Exalt the Word and the Emperor's New Clothes

The Bible passage for the sermon:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the prophets. I have come to fulfil them. Truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5.17-20

Sometimes people talk about the Bible not as a single big book but as a collection of books. That makes it sound a bit like this book. My grandmother’s book of Tales from Hans Christian Andersen. It’s a collection of stories but I don’t suppose there’s anyone here who likes stories is there?

Oh alright then, shall I tell you one of the stories?

Once upon a time, there was a King who was too vain. He always wanted to wear new suits.

The capital of his Kingdom was very wealthy and attracted many visitors. One day two rascals came to offer the King a wonderful fabric. The weavers said that their fabric was magical, and Not only were their colours and patterns uncommonly fine, but clothes made of this cloth had a wonderful way of becoming invisible to anyone who was unfit for his office, or who was unusually stupid.

"Those would be just the clothes for me," thought the Emperor. "If I wore them I would be able to discover which men in my empire are unfit for their posts. And I could tell the wise men from the fools. Yes, I certainly must get some of the stuff woven for me right away." He paid the two swindlers a large sum of money to start work at once. They set up two looms and pretended to weave, though there was nothing on the looms. All the finest silk and the purest gold thread which they demanded went into their traveling bags, while they worked the empty looms far into the night.

"I'd like to know how those weavers are getting on with the cloth," the Emperor thought, but he felt slightly uncomfortable when he remembered that those who were unfit for their position would not be able to see the fabric. It couldn't have been that he doubted himself, yet he thought he'd rather send someone else to see how things were going.

"I'll send my honest old minister to the weavers," the Emperor decided. "He'll be the best one to tell me how the material looks, for he's a sensible man and no one does his duty better."
So the honest old minister went to the room where the two swindlers sat working away at their empty looms.
"Heaven help me," he thought as his eyes flew wide open, "I can't see anything at all". But he did not say so.

"Don't hesitate to tell us what you think of it," said one of the weavers.
"Oh, it's beautiful -it's enchanting." The old minister peered through his spectacles. "Such a pattern, what colours!" I'll be sure to tell the Emperor how delighted I am with it."
"We're pleased to hear that," the swindlers said. They proceeded to name all the colors and to explain the intricate pattern. The old minister paid the closest attention, so that he could tell it all to the Emperor. And so he did.

The weavers worked day and night. They used thousands of balls of silk, and yards of gold and silver threads. All the town was talking of this splendid cloth, and the Emperor wanted to see it for himself while it was still in the looms. Attended by a band of chosen men, among whom was his old trusted official-the one who had been to the weavers-he set out to see the two swindlers. He found them weaving, but without a thread in their looms.
"Magnificent," said the official already duped. "Just look, Your Majesty, what colours! What a design!" He pointed to the empty looms, supposing that the others could see the stuff.
"What's this?" thought the Emperor. "I can't see anything. This is terrible!
Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be the Emperor? What a thing to happen to me of all people! - Oh! It's very pretty," he said. "It has my highest approval." And he nodded at the empty loom. Nothing could make him say that he couldn't see anything.

His whole retinue stared and stared. One saw no more than another, but they all joined the Emperor in exclaiming, "Oh! It's very pretty," and they advised him to wear clothes made of this wonderful cloth especially for the great procession he was soon to lead. "Magnificent! Excellent!
and everyone did his best to seem well pleased. The Emperor gave each of the swindlers a cross to wear in his buttonhole, and the title of "Sir Weaver."

Before the procession the swindlers sat up all night and burned more than six candles, to show how busy they were finishing the Emperor's new clothes. They pretended to take the cloth off the loom. They made cuts in the air with huge scissors. And at last they said, "Now the Emperor's new clothes are ready for him."
Then the Emperor himself came with his noblest noblemen, and the swindlers each raised an arm as if they were holding something. They said, "These are the trousers, here's the coat, and this is the mantle," naming each garment. "All of them are as light as a spider web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that's what makes them so fine."
"Exactly," all the noblemen agreed, though they could see nothing, for there was nothing to see.
"If Your Imperial Majesty will condescend to take your clothes off," said the swindlers, "we will help you on with your new ones here in front of the long mirror.”
The Emperor undressed, and the swindlers pretended to put his new clothes on him, one garment after another. They took him around the waist and seemed to be fastening something - that was his train-as the Emperor turned round and round before the looking glass.
"How well Your Majesty's new clothes look. Aren't they becoming!" He heard on all sides, "That pattern, so perfect! Those colors, so suitable! It is a magnificent outfit."

"Well, I'm supposed to be ready," the Emperor said, and turned again for one last look in the mirror. "It is a remarkable fit, isn't it?" He seemed to regard his costume with the greatest interest.
The noblemen who were to carry his train stooped low and reached for the floor as if they were picking up his mantle. Then they pretended to lift and hold it high. They didn't dare admit they had nothing to hold. So off went the Emperor in procession under his splendid canopy. Everyone in the streets and the windows said, "Oh, how fine are the Emperor's new clothes! Don't they fit him to perfection? And see his long train!" Nobody would confess that he couldn't see anything, for that would prove him either unfit for his position, or a fool. No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete success.
"But he hasn't got anything on," a little child said.
"Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?" said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, "He hasn't anything on. A child says he hasn't anything on."
"But he hasn't got anything on!" the whole town cried out at last.
The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, "This procession has got to go on." So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn't there at all.

That is a wonderful story and it has an important message to remember but the bible isn’t really like this book is it? It’s so much more than a collection of stories.

The text I’m given this morning is certainly a challenging one. Especially with the theme of Exalting the Word It’s a very definite message isn’t it?

“Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven”

There’s no going against something so definite as that, is there? That’s a statement that Jesus wants upheld. No question.

Jesus tells his disciples that they must uphold the law and the prophets. Jesus, who was positively drenched in the Hebrew Scriptures, urges his disciples to be likewise. The Law and the Prophets must not be set aside as irrelevant but breathed through all that the disciples themselves teach in the future. It certainly sounds very clear.

Can you tell I’m about to put a slight question into that?

The question I want to pose is what does Jesus mean by fulfilling the law rather than abolishing it? Certainly a lot of the Pharisees who objected to Jesus and his ministry would have said that he seemed to be working against the law he says he comes to fulfil. He works on the Sabbath, he does not seem to observe the temple customs, he eats with those who are unclean and consorts with people of very dubious character. Jesus didn’t seem to be fulfilling the law at all in their eyes. He is the little child from the story that says what others won't

Well a good way to understand Jesus’ fulfilment of the law is look at where this passage comes. This passage is from the Sermon on the Mount. It follows on fairly soon after the beatitudes. Now if the Pharisees had heard that one they might well have thought Jesus was overturning the law. I think it’s fair. He turns the laws upside down and soon after we hear Jesus’ most memorable overturning of the law. When he says, you have heard the law an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth but I say do not resist an evil person If anyone slaps you on the cheek turn the other cheek.

‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him
John 3 16-17

Throughout his ministry, Jesus places the law and the prophets into a new light. He makes people look at things a different way. How can we look at things in this different way?

(action)

Jesus isn’t abolishing the law of the Old Testament but revealing it as God always intended it. If we look back to the beginnings of John’s Gospel, we get a clear idea about how we can truly exalt the Word of God:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,* and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

Jesus is the word. It is him we exalt when we read our scriptures.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.*
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own,* and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.”
The Pharisees and teachers of the law had a very literal way of reading the law. It was a black and white, right and wrong, righteous and unrighteous, clean and unclean, Jew and gentile way of reading the law. Jesus comes and turns that over. That’s not Jesus’ view of the Law. Jesus sees and shows the scriptures as being fulfilled in Him and interpreted through his teaching. He sees all the human foibles and failings that have found their way into the law; the unloving desire for vengeance which has seen an eye for an eye and the legalistic piety that has allowed Pharisees to consider it better NOT to help a sick person on a Saturday because it is the Sabbath.

So how doe we exalt the word without finding ourselves falling into that Pharisaical trap? How do we maintain our own righteousness without looking down on those we consider unrighteous. Jesus makes it clear. We ARE called to be righteous in the eyes of God. That part of the law is not overturned. The fulfilling of it though is in being righteous AND accepting the fallenness of others without condemnation but with the Gospel of love.

How do we weak humans achieve that though? Well, I believe it’s through the power of the Holy Spirit. To me that still small voice inside me which challenges me when I stray. It’s probably not a great idea to tell people I hear voices but I do have this voice inside me that sometimes says. Are you sure you need to do that? Perhaps you should… That voice is there sometimes and I try to listen to it when it’s there but I know there are times when I reject it and go my own way. As I’ve got older, I’ve tried to listen to it more and more. It’s usually at a time when I am trying to do something which I think I’m going to enjoy and following the voice might spoil my fun because I have to think of somebody else instead but in the long run I know I would rather I HAD thought of that somebody else instead.

It’s that Holy Spirit which we need most of all when we consider the Law and the Prophets. The Holy Spirit is what was lacking when the Pharisees interpreted the law. A good way of doing that is to read our Bibles not as a legal code or an historical document or a challenge to be completed but in small pieces, to be savoured. There’s a very ancient practice which the Benedictine Order has used for hundreds of years called Lectio Divina; divine reading.

Lectio Divina is a way of spending time with the Word of God, by reading it slowly – very slowly.
Choose a piece of scripture – perhaps from the Sunday service, or a programme of readings, or one of your favourites, or just look through the Gospels and see what attracts you. Then find a comfortable and quiet place. Begin by taking a bit of time to become as quiet as you can, but don’t worry if you still feel edgy or distracted – Lectio starts where you are now. Often, listening to your own pattern of breathing, without trying to change it, is a good way to start. We are making space to allow the words we encounter to take root in us.
We are not trying to agree or disagree, make notes or analyse. We simply want to listen.
• we read a little;
• we stop reading and allow our deepest response to surface;
• we respond in prayer;
• we listen;
• then we read a little more...
It is a way to let go of our own preoccupations and allow God to begin a conversation.
We let a word or a sentence stay with us and focus on that word.

If we read the bible this way we know in our hearts that we exalt the word of God, in text and in person as more than just stories rather as doorways to meeting with God through his Holy Spirit.

Two preaches in one day

Somebody asked me today - do you often preach twice in one day (as I was just about to do!) and it made me think that actually I've very rarely done it. I did it once with a St George's day service followed by a sung evensong (and preceded by a weekend away with teenagers!!) but other than that I really don't think I have much. This was also two completely unrelated preaches at the same place (i.e. not the same one twice as I know various clergy around the country do). So am I drained... actually no. The evening preach was much better than the morning which wasn't bad but didn't have the zing of the evening one. I'm about to pop them both up but in fact, as ever, what I actually said isn't quite what will appear.

I also just did a quick tally of my hours this week and realised why I'm physically knackered but spiritually buzzing. Two days of Breathe in a local school which means periods of rushing to get people sorted with ipods interspersed with periods of calm near silence (with the occasional interruption of the shredder!) Should be great. Then, even better, the joy of spaghetti bolognese with the lovely curate! Yumskies!

Kubb set with tower block game

Kubb set with tower block game
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Look what my talented husband has made in his wood workshop. The Giant blocks tower game is for the diocese and the Kubb set is one of two he's made for a friend of ours.

Anyone fancy a set of either? Get in touch!

Kubb set
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Radio Active

So I was up EXTRA EARLY this morning to pop along to BBC Hereford and Worcester radio for a great chat with Phil Simpson. Apparently you can listen again I was on at 8 and the show started at 6 so it may take a while to get to my bit!

I'm not a morning person so I got the chance to hear the lions roaring over at the Safari park and see some cool misty views on the drive in. Some might feel inspired to get up early again tomorrow... perhaps not... getting up early has its benefits but I'm sure I'll find lying under the duvet is slightly preferable!! Maybe I'll be a morning person one day!

Licensed to Chill

So it was my licensing service last night and I am now official!

It was a fabulous evening with some outstandingly good confessional prayers from the young people of St Barnabas Franche, some fantastic drumming from takadrumba, awesome worship songs led by Formal Affair, some really thoughtful intercessions from Upton deanery as well as a great Peruvian gloria from the cantor, beautiful celtic knotwork from my best beloved on the service sheet and topped with the bright red cherry of a phenomenal sermon by Bishop John on the spirituality of young people and my mission in the diocese. Kinda heavy stuff to have a sermon that really IS preached at you however it was still amazing.

Thanks also to Andrew for taking pictures!

Thanks to all for a wonderful evening, especially to those who came so far to support me!

Clergy Day

Had a great morning this morning as I joined the clergy day in the diocese. As a lay worker I fall in that "sort of clergy - sort of not" category. In Worcester diocese, though, this really doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. I felt very welcome.

