plenty of time to conemplate the joys of the new Wallace and Gromit film!

Hitchhikers' Guide to the Blogosphere

I've been talking recently with some NEW readers to my blog about the nature of the whole blogging thing. We talked about how it was a good medium for logging what happens in my life and yet how it also dissipates some of my writing away from other projects such as the novel(s) I've been writing. However the biggest issue for a lot of people is about how you know what to write and what NOT to write in view of who might be READING the blog.

It's an interesting question.

As a person in ministry and someone with what could be considered, in some ways, a public role I have to think very carefully about what I put on the blog and, I must admit to you, my loyal blogees that I don't write about EVERYTHING in my life. There are a few things which get missed out quite deliberately.

How do I judge what I can and can't include? Well as a youth worker it's not too difficult.

I think to myself...

Would I be happy with my young people reading this?
Would the congregation be happy to read this?
How would the most sensitive person I know feel about it?

Yet it's more than the audience response alone. It's an interesting Christian reflection, as well, in the mode of loving your neighbour: What would the people I'm writing about think?

Obviously I don't want to flatter people or make out that they are amazing (though with most of the people I know that's tough because they ARE FABULOUS AND WONDERFUL PEOPLE!) and nor do I want to say horrible things about people but how much is "telling it like it is" only the truth from my perspective?

I think that's why I like the opportunity for people comment so much. You can get feedback on what you've said and especially what you've said about people.

So to the other bloggers out there....

How do YOU decide what does and what doesn't appear on your blog?

BANKing Holiday weekend

I blame Peter for leading me to this site. It's a kind of stockmarket of blogs. Could there BE a bigger (and yet vaguely compelling) waste of time?

Strangest thing is that you don't have to register your site to be on... so now I have shares in several of the blogs I read!

Anyone fancy some shares in Deep Thought? It's fairly popular at the moment you know as I keep getting people looking for DEEP THOUGHT, BRAIN THE SIZE OF A PLANET and other HITCHHIKERS' GUIDE TO THE GALAXY phrases! Apologies to those getting here and being disappointed but if you've got so far and have enjoyed the blog...

... so long and thanks for all the traffic!

Cherchez la Femme

Had a lovely lunch with Mark, Sarah and their toddler Daniel today. A great chocolate cake and a reasonable homemade quiche (pastry stillnot my forte!)In the afternoon, we went into the park and played with the ball and Daniel called me Sher-sher. Mark was convinced this was as in "cherchez la femme". I just thought it was really sweet. Daniel is SO full of energy and willing to try new things - especially anything within reach! - it gave me that insight into what Jesus was saying about becoming "like little children". I think it also showed me what a PASSION for life looks like - as Pete and Roy were asking.

I do not know this "cheese" of which you speak

I saw Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy last night and I'd heard some bad critiques of it so I was worrie it would be cheesy yet thankfully I loved it.

It was a very slick film with a decidedly different tone (in fact a different plot in places!) to the radio series and tv series. I rather thought it should have been a little LESS slick and hollywood; it's such a quirky story - it needed a slightly more quirky style and I don't think a big movie can really do quirky. It needed to be a little more British I suppose! Yet it was such a POSITIVE film. I really hope Douglas Adams enjoyed it from "his seat in the gallery" as a fulfillment of the screenplay he had written. I really hope the changes were his. I think it shows an interesting change in his outlook on life if they were. A change for the good. I'm not going to specify... have a look.

Though I can't resist telling you a few little bits!

Marvin the Android was rather bigger than I thought he'd be but Warwick Davies' movements and Alan Rickman's voice made it work! Stephen Fry was perfect (though underused) as the Guide. Bill Nighy was EXCELLENT as Slartibartfast and personally I thought Martin Freeman was great as Arthur Dent (and the appearance of the TV series Arthur in another role was a joy!).

