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CREATING COMMUNITIES OF WHOLENESS WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTRE
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30th August, 9.45pm
A few more thoughts from Greenbelt from some of the amazing people I heard.
There was Bishop Nelson from Northern Uganda who walked openly into rebel territory to talk with the Lord's Resistance Army knowing that unless someone started talking the war which had already gone on for two decades would never end. He went in and started talking knowing that there was a fair chance that the Lord's Resistance Army would shoot him as he went in and that the Ugandan government would shoot him as he walked out. But he went in and started talking and the talking continued and peace, slowly, slowly, slowly began.
There was +Graham Cray who I heard from a distance as I queued for Ice Creams with the children, saying that as a member of the peace and love generation his contemporaries had grown up to be more selfish and have a higher divorce rate than any other in history [his words not mine, but it made be think].
There was +Lee Rayfield who reminded us that we're called to be Christ-like so next time we think about a bible story, what about imagining ourselves in Jesus' shoes.
And then there was Shaun the Sheep - watched with as much delight by the adults as by the children.
28th August, 8.55pm
I got Jane series 3 of Hustle for her birthday ten days ago and the DVD's begin with that short film against piracy. There's a certain irony about the fact that a programme about a team of con men begins with a warning against film piracy! I can hear the thing playing as I write this.
We got back from Greenbelt at about 1pm, unpacked the car, showered changed, got the BBQ into the car and were at a 30th Birthday party by 2.15pm. It's not bad, although earlier in the week I'd really struggled to get myself and Adam out of the house and to an 8.30am meeting - which is bizarre, because we do it every day during term time, only its all six of us who have to be ready. Anyway, at the party I was talking to a friend about Greenbelt and he described it to me as a gathering of 20,000 Christians who don't want to be with other Christians. It's not a bad description and, as someone who has in the past run as fast as possible from big Christian gatherings, it's one I can relate to; but I think that I might amend it to a gathering of Christians who don't want to be exclusively with other Christians.
As Christians we need to pray and talk, learn and worship together, but then we have this tendency to get into a bubble and just focus on each other, talk a language that no one else understands and that is a mystery to most of us too.
I met the leader of Tearfund in the South of England this morning, and he was talking with me about integral mission. It was another new term for me and I had to do a fast thinking thing and pretend that I understood while my brain got into gear [that process happens more for me than most people might realise]. But assuming that I understood 'integral mission' correctly its exactly what I try to do. My calling as a minister [if it can be summed up in a sentence] is to be part of an outward focused community of Christians, that is distinctively Christian and within which everyone feels welcome; a community that teaches the faith, works right across the town and is part of building the kingdom 'on earth as it is in heaven.' [That's should be more than one sentence, but as is so often the case, I've omitted the full stops.]
Keeping the balance isn't easy, almost as hard as giving ourselves the space to see heaven in the ordinary [the theme of Greenbelt this year], but its possible and in as far as I can discern, its where God's calling me to be.
19th August, 9.45pm
While the protests have been continuing at Heathrow, and the police have been using powers to restrict acess that were only passed because the government promised that they would only be used against armed terrorists, I've had a weekend of non-stop services and visits - it feels like it already time for another holiday, and I've only been back a week. Meanwhile Jane ended up with the children and 99% of the ironing [for which I can only apologise].
But we've been doing the Good Samaritan at church, acting it out and talking it through, and each time I've mentioned care for the environment being a crucial part of love for neighbour, folk have come up and thanked me. The church has been almost entirely silent on the environment [unless you happen to read church media] - I wasn't at Heathrow and wonder how many were there from the churches, but if we believe that God created the world then we have to care for it. Unless that is we decide that 99% of the world's scientists are wrong and we're all OK and can do what we like. The fact that a vicar talking about the environment has clearly been a surprise is yet another example of how spectacularly silent we have been on the issue.
15th August, 9pm
Kathryn got her first tooth today!
14th August. 4.55pm
Back on line for the first time in nearly three weeks - its disturbing and wonderful to be so far away from the news and e mails and everything else, in a 'sturdy old stone house' as Parc has been described, where not much has changed in the last 50 years, possibly in the last 300. But I'm now, at least vaguely, back at work, have dealt with most of the 80 or so substantive e mails and most of the phone messages, and am beginning to contemplate the August jobs list and the mountain of ironing [my job] that will result from the even larger mountain of washing [Jane's job].
It was with enormous pleasure that I recorded a voicemail saying that I was on leave until 13th August and folk were very welcome to call a whole list of other people, but not me! And I then turned off the computer, and for good measure hid it away and headed off for the three peaks. I love my job, being a Vicar is one of the best jobs in the world, but I also love getting away from it. But back to the 3 Peaks - it was a walk in the park [a very big park with lots of hills and with no sleep] but great fun and we did Ben Nevis, Sca fell Pike and Snowdon with 20 minutes to spare. There was still snow and hail on the top of the Ben, I learnt that I had to think very hard before doing any route-finding at 4am and as a consequence took us up an extra hill [Goat Craggs] on our way to Scafell, and was nearly trampled under foot and then pushed into Llyn Teyrn as the Miners Track followed its normal course and went on, and on, and on... I was not the most popular guy on the hill! But we did it and an exhausted crew can be seen opposite.
There's something about mountains. I've climbed all three peaks before, and Snowdon many, many times, but to see them all, and within 24 hours was amazing, from Loch to tarn to Llyn, from burn to beck, from Ben to fell to moel, heather and bracken, gorse and stone, rain and cloud and sleet and wind and sun [occasionally]. 'Never again' was a common refrain from the rest of the team, and for some I think that their first hit may end up their last! But I'm a confirmed addict, and while going down Snowdon I was already planning a three peaks+ with twice as much walking and far more interesting routes [Ben Nevis via the Carn More Dereg Ridge, Sca Fell Pike from Langdale and the whole Snowdon horseshoe] and then there's an attempt on the 14 3,000's of Snowdonia [if anyone wants to join me let me know at mike.haslam@nschurch.org.uk If anyone want's to certify me....
And then, 24 hours after leaving the base of Snowdon I was back, only three hours hike away, at Parc. I've been going there since I was six weeks old, and Parc is 'home'. Its just about being there, catching up with friends and family, sleep [lots of it], lighting fires, climbing mountains, clearing cobwebs [only for them to reappear within seconds] swimming up rivers and under waterfalls and making mountains of sandwiches. There are bats and badgers and friendly mice scurrying around the kitchen, water seeping through the west wall, and a tremendous sense of place and sprit and life and peace. I love it. A hot shower is also good when I get back home!
BLOGGERS NOTE
You'll notice in this blog that I use clauses and sub clauses and square brackets and lots of other grammatical aberrations! Also that I can't spell. Jane sometimes compares my sentence structure to St Paul, going on and on and on... I'm afraid that you're going to have to live with it. I try to edit it all out when I'm writing for print, but I'm going to indulge myself here.