We had some reflections from David Hewlett on Presence and Engagement, followed by three perspectives on "what is church?" from a catholic, evangelical and radical view. Peter Atkinson (the dean) gave a well-rounded catholic view followed by Hugh Burton for the Evangelicals and then Professor John Hull proposed that it was possible to be a radical Anglican, even if it did sound a little oxymoronic!

It was also great to catch up with lots of people including some who have been reading the blog... always unnerving... but thank you Mike(1) and Doug... and others who have apparently begun to mistake the communications officer for me. Now, as no-one has done it the other way round, I could come across as working extremely hard!

Unfortunately I didn't manage to chat to everyone as I had another meeting in the afternoon which was also a great time meeting some new people and building stronger links with those I'd met before. When all's said and done, I think I am pretty much loving my job.

I'm being licensed on Sunday evening at St Mary and All Saints Kidderminster at 6.30pm and a little daunted at being the focus person on my own but looking forward to hearing Formal Affair and Takadrumba again and seeing young people from around the diocese contributing to prayers and readings. After that, I am officially not NEW anymore!

(1) Mike, does that sufficiently constitute a mention or did you want me to say how amusing/intelligent/insightful/dedicated/talented* you are?
*delete as applicable

Sermon Holy Cross Day

I was invited to preach at St Barnabas, Franche on Sunday for Holy Cross day so used a little thing I'd used before about looking at things from God's perspective. Then I saw this marvellous cartoon on the Naked Pastor so decided I'd pop the sermon up here. As ever, this is the sermon I wrote and is not exactly what I said. As always I find that writing the sermon out in full means I get an idea of the structure and then I get to the lectern and pretty much abandon the text completely!





The readings for the day were as follows:

Philippians 2:1-13
"If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

John 3:1-17
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

and this was my sermon:

Today we have two very rich readings; two very well-known readings. In Philippians we hear those words which we often sing “at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow” and for our gospel we had John’s famous born again passage. The Greek for this passage has two meanings: to be born from above or to be born again different biblical translations opt for one or the other. The passage also concluded with that passage which some consider sums up the whole of the Gospel the good news John 3.16 for God so loved the world…
The problem with such readings is that, as they are so familiar we can actually miss the depth of what they have to offer us.
Let’s start by taking St John’s words. St John’s Gospel takes on a new light if viewed, throughout, with the prologue in mind. Some scholars argue that this is how the author intended the text, in the style of other Greek writings, the prologue sets out the author’s ideas and colours all else that follows:
John 1.1-5 & 9-13
So Nicodemus is one of those people who walk in darkness. You might say that John tells us Nicodemus comes at night, not just because he was trying to hide from the authorities but because he was in the dark in more ways than one. Nicodemus, unfortunately, remains confused. I like the old translation, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot comprehend it. It can’t understand it and it can’t overcome it either. That double meaning again.
Paul, similarly is writing from prison to the Christians in Philippi emphasizing how they have not understood Jesus, just as Nicodemus had not.
These passages then, have another thing in common. Both these readings place an emphasis on our need to make a change in the way we view things
For those of us who have been Christians for a long time, this can be harder than we think. We find ourselves in a similar position to Nicodemus: A part of the established religion faced by a challenging presence in the form of Jesus. Now we may be part of the Christian church, founded on what Christ taught not the Jewish religious establishment yet I’m sure God does look at the Church of England and see a few things that should be different. Jesus responds to Nicodemus by referring to the tradition of the Jewish church and by telling him that he is both the fulfilment and the power which will turn it on its head and put it back the way God intended it to be. Jesus emphasizes that people must change so utterly that they are born from above, born again, born in a heavenly way before they can see the kingdom. Is that before they can be aware of it or before they themselves can change so much that they become the kingdom?
That is what that great passage of John 3.16 encapsulates. The world as God intended it. Far from the punishment of all the enemies of the Jewish people and the God of wrath, Jesus comes as the opposite not to condemn the world but so that it might be saved and he doesn’t do it in a way that the Jewish people might expect. He’s not the great king and conquering hero but as the lowest
“though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross”
Br John of Taizé described this once as Jesus going from as high as you can be to as low as you can go and thereby encompassing everything within creation.
It is this Christ that Paul says we must be like.
As Christians we may think we know the answer to the question “What would Jesus DO?” as popular today as WWJD on bracelets T-shirts and, I kid you not, boxer shorts! Yet this change of mind is not a once and for all thing. It’s not something that happens at our baptism or confirmation. It is a continuous process. The Benedictine order has “conversion of life” as one of its core rules. It doesn’t mean a one time only deal but a daily, hourly, minute by minute conversion.
Let’s try and get our brains to hold that concept. That looking at things in a different way
If you’re able I’d like to ask you to stand if you’d rather not that’s fine you can still take part it’s just a little easier to do standing.
I’d like you to put your arm up in the air look up and draw a circle clockwise above your head, like it’s a halo. Then I’d like you to keep drawing that clockwise circle and close your eyes. Think of all you do that leads you forward with God and I’d like you to keep your eyes closed, keep drawing that circle and bring you your arm slowly down in a spiral until it is to level with your chest. Now this is how God sees it, looking down. Open your eyes and keep the circle going. He sees us continuously turning back not clockwise but anticlockwise.
This is our needing to be born from above, from god’s point of view. Those good things we do which draw us to God? (halo) God sees our need to turn our heads around and see them not as a way of GETTING TO GOD (they’re not. We don’t build our own path to heaven. Jesus builds the whole path and calls us to follow it) Not a way of getting there not things that make us saints. We are saints God calls us to do that which Paul says, to be of the same mind as Christ. Not building ourselves up by our works but humbling ourselves as servants.
It may sound a big ask to be of the same mind as Christ but as St Paul says, we don’t have to do this alone because “it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” What is God’s will for you this week where will God be at work in you this week?

re-fuelling

Newlife (7)
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

It was fabulous last weekend to be involved with Rock the Cathedral but it was also really draining. Several of my colleagues asked me if I was "ok" on Friday as I had got really drained by the whole BIG EVENT thing and the attendant aftermath of the sudden drop in adrenalin and all that.

Fortunately I had the time today to do one of those things which is wholly outside my work. One of my "sabbath-day" talents as Bishop John (Oxon) calls them. I really enjoy painting and today I spent a long time on this piece whilst listening to my new Finchley album especially Track 12 called Struggle On. It felt right to draw something from one of the groups that rocked the cathedral last weekend to my quieter reflection this weekend.