Favourite moment is a tough one though - seriously the film was that good - but I think it's finally a contest between the woolly moment after the improbability drive and the INCREDIBLE sequences about the creation of Earth Mark 2 (the backup). I can see me using that as a discussion starter about God and... u know... Life the universe and everything!

Use the Blog, Luke

Fantastic link on Matt's blog to Darth Vader's blog - Gotta be worth a visit!

I'm off to see Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy tonight (somewhat in contrast to the ultimate chick flick fest last night of THE WEDDING DATE - very funny but guys, trust me, you don't want to bother!)

Putting things in Perspectives

I just had the wonderful news that an article I wrote last year about retreats is going to be in PERSPECTIVES. Queue up to buy your copy today!!! Seriously it is a great publication at a down to earth grass roots youth work level. Who needs glossy magazines, eh?

Had a nightmare finding a decent enough photograph of me to offer for submission! Not sure I picked the right one but I talk so much that there are rarely photos of me without my mouth open in some strange position! The biography was limited to 20 words as well so that was also a challenge!!

I'm just off to spend the day grinning! Have a good day everyone!

Where's Suddy?

Ok so this is the best I could do with getting a photo of the Tim lookalike. Do u see the likeness? Maybe it was just me!

On Fire

Wow

Wow

and double WOW

Incredible service last night. The prayer time was just AMAZING and I am still floating. I can't describe it (and I don't think I should on here anyway) but ask me some time and I might try.

High Leigh Recommended

I'm back at High Leigh conference centre this week for the On Fire conference which is a charismatic catholic renewal event. It's an intriguing mix of modern worship songs and traditional catholic worship which sounds just my cup of tea in many ways but I'm not used to having the two together so it was a little disconcerting at first but it is beginning to settle with me.

Russ Parker spoke this morning in the main conference hall where only a coupl of months ago I was listening to Tony Campolo and Russ talked Philippians 3 (a favourite of mine I must say) emphasising Christianity as being TOUGH... "It's not a glamour shoot" you don't become a Christian, get a promotion and a pay rise... All great stuff but SPOOKILY similar to some of the things Tony Campolo said on that VERY spot only a few weeks ago! His mannerisms were similar too so I was nearly as spooked as I was by the Tim Sudworth lookalike I spotted the first night of the conference!!!

He also spoke about the need for people to be in love with Christ and not "people in love with eventfulness - it's not the same thing!"

Russ also had some fantastic things to say this afternoon about the ability to HEAL the effects of the history of places, people and communities. He was talking primarily about the power of listening and again echoed something that Tony Campolo said at the Matrix youth conference. Russ proposed that:
"if we can listen with the ears of Christ we might just get 'the words that will sustain the weary'"

He also had a painfully accurate challenge to those in a preaching/teaching ministry... "What makes you think that people have heard the Gospel just because you've preached it to them?" He was talking about this in reference to the cultural background of people and our need as ministers to listen to histories. It reminded me of some of the things Antony Reddie covered when I visited the Methodist training session. Parker put it in a rather more metaphoric way though which I rather liked. When we preach, "it's got to pass through the window of their personal story" on which they will make their own conclusions.

I'm still distilling a lot of this but it is all resonating with Bob Mayo's take on a narrative model of youth ministry and I really feel that I am crystallising my own model of ministry more and more. Paradoxically though, that crystallisation is of a model of ministry which is itself fluid. I have a strong sense of that need to "flow" in my ministry, to be caught up in what God is wanting me to do rather than drive my own path through not simply in the general direction of my vocation but also in the minutiae of the daily ministry and it really is a liberating experience.

Weekend Away-hay

FABULOUS weekend away with the young people! Loved it! Some great Tie-dying, a cool prayer walk based on the 7 I AM statements, a ready steady cook that produced some scrumptious food and not much incident (aside from the broken window and two lads with cuts who "didn't do anything!") REALLY was marvellous time though.

Then also a great St George's Day Service with some brilliant young cubs helping me with a sketch... followed by an excellent session with the confirmation class on the Holy Spirit and Prayer... and finally an interesting evening listening to the local candidates for the general election at a hustings meeting in the church including James Oates, the Liberal Democrat candidate with a blog.

