Contact Details and How to Find Us
Vicar's Blog
CREATING COMMUNITIES OF WHOLENESS WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTRE
Blog Archives: April 2008 - March 2008 - February 2008 - January 2008 - December 2007 - November 2007 - October 2007 - September 2007 - August 2007 - July 2007 - June 2007 - May 2007 - April 2007 - March 2007 - February 2007 - January 2007 - December 2006 - November 2006 - October 2006 - September 2006
15 March: 11:20pm
It was time for the Passion Play and I had been asked to play John, the disciple of Jesus. I said ‘no’. John is too simple, too easy, he follows Jesus and that’s all that there is too it. Instead I asked if I could play Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea. And so I spent the next three weeks revelling in the complexity of a man who wants to save his job, maintain his integrity and keep everyone happy, and isn’t big enough or strong enough to do any of it.
At the time of the crucifixion, Pilate and his soldiers were on one of their very few visits to Jerusalem, to keep the peace and control the crowds over the Passover. He knew that he was being watched, from Rome and by the Jewish leaders. No one wanted a riot; there had already been enough of them during his governorship.
But Jerusalem was heaving with people [the population quadrupled at Passover]. The priests and teachers were muttering and whispering, stirring up the crowds and plotting the arrest of Jesus. The Roman 10th Legion [equivalent to the SAS] were just a few days march away, waiting to sweep down at the first sign of trouble to rape, murder and the destroy the city. And Jesus was continuing to disturb and heal, captivate and challenge; drawing the crowds like no one else could. But to outsiders he appeared to almost have a death wish. He was unwilling to speak up even to save his life. Pilate, well-intentioned but weak, was in the middle of all of this. What chance did he have?
That much is fact, accepted by historians around the world. But its fact that also leaves so many questions. What were the motives of the Jewish leaders? How did Pilate respond under such enormous pressures? What would you have done if you had been part of the crowd? Would you have listened to Jesus one day and cried ‘Crucify’ the next? And who was Jesus, and what was he doing in Jerusalem, refusing to even try to save his life?
Frank Deasy who wrote the screenplay of the new BBC1 production, the Passion, has spoken of how he was walking around the centre of Jerusalem researching the series when he was stopped by two armed police, one with a gun drawn. ‘Muslim?’ They challenged him. ‘Christian’, he responded. As a 21st century, lapsed Catholic who had long left active practice of his faith behind him it was a revelation. Writing the Passion had helped him rediscover his faith.
The Passion will be broadcast on BBC1 on the evenings of March 16th, 17th, 21st and 23rd [times tbc]. For more information go to www.churchesmediacouncil.org.uk/passion. Make time during Holy Week to travel the journey of the cross, to explore the questions facing Pilate, Caiaphas, Judas, Mary and Peter; and above to seek to answer the greatest of all questions, the question that Jesus ask of all of us: ‘Who do you say I am?’
6 March: 11:04pm
It's been a week of firsts. I've seen the sun rise, heard the dawn chorus and have been running in the light [I guess that its a statement of the obvious but you have no idea what a difference that makes].
Adam has lost his first tooth and a second is wobbly - and I'm pretty sure that he's already rumbled the tooth fairy even though he hasn't quite admitted it.
A first planning meeting for an after-schools club at St Francis, a first baptism visit, a first training with Heritage Lottery Fund, a first [and very strange press event at St Andrew's to announce the English Heritage Grant for the roof]. So much of the job seems to be first, there's a huge amount of continuity, but also many, many times when I pitch to a new person, in a new context and a new way, and you just have to hope and pray and give it all you have, to ensure that it works. And if there are all of these first pitches, you also need to remember that you often don't get a second.
If anyone is wondering, the Press at St Andrew's asked the obvious and sensible questions and I gave what I hope were the obvious and sensible answers - it was the photos that were strange, me and the English Heritage Regional Grants Manager photographed endlessly and almost as if we were groom and best man at the wedding, and as if the roof [the point of the whole thing] as an irrelevance.
I remember hearing of David Jenkins when he was Bishop of Durham giving a TV interview on the miners strike from his study in his Bishop's Palace. It didn't work. Next time he spoke up for the Miners he stood alongside them in one of the many pit villages of County Durham, which, BTW have some amazing names, my favourites being 'Cart Away Heads' and 'Pity Me'. Look them up on the AtoZ, they really are there.. In a far smaller way I learnt a similar lesson today. I was in a suit and tie, and as soon as I got to Church I realised that I'd got it wrong as was too smart, not 'rural' enough for the context and the story that the media wanted to tell. Context and tone matters. But I write this before seeing the copy, it'll be in the Swindon Evening Advertiser and the Western Daily Press on Friday.
1 March: 10:00pm
As a painter I am hopeless at keeping any kind of schedules, I currently have one commission that's over 4 years late, one that's 3 years late and one a mere 6 months overdue. My only response to the missed deadlines is that I can't paint when things are dark, I need good physical light, but also enough of the emotional and spiritual stuff. And I guess that the same is true of writing, and its been tough over the last month or so, so my apologies for lack of blogging.
At Baptism Prep last week I owned up that any Lenten resolutions to abstain from chocolate had been destroyed by the aftermath of a series of meetings when it was abundantly clear that chocolate was not only necessary but also essential. [I have managed to keep off alcohol and caffeine, but forget about a chocolate free Lent]. Talking of Baptism Prep it was great to hear that one of the Godparents at last week's session who was wary to going, fearing that it would be 'weird and creepy' was reassured and found us surprisingly normal! Its still one of the best events of my month and one of the times when I get the clearest chances to be an evangelist.
Giving up some food and drink is, most of the time, easy, working shorter hours, and particularly turning the computer off and getting to bed at a decent time is infinitely more challenging, and on the whole that part of Lent has, for me, been a complete disaster, which in turn means that the additional prayer and bible reading [and exercise] I wanted to do has also not been done. All of which I means that I need to start again, and again, and again... sleep and prayer aren't things to give up on, in Lent or beyond.
Leaving aside the horrible stuff there have also been some great times. On a day when I really could have done without it, I found myself at a Staff Governor Conference at Redoaks, reporting back on the past year's Chaplaincy or Faithful Friends at Redoaks. And I got spontaneous applause! And then there was the weekend at Lindors, our first ever Church Weekend, swimming [Sam learned to swim and Alice nearly sank], pooh sticks, bible stories [lots of them], ping pong [at which I was soundly beaten], great food [even better because I didn't have to cook it] and great times talking, learning, praying and relaxing together. It was a good weekend, another sign of growth in the parish.
Talking of which we've done some number crunching and found out that St Francis has grown by 45% over the last year. 'We' in this instance is royal; and I guess that that is to be expected, as anyone who knows me at all knows that I can no more crunch numbers than I can play football! But I'm very grateful to those who did the numbers, even though they also discovered alarming signs of decline at St Andrew's [down by 31% for trad services].
And this is going all over the place, with the most tenuous of connections, but at Assembly at St Francis for some unremembered reason I ended up asking Key Stage Two what 32x49 is, and a year five child got the correct answer in all of 12 seconds, without pen, paper or calculator [try and see how fast you can do it].
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.