The odd thing about this painting is that there's another one hidden in there. I started painting one thing and then found myself just blotting that out and reworking the pain into the background. That's something that was part of the process but is totally not seen in the final thing. I had painted images of white figures moving to a brighter centre but that wasn't what I felt was meant to be there in the end so, against all my better judgement I just blanked them out with no record of them except in my mind.

This image replaced them, of humanity born out of the blue and green of the earth and bathed in God's light.

I hope that the feeling I'm having for it isn't "pride" as such but rather a deep peace at feeling that I've painted something beautiful which speaks to me and hopefully will speak to others.

Rock of all ages

We had an AWESOME night on Saturday at Worcester called ROCK THE CATHEDRAL.

After months of planning and hours of setting up we had a crowd of nearly 300 rocking to the tunes of Finchley, Relentless Craving, Formal Affair (pictured), Dan Haynes and Fans of Faye as well as hearing some wisdom from Bishop John and the vice chair of our Youth Council Jon Pedley. Matchborough youth group presented a challenging drama about Jesus as the "rubbish collector" and Peter Cooper and Co from Barrel of Fun provided some fabulous entertainment in the Juggle Zone.

It wasn't all hyperactive though. There was some chillout space for the adults in the adult creche (putting green and newspapers included!) and BREATHE in the chapter house as well as some fabulous sharing of silence, prayer, bread and wine in the crypt.

Thanks to all my WONDERFUL youth council and the AMAZING team of adult stewards. We really couldn't have done it without you!

Rising Sun sets

So the sun has set on Greenbelt again for another year. I had a fabulous time hanging out with our youth council, with young people from the diocese leading some fantastic worship, with young (and not so young!) people from my old parish, with youth work types on the youthwork matters stall and with all those people who you bump into by chance in a Greenbelt way. Notable was the soap opera-style coincidence of coming out of the Church Times tent with my new Dave Walker book and Cartoon Church calendar for the office to bump right into Dave himself! I promise he wasn't just hanging around watching how the pile of his books was reducing.


So what did I get up to? To be honest there weren't as many talks that really caught my imagination as last time I was there (2005) Jenny Baker was great (despite gales trying to steal her notes), Brian Maclaren was excellent on the subject of praying ina vulnerbale open way and John Bell, as always, was a joy to listen to on the subject of miracles. I also popped along to see Jon Birch of ASBOJesus who was very funny but rather short (in the time sense - only half an hour) pictured here (my endeavours to get a good pic were somewhat hampered by the guy in the hat!)

The overall experience for me was a mix of great chilling (at the proost lounge, in the blue hour with safespace, at blessed's funky mass - with me in three of the pics on Simon's site) and some fab music (Taize, Finchley, Jose Gonzalez, Yvonne Lyon, Beth Rowley, MxPx etc) I went to far more music than I did last time. My proudest moment had to be joining St the young people of St Barnabas for their youthmass which was truly awesome. There was a little bit of, well lets call them teething trouble, at the venue but all came right in the end and young person who came along to it was clearly blown away by the experience which made it all even better!



I still failed to get to any actual art workshops which I REALLY meant to do this year... next time... but I did do a bit of drawing inspired by some of the talks.

For me I think the overall sense was of gentle encouragement. Yvonne Lyon's songs Walk in the Rain and Down to the River plus Here Comes the Sun at the main eucharist and stuff from the talks all came together in the phrase "Here comes the Sun... it's alright"

WDYC internal!

Ok so this is really just for the Diocesan Youth Council...

Alice said on the forum:
"i found some vidios and didnt know what you would think they could be played inbetween the bands or maybe somewhere else. there off a website called www.lookingforgod.com but i got this version off you tube
the fathers love letter


an interviw with god


there are different versions

Ode(ar!) to Joy

I promise I was looking for some useful resources for youthwork on youtube when I found this:

I love Beaker!

Even better news is that this is just one of several official muppet pages now on youtube.

Enjoy!

Joy in Sadness

It must be the hopeless historian in me that is so VERY excited at the news that the Codex Sinaiticus is now available online. I can be hip and trendy at times but then my inner geek just shows through when I see enlargements of parchment damage described as being on "Quire 78, folio 6 recto!" and you can zoom right in on the text and it highlights the individual words for you (this is handy as Greek texts of the time looked basically like wordsearches with no punctuation or even spaces!)

Geeky comments aside...

This is basically the oldest edition of the "Bible" roughly as we know it today dating back to the mid fourth century. It's a book (codex - i.e. no scrolls) of the gospels and most of the Greek translation of the Old Testament (which was originally in Hebrew in the majority though with some Greek) . Basically this text shows that the Bible was formed pretty early and you can SEE IT! Wow!

Moping and some cheering up

As I had hoped to be going to Taize today but I'm not... I'm a little mopey. Especially as apparently there are some etchings by Fr Eric on display (and no doubt for sale) in the exposition. Fr Eric who died last year was one of the very early brothers who really epitomised the coming together of men of great gifts. It was he who designed the beautiful glass windows which adorn the church at Taize and so many of the other beautiful simple things.

It's not just for me that I wish I were going today but for the people I would have been with there. One of the teenagers from my old parish who was there throughout my youth ministry and grew with me in my role is going for the first time and I would so love to have travelled with her as she discovered that amazing place. Instead, those I have travelled with there before are travelling with her and my thoughts and prayers will be in Taize for the next week even as I sit in lots of different meetings here.


Now for the cheering up bit... this did make me lol! Thanks Chris

Dave Walker solidarity post

I've not blogged on the Dave Walker/SSG story before as SO many other people out there have said wise things about it all. Have a look at David Keen, Richard Peat, Bishop Alan and Tim Abbot for some good summaries of the situation which has arisen and of course ASBO Jesus for a fellow cartoonist's reaction. Dave has basically been told to remove any blog posts relating to SSG and SPCK or face legal action which he clearly couldn't afford to contest. He has carefully posted nothing but what he has been able to verify and has even removed comments which were unsubstantiated. It's a horrible situation.

I was back at my old town at the weekend and it was announced that there will be a new Christian bookshop there in September. The congregation received the news, as you might expect, with great delight and anticipation. The idea that people will be able to buy Christian books and resources to support their ministry was fabulous news for them. This is what having a former SPCK shop in the city where I now work should feel. It just doesn't. When I started in post the lovely guy who worked there was ever so apologetic about the ludicrously pathetic "Youth Section" which contained three books none of which I even vaguely wanted to purchase (or indeed already owned). SSG have already taken the joy my old town is now feeling by doing what they have done to the SPCK shops and now they attack someone who has striven to respond honourably to the situation.