I told him I'd had a look at it and liked his link to some silly doctored photographs and when I mentioned mine he said he might have a look and give me a link. Pretty cool!. Unlike the UKIP candidate who, aside from the usual UKIP strand of bizarre political explanations that ALL problems result from our membership of the EU, had a go at young people by talking about the "problem of young people" presenting themselves to A&E with injuries and the need for activities to "KEEP THEM OUT OF MISCHIEF!" Having just spent A LOT of time with young people, that REALLY riled me and I nearly went up to tell him what I thought but fortunately my friend intervened!!



This problemisation of young people is so ubiquitous and seemingly so acceptable. How do we change that? None of the young people I work with is perfect but then I don't know any perfect adults. In fact I seem to remember there has only ever been one perfect human! The problems that people talk about in relation to young people are problems not of youth but of humanity - when will people understand that?

Anyway, it's too late to continue ranting! More anon on all of this.

**Minotaur not included

I realised that I hadn’t updated you all on the completion of the Easter to Pentecost labyrinth. Here’s the finished thing in total

And some of the young people using it.

I'll be away for the weekend with a small group of our young people, so I'm sneaking this one in quickly. I'll let you know how it all goes!

Think of a world without any flowers...

So here is the finished flower arrangement for our Lady chapel.

As I knew I’d not be GOOD I thought I’d gor for symbolism rather than beauty!

So the entire creation is supposed to be seasonal – recreated St George and the Dragon.

Hopefully you can see

Something vaguely George –like

The flames of the dragon’s fiery breath

And last but not least the Dragon itself

So this is what it should look like as people walk in

Dies Magna

Today must be the official beginning…

I can’t deny it any longer…

It’s so clear that you just can’t hide it…

I MUST BE A GROWN UP

Today I am going to be … oh it’s too depressing to admit… I’m going to be …

… arranging flowers in church!

That’s it! I have to hang up trainers and start buying sensible shoes. No more smarties cookies; tea and cucumber sandwiches only from now on.

Perhaps I should take up knitting… and basket-weaving… and find a good zimmer frame!

Anyway… my senectitude apart… I’ll try and get a pick of the hideous monstrosity later to show you all. It may be a new dawn in the awfulness of floral art!

AGM - Annual General Moan? ... No more!

This evening was our church's AGM and, from my experience these can be quite torturous affairs. Aside from the endless stream of reports on financial affairs which I have always REALLY tried to listen to but which just do not engage me (unlike a good sermon which does, Ian!). I remember several years in succession when one parishioner asked if we could change the colour of the numbers we used in the hymn boards. Eventually - after THREE years - the church changed them to black, as requested, instead of red and the FOURTH year the guy stood up to say thank you. The FIFTH year ... well it almost felt like we were missing an extablished part of the agenda!

For the last two AGMs I have convened our Youth Council on the same evening and the young people have met briefly for youth business and then gone on to join the whole church. I think it had quite an impact last year - the regsiter of their presence in the minutes aside - as people seemed less inclined to faff around and ask endless questions. There was some sense of a need to "keep it real" which permeated the meeting. This year, with our new vicar in post, the meeting was more envisioned anyway and the presence of the young people was pretty much expected rather than a surprise.

There was no Annual General Moaning. It was focussed for a large part of the evening on the legal necessities of the synodical system and yet it was also rich in a sense of moving forwards and in seeking after vision. I really feel that All Saints' is living out its mission to be:

A place for our whole community to encounter God.

Pope Benedict XVI

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger has been elected as pope and taken the name Benedict XVI.

Benedict XVI is likely to be a highly conservative pope though likely to hold the post for long as he was 78 last Saturday.

As Cardinal Ratzinger, this man was responsible for reaffirming the sole validity of the Roman Catholic church over other Christian churches.