As Bishop Alan says:

"Plainly the skills required to sabre rattle for reactionary causes are very different from those you need to run a bookshop, let alone re-evangelise England."

Understanding Generation Y

Interesting new research on Generation Y. As a member of this generous (though tenuously at the top end and married to someone outside it) I do feel an affinity with what they're saying about me and my fellow IPODs (as we're also apparently known! -Do you think when we're OAPS we'll be called Ipod Shuffles??? ) It also rings true for some of the young people I've been working with over the last few years who are now adults.

Anyway, bad puns aside, check out this new research or download the pdf of the report which summarises Generation Y with six tracks on an Ipod (desert island discs comes round again!):

Whatever people say I am, that's what I'm not, Arctic Monkeys. IPODs are members of many overlapping communities, virtual and conceptual as much as geographic.

Speed of Sound, Coldplay. They are busy and time-pressured, so expect sophisticated and entertaining communications.

I can, Nas. They are confident and demanding in work and home life. They want the tools to be as demanding of government.

Gold Digger, Kanye West. Value for money is crucial, but they don't want profit motive to be the driving force behind public services.

Standing in the way of control, The Gossip. They want to be offered a selection of good choices, but not the responsibility of having to make all the decisions themselves.

Digital love, Daft Punk. Unimpressed by the use of technology for its own sake, they want communication in surprising, elegant ways.

So the real question is - what six tracks define your generation or your life? I'm putting my thinking hat on for that one. I'd set it as a challenge to others but everyone's off on hols!

Bishops' Cru

I just love this picture snapped of our Bishop John and Archbishop John Sentamu sitting in front of the altar frontal made by the young people at our diocesan assembly. It just looks liek they're chillin in a diocesan posse. I'm rather hoping the Lambeth conference is going as harmoniously!

Genius from down under

Thanks to Dave for passing this on:

Double time?

Ok, so is it only me that thinks McFly have been influenced by the theme tune for the Gummi Bears for their latest "song for the radio"?

evidence below...

Will the Real David Walker please stand up

Having moved from Oxford diocese where I was for a time in a youthworkers network alongside David Walker when cartooning was a thing he did on the side while being a full time youth worker, I've now moved to Worcester diocese where Bishop David Walker is the bishop of Dudley. This has made me smile every now and then, it has to be said. Well the two have now met up and been photographed in Dave's cartoonist in residence tent at Lambeth.

I've enjoyed following the shennanigans at the pre-conference retreat so far through Dave's eyes which may not be the most high-brow view of affairs but, as Dave says, the bishops seem able to laugh at themselves which must be a good start to a conference that may well be fraught with conflict. May the ministry of laughter continue as the week goes on.

Rabbiting on

Okay... so nothing for agaes and now a third blog in one day, I know, I know...

Contrary to popular belief (i.e. someone in the office this morning commenting), Dave Walker is not "not doing many cartoons" but in fact is clearly UP TO SOMETHING and he's also cartooning.

In fact his first cartoon of the conference is here. Which is not the usual place you might expect to find his cartoons which is here (or even here) but not normally here, where it actually is.

He also seems to be masquerading as a blogging bishop but then it's hard to tell that they are in fact blogging bishops as they only seem to have one laptop and none of them is wearing a mitre. If it weren't for the familiar face of Bishop Alan and the hint of purple I might have my doubts - oh me of little faith!

Building links

I had a fabulous meeting this mornign with the visitors to the diocese from our link diocese in Peru. I told them all about the youth work that goes on in the diocese and my role in enabling that and resourcing it. It was fantastic to discover that Rosario, one of the group, has an incredibly similar role in Peru. She even blogs!! So I've added a link to her blog as a beginning of really making the link with Peru something tangible and real rather than just a theoretical thing on paper which I guess it has been for me (and others?) before now. Her blog includes the joy of a picture of our Bishop John wearing a Peruvian style hat at the Diocesan Assembly and lots of other wonderful photos of their visit here to the diocese.

I managed to understand some of what they were saying without the translator but far from all and, as usual, found myself deeply lacking the vocabulary to say anything like as much as I'd like to have said to them in Spanish. For some reason I could remember REALLY useless words and like Merluza (which is Spanish for Hake!) and not the useful things! I did give the translator a few challenges by talking about skateboarding, juggling and morris dancing!

The three of them were such lovely people and, far from having a formal meeting, we had a great chat about youth work, life, music, young people and building community. They were also so lovely in giving me a Peruvian link wristband, a CD of some fabulous young Peruvian Christians singing and the most beautiful small carved nativity made by those most affected by violence in the area over the last few years.

It was a real blessing.

There's also a real chance I might be able to take some young people out there in 2010. SO EXCITING!

UPDATE: Rosario has posted about our link too.

Breathe In, Breathe Out

The blog has been rather silent lately - apologies. It has been rather a busy time. I am now looking at a rather calmer few weeks, including some leave to go to Stratford and see David Tennant in Hamlet then go to M's cousin's wedding and then a few days back down in the wilds of Buckinghamshire with my dad.

So what's all the busyness been? Well I was guest speaking at Yellow Braces (arguably the best weekend of the summer in Oxford Diocese!) and then I was running the youth stream at the Worcester Diocesan Assmebly which was AWESOME but utterly exhausting as there wasn't a spare second in the day! From Friday 2.3opm til Sunday 8pm when I pulled into the driveway at home, it really didn't feel like we stopped except when we slept. The Assembly was fabulous as I got the chance to meet a fantastic group of young people and get to know some of the youth council a lot better.

I also got to meet lots of people from the diocese which was great as I tied up lots of connections between people and churches. Unfortunately, the youth stream kept us away fromt he main business of the assembly but I've got the DVD coming soon so I can catch up on all that was said by Canon Susan Hope, Father Ken Leach and Bishop Gerry Wolfe. The teenagers did join the main group to hear Archbishop John Sentamu as he came in for a flying visit and talk on his way down to the Lambeth conference.

One of the things that, a little ironically, made the conference hectic, was setting up for Breathe, the exploration of spirituality for 16-19 year olds which Dare2Engage have produced and which the diocese has bought. It is a marvellously relaxing and centring experience for those who participate. It does, however take a little while to set up and we had to chose between missing one of the Eucharists or missing lunch to set it up. I'll let you guess which we chose.

Breathe is an absolutley wonderful resource which I will be using around the diocese in so many different contexts. I can't wait.

Useful sites for posters and all that

I was chatting today with a youthworker who used to design magazine layouts professionally and we were talking about the various things we use for backgrounds.