The new pope should be familiar to anyone who has been watching thenews as he presided at the funeral of Pope John Paul II and preached then and at the mass before the start of the conclave this week.

When I heard that white smoke had been seen this afternoon I thought it might well be Ratzinger who had been chosen as he was the most likely to get a clear majority so quickly, in my opinion.

I think it's a shame that this new pope is also European and in fact, from a place not so far from Poland, the birthplace of the last pope, in the grand scheme of things.

There is one thing that is fairly certain; we shall see the election of a new pope again within a decade or so.

CREative

Dave has got a new cartoon blog as a precursor to a VERY exciting project called CARTOON CHURCH which is going to be launched at the CRE at Sandown Park 10th-13th May 2005.

I'm sure this will be a fantastic resource for anyone working with young people or in churches that are far from dull!

Check it out.

Talking about CRE - who's going on which day? Am I likely to bump into any bloggers when I'm there on Tuesday 10th May?

Blogitics

I've just discovered that the Liberal Deomcrats have a blog from their campaign bus and indeed that our local candidate has his own blog. Should be an interesting way to follow the election.

I'm not the BBC so I don't have to be impartial but I will look to see if the other parties have done anything similar. Maybe it'll come out that bloggin is a LIBERAL thing to do!!??

X marks the spot

The college of cardinals has gone in to vote for the next pope and the run up to the election here is gatherding speed.

I am a STRONG advocate of people using their vote. If you don't vote, you're abdicating responsibility for the way the world is run.

Some people say they don't vote because they don't see the difference between the parties. Well, just for you, the Christian Aid website has a link to a hand website that can help you decide how to vote.

I did the test and my only shock was a slight plus on UKIP - aaagh!

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -22
Conservative -41
	Liberal Democrat 64
	UK Independence Party 4
	Green 46

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Mass Rocked

I was invited to deliver the talk at Rockmass VII at Thatcham last night and it was a FABULOUS evening. I don't mean my talk necessarily - I was pleased with how the sketch and the visual display went but I'll leave others to let you know how the tlk went down! - but the whole evening was really cool. For me a particular high was seeing Emma (one of the young people who came with us to Taize two years ago) singing in the band and ROCKING - she was AWESOME! There were some great tunes including One Love (not Blue but Bob Marley) and some great Stuart Townend and Matt Redman. It was also really cool to catch up with Pete and Sue who I haven't seen in ages and meet Ray, a new (ish) youthworker from the diocese. He said "oh yes I think I've seen your name on Ian's blog" - infamy!

This would usually be the point at which I cut and paste the talk that I gave last night but... trouble is... I worked out the basic idea and theme of what I was going to say last night but I never wrote it down and simply spoke without notes last night.

I was talking about John 10.10-10 and I did use an image which I will share with you which I heard SO long ago that I forget where (and indeed forgot the original concepts!)

I took a large glass vase to symbolise life

and placed some large pebbles in it to symbolise the big things in life like family work food etc and asked people, "is it full" (fortunately I got a few yeses!)

Then I toped it up with gravel which trickled through the pebbles and up to the top to represent the fun stuff in life like friends and sport and music "full?" the response was mixed

Then I took a big jug of sand to represent the little kindnesses and good intentions, the things we tend to squeeze in when we can and thesound of the sand was pretty cool as it slid effortlessthrough the pebbles and gravel - "full?" by this point some people had cottoned on and were saying "No?"

Then I finally took a jug of water and talked about Jesus and the living water. I talked about how we can fill our lives with all kinds of things; things that matter and things that don't and yet no matter how much we fill our lives there is ALWAYS room for the living water. Then I poured the water in and it bubbled and gurgled (fab stuff!)

My message was: You may be living it large but unless you have God in your life, your not living life in all its fullness.

There was a man taking photos so if I get any I'll post them up.

Was anybody there? Any feedback people?

Jump to it!

Ok it’s official… I am booked for the parachute jump in aid of Iain Rennie Hospice at Home. Anyone wishing to sponsor me (preferably only those in the UK for ease!!) do get in touch. I need to raise £400 to make it really worthwhile for the charity. My dad and I between us are pretty much covering the cost of the jump so any sponsorship you give is pure profit to what must be one of the best charities in the world. So what more appropriate picture than one from the great de-motivational site that Ian and Roy have been featuring!

Someting for the Weekend?

I'm finalising the plans for our weekend away next weekend and I discover that YOOFWORK on the wibsite has got some guidelines for weekend residentials but they're JUST too late for me!!!

Dave, I salute you! A masterpiece! I particularly like the late night element of the programme!

Even though Wibsite was recently described as "confusing on your first look" by a review site which cautioned potential readers that it "borders on offensive at times" I think this was a little underserved. The site is, in fact well worth an explore, a titter and a return visit. I get no comission although I should perhaps declare that a Wibsite calendar does adorn our kitchen wall!! Just love those cartoons :oD

A rose by any other name...

I was looking at the bloogles again today and discovered that somebody found my blog by actually looking for me by name. This is somewhat reassuring... at least theygot there in the end - whether or not they werelooking for me.

The trouble is, having a name like Sarah Hamilton is not especially great for building a prominent internet profile. It's just too common, unfortunately. It reminds me of the Dave Gorman show.

I was at school with another Sarah Hamilton who was in the year ahead of me and when I was working in academia, there was a Sarah Hamilton ahead of me by a couple of years in a similar enough field that a colleague once congratulated me on the good reviews for (not) my new book! Strangest thing was that this other Dr Sarah Hamilton and I seemed to have quite a few academia friends in common though the two of us never actually met.

Having left academia for the greater pleasures of Youth Ministry, I sometimes think of the other Dr Sarah Hamilton leading the life I might have had (though in fact she was FAR more dedicated and scholarly than I was and therefore justificably more successful!).

Yesterday, a friend asked me if I ever miss university life with a "nonne" question (one for my former students there - a question expecting the answer no... a "surely not?") and in part he was right. I generally don't. I love my job so much, even when I have incredibly busy days like today and the prospect of full days ahead. There is occaionally, though, a brief moment when I picture myself sitting in a quiet library surounded by a large stack of Latin dictionaries but this is usually lost in me giggling (at the recollection that I really didn't have the dedication to solitary confinement when I was researching and was far more inclined to plan "fun" things for my Latin classes) and then moving on to plan the next event, buy some new resources, experiment with some craft or write something for my next sermon. Talk about dream job, surely? Well I think it is for me, as long as I get some time when I'm supposed to be a little bit mature sometimes!!!

Don't talk about politics and religion...?

Yesterday, my friend William Whyte mentioned an article he wrote with his friend Giles Fraser (who regularly writes for the Church Times and whom I quoted here around the time the article was out). UnfortunatelyI managed to miss this in the pre-Easter workload but better late than never I hope!

In looking for the article itself, (which looks at the abandonment of apparent religious affiliation by left wing politicians) I also found various responses on websites.The two most interesting of them describe the authors as conspiracy theorists and "champions of the left" who are writing "as if Oliver Cromwell were in charge again and the public executions will begin tomorrow morning". What a review!

Of course getting criticism like that must mean they're doing something right... or should that be something left? ;oP

Still blogging away

I've had a few really good days recently (today including a splendid lunch at St John's college with my friend William followed by coffee on the sunlit rooftop overlooking the college gardens) and I think this is having an adverse effect on my blogging.

I think I blog better when there's something niggling me slightly. I'm just too content. Sorry everyone!

When things just work

I can't remember which car it is (advertising REALLY is wasted on me sometimes!) but one of the car ads that you often see at the cinema has that wonderful sequence of car parts that all work together (in a far from usual way) to do something clever like move the car forward or open a little banner or something. OK I really can't remember the details but the important thing is the bi-line:

"Isn't it wonderful when things just work"

That is my tag line for tonight. Just ahd a great meeting with my youth leadership team. We really bounced ideas around and went with the vision. It TOTALLY rocked. I'm feeling fab about it all. Even though we have a few challenges ahead like the perennial need for more leaders particularly for our youth residential and finding a way of incorporating the youth leadership team into the leadership of the whole church as it changes its structures.