I've used typogenerator which works very simply and transforms text into a funky background. You sometimes have to wade through some dull ones until you get a good one as it is randomised.

Also I've loved the discovery of this website with fonts from films and bands. A really funky font can really transform a dull poster into something rather special.

You can make ordinary photos look pretty funky with magnigraph. It even works on our dog who is black and white already!!


The other trick I use is painting something and then using it for a background. I guess this is kinda more labour intensive but it's pretty effective!

Today Jo had a link to this thing called wordle which creates lovely word clouds from text or websites. I've seen this kind of thing before but I rather like wordle. Here is a wordle of youthblog - had to include this because of the prominence of creosote - just for you youthblog me old chum!

The Gaffer speaks up about Gafcon

Rowan Williams has responded to the statement from GAFCON with a statement of his own. It is a very thoughtful, respectful yet convicted piece of writing. It acknowledges the fair aspects of GafCon's statement, points out its weaknesses and proposes ways forward. It's a statement that demonstrates to me again why this man is where he is:

"I believe that it is wrong to assume we are now so far apart that all those outside the GAFCON network are simply proclaiming another gospel. This is not the case; it is not the experience of millions of faithful and biblically focused Anglicans in every province. What is true is that, on all sides of our controversies, slogans, misrepresentations and caricatures abound. And they need to be challenged in the name of the respect and patience we owe to each other in Jesus Christ.

I have in the past quoted to some in the Communion who would call themselves radical the words of the Apostle in I Cor.11.33: ‘wait for one another’. I would say the same to those in whose name this statement has been issued. An impatience at all costs to clear the Lord’s field of the weeds that may appear among the shoots of true life (Matt.13.29) will put at risk our clarity and effectiveness in communicating just those evangelical and catholic truths which the GAFCON statement presents."

Getting Anime-ted about Jesus

Tim Abbot pointed out a new project to bring the Gospel story to anime. The video below is a taster (not in final version) which they creators would like some comment on here (if English is your first language - there are 30 languages available). As well as the video below they've rendered a still in five different styles for the survey. Anime fans, go comment so they can get it in a way that will appeal to as many as possible. I'd love to see this Gibli-fied! I think the Grave of the Fireflies style would be really good for it.

My own trumpet and the blowing thereof...

Ok, so I thought our new dog Eddie was excited when I came home today after a long but fab day visiting "me colleague" Craig in Blackburn Diocese. Yet his jumping up and down was nothing to my delight when I opened the post and discovered the latest edition of the Journal of Youth and Theology from the IASYM which includes three book reviews by yours truly. Pathetically proud of this small elemnt of being in printness but still smiling (even despite the typos I've spotted which are probably mine not the editor's!)

If you're in full time youth work but not yet a member of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry, you should consider it. They produce this publication and host a conference which I am hoping to attend next year in Cambridge (though the current site seems to be stuck in the year 2007!)

YFC

P130608_14.07
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

What does YFC mean to you? For those in youthwork it often means Youth for Christ (for those in the southwest it might be Yeovil Football Club!) yet in Worcestershire and other rural areas it is of course the YOUNG FARMERS CLUB.

This display of street art comes from the fabulous tent full of displays from Young Farmers from Worcetsershire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire. There are some fabuolous flower displays and - a personal favourite, vegetable animals - on my Flickr site. There were also some great "pimp my tractor" entries. I found myself explaining what that was all about to the people with me and a few others who were nearby!

I was also lucky enough to meet the youth worker for the YFC and make links with More Than Sport, a local group working with young people.

That was all after a marvellous morning being taken around the show by some farmers who showed us the cattle lines, lamb carcass inspections, ear tag displays, the blue tongue presentation and answered all our ignorant "townie" questions. I thought I might come away knowing more about the rural community and I have but of course, as Socrates would be proud to hear, I came away realising how LITTLE I knew.

I did learn;

• Bluetongue is going to be very serious for sheep, deer and cow farmers as is African fever which will affect horses.
• Sheep farmers pay more to shearers than they get for the fleece and some have to pay to have the fleeces taken away as hazardous waste
• Many farmers face the choice of selling up in order to get a pension and leaving the farm to their children and having no provision for their retirement.
• The Show used to be midweek and for the rural community but since it moved to the weekend it has become more of a "countryside" show with commercial stalls and the like.
• One of the farmers who led us round has a farm which produces some GORGEOUS icecream and I had a taste when we got to the Bennetts Farm stall.
  

Ready, Eddie, Go!

So yesterday we went to collect our new cohabitor. Eddie is an 8 year old Staffordshire Bull Terrier who has been in a rescue home nearby. We went along to a Happy Staffy open day and met this very happy chappy who really doesn't seem as old as eight but he is very well behaved already and settling down nicely with only a few hiccups here and there. He was a little nervous last night settling into his new home when it came to bed time and he did keep checking we were still there which was rather endearing (at first!). So here are some pics of our gorgeous pup!

If I could talk to the animals..

We had a really WILD weekend. First we tried to tame the garden and discovered not only a blackbird nest in the plant growing over the arch in the garden (yes, I know an ARCH... we inherited it!).













Then we discovered these little tiny heads poking out of the pond. These turned out to be NEWTS! They are so cute. I'm thinking a round of wonky donkey springs to mind... Well it turns out newts are fairly common in Worcestershire and we don't think we have any crested newts but it's hard to tell with the amount of weed in the pond we've inherited. We did still manage to set up our new firepit but it is due for expansion as it is rather smaller than our last one.














Well to crown our explorations into the animal kingdom we went to visit an open day at the local dog shelter and met a little fella called Eddie - a 9 year old Staffy who has been in a loving home with children and cats but for various reasons he's ended up in the kennel. Eddie is going to be joining us soon. This is a new venture for me but M is an established dog owner and long-standing staffy-lover. We're not yet sure how our regular visitor (the 3-legged cat from next door) is going to think about a resident dog!

And in other news... it's tax return time. My lesson from last year is that taking people out to coffee as part of work REALLY ADDS UP over the year!

SO999

50999 was the number on the hit counter this morning. I missed the clock going round to 50000 as it was when I moved house so - wow! past the 50000 mark for Deep Thought!