Tomorrow I have my annual ministerial review with my rector and this is so completely and utterly the best way I could prepare for it.Wow :oD

Twizzlers or Bran?

Excellent time with Agent K today discussing Practicing Passion with an honourable mention or two for some wise bloggers out there, including Pete, Tim, Ian and Lev though notably to the wisdom of Pete on “Turkey Twizzler Youth Ministry”.

This was a reminder of Jamie’s School Dinners and the connection with the relative value of what we are “feeding” our young people has been on my mind lately and we’re looking to focus less on Turkey Twizzlers and more on the “fruits” in our work with young people at All Saints’. Pete’s point though was very timely for me. If we make our youth ministry too focussed on the wholesome stuff we feed them BRAN which is unpalatable on its own. The question is what IS the balanced diet of youth ministry?

All these metaphorical ponderings about food made me rather peckish so my balanced diet for this evening was a homemade vegetable curry including beetroot, carrot, cauliflower, butter beans and red pepper served with some purple sprouting broccoli in yoghurt and black mustard seeds – wonderful, though I do say so myself!

Brain the size of a planet

You totally HAVE to check out The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy film website.

I had been vaguely looking forward to this film but now I am SO EXCITED...

The cast inlucdes Martin Freeman fromthe Office, Bill Nighy as Slartibartfast, Stephen Fry as the GUIDE, Bill Bailey as the whale and Alan Rickman as Marvin the paranoide android...



...need I say MORE?

Well You have to try the pan galactic gargle blaster on Zaphod's character page AND of course Deep Though in the FUN section.

The best job in the world!

In what other job could you have so much fun?



Today I have been working out what's going in our Easter to Pentecost labyrinth and so I had to buy a bubble machine and some lego. I was also testing out the craft for our youth club tomorrow. How cool is that!?

Chrysalis Club

Nothing on the blog for the last couple of days because I've been at the Chrysalis Club which is the fabulous two-day event for bereveaved children run by Iain Rennie Hospice at Home, The Pepper Foundation and Florence Nightingale.

I had Maggie,


Daisy and Jeff




supporting me on the sports' team and some fanTAStic games of poplacrosse, unihoc and footy.

Yesterday was the moving closing ceremony when the young people show their relatives



the memory boxes,



sand jars and candles they've made and talk about what they've been doing. They also show everyone what Peter and Jeanette got them doing with drums and karaoke.

Then finally there's the balloon release. The leaders give each young person a balloon



to which they tie a label with the name of the person who has died and then the balloons are released



and we watch them float away



Right now I'm pretty worn out after two whole days of sport which is rather a lot for this former library dwelling academic!

Putting Passion into Practice

I've finally had another chance to read a bit more of Kenda Creasy Dean's Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for A Passionate Church. I had the TIME last week but I was on leave and I knew it would get me wanting to do/plan/think about work. I was right.

It is a thrilling book written with passion and energy (and I've only just finished the introduction!). I'm trying to overcome my slight prejudice that she gets some Latin wrong (saying Passio means "to suffer" the VERB is patior, pati, passus - passio is a later derivation. Ok gown-like anorak off now!) but it's not difficult to get past that because the message of the text is SO good.

One of my favourite bits was the dispelling of the myth:
"Youth ministry is primarily about youth." Untrue. Theologically, youth ministryiis primarily about Jesus Christ and about the church's witness to the self-giving love of God." (p.14)

In fact she points out that young people are people and in many ways their youth is what we focus on not the fact that they are people.