The number also made me think of a rather less joyful event. Hubby and I were out shopping a little while ago now and came across a rather tragic site of a elderly man who had fallen and was being treated with CPR. I rushed over to assist as I know how tiring CPR is in practice (it's nothing to the real thing, I can tell you!). It turned out the person didn't actually know CPR properly but had been trying what they'd seen once, so I stepped in. Now I'd love this to be a story of great joy and heroism but I did what the training tells you to do. I gave some rescue breaths and proceeded to CPR until another lady came who was from the British Red Cross and then the ambulance came. Sadly, there wasn't much hope. It was a rather shocking experience and one of those things that puts life in perspective.

It's also one of those things that, when reflecting on it, you really wnat to find some great deep wisdom about it that you can pass on. In fact I think the thing I'd pass on is about the reality, value and joy of life and our call to live it to the full, thanking God fort he joys and seeking God's strength in the tough times because the "fullness" of life includes joys and tragedies. Being a Christian doesn't insulate you from life, it calls you to engage with it in all its twists and turns, in those things which bring a joyful resolve as well as in those things which are left hanging.

So often in life we want everything to be sewn up and rounded off, completed, ticked and done. Life doesn't work that way. Again I find myself returning to Paul's Letter to the Philippians

"Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal;
but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own...but
this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what
lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God
in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12-14).

Lambeth and all that jazz

The daily thought on the Taize website today made me think of the Lambeth conference as well as the Church of England's own issue with the consecration of women as bishops:

'In the middle of the twentieth century, there appeared a man named John, born in a humble peasant family in the north of Italy. When he announced the Second Vatican Council, that elderly man, John XXIII, pronounced words that are among the most crystal clear imaginable:

“We will not try to find out who was wrong, we will not try to find out who was right, we will only say: Let us be reconciled!” (Discourse to the Pastors of Rome, February 1959)'

ice-breakers or heart breakers?

I had a great time at the DYO conference last week meeting many of my fellow DYOs* (though not all - missed you guys!). Lots of time for fab discussions and networking as well as setting up discussion groups to meet throughout the coming year.

There was, however one moment which made me reflect on all those youth events where there was an icebreaker. Right near the start we were asked to get ourselves in height order. Now, some readers may not know but I am not the tallest person in the world and, to be honest my heart sank just a little as I made my way to the end of the line (actually I am only the THIRD shortest DYO in the country!). Conversely Youthblog said he made his way to the middle of the line and ended up as officially the SECOND TALLEST DYO in the UK (if we excluded Wales, which we would hate to do, he'd have been the tallest!). It was a great mixer and we all got to chat and, despite my deeply buried comedy fear that they might divide us in to two groups for a game of basketball - tallest v shortest, it worked out fine. The progression of heights, far from being drastic was a really smooth line of increments.

However it did make me think about the impact of what might seem an innocuous activity on someone who's a little sensitive about things. I'm not really hung up about being short anymore but I was when I was younger and it would not have been fun.

It's that important difference between enabling people to laugh at themselves and laughing at other people who might not find it funny.

We also had a caricaturist on the last night who drew each of the DYOs and it had a mixed effect on peopel. Some were very excited but most had a fear in their eyes which was quite unifying. Almost everybody thought that everyone else's was great but their own was hideous/inaccurate/scary/goofy. I haven't yet seen one appear on anyone's site and, despite encouraging words from my best beloved that it looks fine, I don't think mine will be coming up here!!

We were also privileged to hear from Helen Tomblin on the topic of laughter, comedy, depression and the church. It was fabulous. It really opened up discussions about Christians facing tough times and not always being "smiley smiley". Because "God loves us", there's sometimes a temptation to think that we should always be happy but, as Helen said, in John 10.10 Jesus said he came to bring life in all its fulness. That doesn't mean just joy but sorrow too.

During the conference then, we were brought together through laughter and and fellowship and brought together more deeply by talking about less comfortable things. It really was a good few days.


*insert alternate acronym here, DAVE...

Sign of the way forward

There is a petition for lay members of the Church of England in support of the consecration of women as bishops. If you are interested in signing it, the wording is as follows:

We, the lay members of the Church of England, call upon the House of Bishops wholeheartedly to support legislation for women bishops that is free from discrimination.

We are confident that acceptable non-statutory arrangements can be made for those who remain opposed to women's ordained ministries.

We urge the bishops at General Synod strongly to support having women as bishops without further delay.

Social Networking

Panorama had a follow-up programme tonight to their previous programme - One Click from Danger.

I know people, especially parents, worry about the use of social networking especially by young people. I'm also a great fan of social network sites and see the value of them for myself and for teenagers. I love staying in touch with my friends (even if I have only just spent the afternoon with them!) and I know there are young people who feel the same and consider online networking a central part of their lives. Because of this, I think it's really important to balance concerns over safety with staying in contact with friends. We don't keep teenagers safe from road traffic accidents by keeping them of the streets and away from traffic. Instead we teach them safe ways of crossing the road, initially with adult support and later on their own. We also allow them to mature and learn to ride bikes and drive cars safely in time. So what is the equivalent of the green cross code for the internet?

The Panorama programme highlighted the excellent site CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) site.

The site gives guidance for Parents, Teachers/youth leaders and young people themselves. Social networking should be a great tool for young people to chat to their friends but it can have a darker side as the progamme showed. To help keep social networking something wonderful for young people, parents should talk to their children about social networking and consider the following:

• Know what your children are doing online and who they are talking to. Ask them to teach you to use any applications you have never used.
• Help your children to understand that they should never give out personal details to online friends—personal information includes their messenger id, email address, mobile number and any pictures of themselves, their family or friends—if your child publishes a picture or video online—anyone can change it or share it.
• If your child receives spam / junk email & texts, remind them never to believe them, reply to them or use them.
• It's not a good idea for your child to open files that are from people they don't know. They won't know what they contain—it could be a virus, or worse - an inappropriate image or film.
• Help your child to understand that some people lie online and that therefore it's better to keep online mates online. They should never meet up with any strangers without an adult they trust.
• Always keep communication open for a child to know that it's never too late to tell someone if something makes them feel uncomfortable.
• Teach young people how to block someone online and report them if they feel uncomfortable.
• There are people who can help. Report online child abuse, or for more advice and support.

Christian Heroes

I was invited to chat to BBC Hereford and Worcester Radio this morning about our new Spirit Mark award for Child and Youth Friendly churches which we launched on Wednesday with a presentation to the first four churches that have qualified for their bronze awards as part of a pilot scheme and received their first "Worcester Spirit Mark."