Dean draws a lot from Jurgen Moltmann which might be seen as a little contraversial by some but I find his theological explorations useful (even if they're not always entirely doctrinal!). She seems to be suggesting a real back to basics approach to Youth Ministry; looking at the theological approach. This sounds like something we're looking at here in High Wycombe so I'm looking forward to reading the rest.

There was a bit of an ouch moment today though.

How about this:

"Is it possible that the 'problem' facing youth ministry reflects all too acurately a malaise infecting mainline denominations generally; a flabby theological identity due to an absence of passion? That would be ironice. Most young peoplecome to us brimming with passion. Could it be that, instead of fanning this youthful zeal into holy fire, we have more often doused i, dismissed it, or drowned it in committee meetings?" (p.25)

Yet even if it is a fair cop, let's not become even MORE flabby about it. Instead let's react with passion, with energy, with fire to energise young people and to channel their energies into our churches.

A small start for me today. Crew are planning a Labyrinth for the whole church. Have a look.

Papa was a rolling stone...

Many people, including the strange man who came to my door today, may have criticism for what the late Pope John Paul II could have done but did not yet I think it is too easy to be critical.

The impact of a deeply prayerful person should not be underestimated. I know many of my Catholic friends who will be deeply distressed at the loss of a man they had found inspiring not for anything he DID necessarily but for the person he was. Pope John Paul II was one of the most world-travelled popes ever and his presence alone was an inspiration to some I have spoken to. He made that presence felt in so many places. How many of us can say that we've achieved anything like that? Right now the world mourns a great man and an inspiration to many. In a few days time it will be watchng and waiting to see who follows him.

It's been a long time since there has been a papal election as Pope John Paul II was one of the longest serving popes in history. It's not outside living memory though. 1978 saw the election of two popes after the death of Pope Paul VI who had served since 1963 and the rather more sudden death of Pope John Paul I who had only served as pope for just over a month.

Even more than that, thanks to Angels and Demons (the prequel to Da Vinci Code) there are probably FAR more people out there nowadays who know how a pope is elected.

The Catholic Encyclopedia has a fascinatingly detailed description of the history of the election of popes.

Any Catholic adult male may be elected as pope... think on guys! Are you papabile?

... though it's fairly unlikely to be anyone who is not a priest and indeed a cardinal!

The last layman to be elected was the rather unfortunate Celestine V who was elected in 1294 and the last pope who had not previously been a cardinal was Urban VI in 1378. There have already been some suggestions about some possible successors.The BBC also has some suggestions.

Pope John Paul II has himself issued a papal bull on the matter of the papal election called UNIVERSI DOMINICI GREGIS.

The cardinals meet in the Sistine chapel in a conclave ( con clave "with a key" – i.e they are locked in) and they vote for the new pope until one man has a two thirds majority. At each vote, the voting papers are burned and the smoke is seen by those watching outside. For an nonconclusive vote, straw is mixed with the ballot papers to make a dark smoke. When a successful vote has taken place, the smoke is white to indicate the election of a new pope. Personally I think that is kinda cool.

Papal visitation

Weirdest experience this morning...

Random guy comes to my door on "religious business" and asks me if I think the now inevitable (though lamentable) death of the pope would have any effect on the world outside of the catholic church.

Bless him - as when I suggested that the possible appointment of a more conservative successor such as Cardinal Ratzinger might well have a big impact, he had NO idea who I was talking about.

He was more concerned with the alleged lack of impact Pope John Paul II has had onthe world and the fact that wars have continued during his papalcy (bless him again his word!).

I have to admit that as intriguing as it was, it was at that point that I declined any further discussion of the papacy and told him I was going to close my door and our conversation.

He did however pose a good question.

What impact might a new pope have onthe world?

What impact did the current pope have?

This is not intended to be critical of the servant of the servants of God but an honest admission that I'm not sure I really know what changes Pope John Paul II has made.

In an English country garden

I'm afraid there hasn't been much on the blog recently and that won't change today as I have a little cluster of seed packets to distribute liberaly in my newly tamed garden.

If you're lucky I might get some pics and put those up.