They were talking on the programme about heroes in literature, film or TV who were members of the clergy or religious people. People phoned in about Father Brown, Brother Cadfael, Father Dowling, Dom Camillo Paolo Baldi and others (I then found this site dedicated to clerical detectives!). Michael also mentioned Daredevil and Dan Dare was apparently a priest originally. It was interesting that I found myself struggling to think of any overtly fictional Christian characters who were "heroes" as such. Characters like Miss Marple were certainly Christian but not in a very obvious way. Medieval Literature has many religious characters (Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Boccacio's Decameron are chock full of em!) but not always in a flattering light which would make them heroes. More often than not they were ridiculed, caught out in compromising positions with young ladies or drunk. The Nun's Priest and the country Parson in the Canterbury Tales do go against this slightly but they are in the minority I suppose there is Christian in Pilgrim's Progress but I really was struggling.

Of course there is an element that books are often about adventures and murders and this isn't the usual place to find clerical types (except some of those above!!). What is it about holy people that might not make them central characters in novels. In the Middle Ages, the stories of saints were central to literature as they travelled around, preached, healed and performed miracles.

Any ideas people?

On the theme of detectives - I loved Dr Who last night with all the subtle references to Agatha Christie titles (They do it with mirrors, Sparkling Cyanide, The Secret Adversary, Nemesis and best of all Why didn't they ask.. Heavens!). I think I may have to watch it again to spot them all! It reminded me of Shakespeare in Love.

All because you never learnt Latin

Those were the words of Chris Tarrant to a contestant that missed out on £10,000 even after as Catholic nun had told him that the Latin phrase meaning "in a set manner" was Pro Forma (not in toto, ad infinitum or nota bene!)

Just goes to show folks!

Nota bene - you should learn Latin so that you can consider your education, in toto, to be adequate and if you don't - I'll be going on about it ad infinitum!!!

Sorry for whacky post I think it must be the result of being excited to have played croquet in our garden this evening. Predictably Michael won - even though I played mean!

Deskiny

So life has been a little busy lately, what with settling in to my new job. My desk is still all rather tidy (unlike its previous incarnation) and I have the possibility of moving to a desk nearer the window this week as one of my colleagues is moving on. So do I go for the distractions of the river Severn and some rather lovely trees or stick to my old desk? hmmm... tough one I know! Well it will give me a chance to have a look at all the things in the youth office and work out what I no longer need and what we could do with buying and also get a handle on what we can offer to parishes looking for resources. So I shall be thinking this week about where it all goes and taking Dave Walker as the beginning of the inspiration!

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Taize explained

The Taizé Community has put up a short video explaining the history. Some of you who have been before will recognise the blue bus and maybe even a familiar face on the bus!

Jubilee plus 10

I remember well my mum and a group of ladies from church heading off to Birmingham 10 years ago with their banners and whistles as part of the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt campaign. So in honour of my radical social justice hearted mum, especially as she's no longer with us so can't go herself, I invite you all to join the campaign and march in Birmingham on 18th May. Didn't we sort that debt thing??? No. We managed to drop some debt but not all. Take a look at this video and then check out their site.

Me on Breathe, Breath of God

I had the great pleasure of going along to see BREATHE in action at a school last week. This is a FABULOUS opportunity for schools to get young people thinking about spirituality. It's very gentle and yet powerful. I watched two different age groups engaging with it and it was amazing to see them really getting into it very quickly. There are twelve stations some of which deal with the idea of self, the world, others and God. Most of the stations are reallt tactile or visual and others invite some really good personal reflection.

If you're looking for something spiritual rather than "religious" for some schools work I recommend this highly. You can hire it for a day with a host (or several days - at discounted rate for additional days) and timetable it into the school day and if you like it you can even buy in to the package. It takes slightly longer than a standard school period to do all the stations but the experience is not too adversely affected by doing only some. On Friday several of the pupils came back in their break and lunch hour to do some of the stations they hadn't managed. I think that's a pretty good recommendation.

If you want to know more, have a look at the site and you can even download a flier or listen to one of the tracks.

Room to Breathe

Had a fantastic if hectic two days at the cathedral with children from primary schools from across the diocese. I was leading the singing during the services and running a drama workshop which led to a dramatic presentation of a Gospel reading (Feeding of the 5,000). It was fabulous to see the cathedral buzzing with children dancing, drumming, making banners, singing and acting. I also had time to spend a short while in St Wulfstan's crypt which is an amazingly spiritual place. I do love the exciting times but those quiet times are pretty special too.

Tomorrow I should have even more time for some quiet as I'm visiting Jenny Baker's BREATHE session at one of the Church of England secondaries in Worcester. I'm really looking forward to it as it will be cool to catch up with Jenny as well as get the chance to explore this wonderful resource which the diocese is considering using more in future.

The Circle of Life

How strange it is that sometimes we get the strangest coincidences. I'm just looking at sorting some things for a trip to Taize (see new funky banner and feed in the sidebar) and it turns out that one of the people in the new diocese who's running a Taize service is a person who was in my small group the first time I went to Taize. I remember the small group very well. It was a really amazing group of people and we had some fabulous discussions. What I remember most was the great loving encouragement in the faith and in our individual vocations. Just thinking about that group makes me smile.

Groups can often have their problems - trials and tribulations, character clashes, disasters, fallings-out etc etc but when they work WELL, especially, I think, when they're a group of Christians meeting for spiritual/vocational/reflective purposes, they can be INCREDIBLE.

How are the groups you're working with at the moment? Is there tension or is the a beautiful flow to them? What might be causing tension or flatness? Is your group missing something?

I've recently left a group of youth workers that worked so amazingly well together despite being VERY different. It contrasted greatly with a previous incarnation of the same group which just didn't work. It wasn't that the people didn't like each other or get on. It was just that working together never worked. I remember using the Belbin model of group roles in trying to work out how we could make it work better and it turned out we were lacking in quite a few really vital areas like completer finisher and monitor evaluator! Of course the question we faced was how to resolve that.

In a group that isn't functioning do we re-form the group with additional (or fewer!) members or do we seek to change the way we work as a team, asking individuals to work not just from their natural strengths but developing their weaknesses?

Landing in the Midlands

Ok so it has been a LONG time since the last post but I have been on the move and we're still not online at home. I'm now the Diocesan Youth Officer for Worcester Diocese as of last Monday. We've moved to a new house in Kidderminster and I'm still occasionally humming "I'm living in a box" as the place seems to contain more cardboard than any other material. We are settling in gradually though. I think the biggest shocker after being offline for about a week was to discover that I had accumulated several hundred blog posts on my bloglines. The quickest solution was to clear them all so... Did you blog something I should have read in the last week? Let me know in the comments section.

Normal service should resume shortly.