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Lent 10 - Shadows

The story of Palm Sunday really takes place in the shadows. As the palm procession moves in slow motion the men dressed in religion move by stealth among the pillars while all eyes are facing the other way. They move silently. If you saw them you wouldn't trust them. They had purpose that was beyond their stature or responsibility. But that is what heaven has to take on, time and time again: the forces of darkness - small people who take on more than they are able for power more powerful than that are capable of handling. In such underworld shadows the story of the Passion plays out. 

You are invited to email images that help unpack the various ideas of shadows which is the 5th week of Lent 10's Album.

Chocolate Teapots (28th March 2010)

Luke 19:28-40

After the prophecy and the starmaps
after the carpenter's workshop and the growing years
after the baptism and the Baptizer
after the voice and the dove
after the fishermen and the beach
after the fish and the loaves
after the prodigal and the Samaritan
after the well and the water
after the drawing in the sand and the forgiveness of sin
after the meal with Zacchaeus and supper with Simon
after the sower and the steward
after the healing at the pool and the preaching in the synagogue
after the cleaning of the leper and the hole in the roof
after the haemorrhaging woman and Jairus' daughter
after the blind man and the cripple
after the questioning disciples and the doubting pharisees
after the storm and the calm
after the transfiguration and the wilderness
the cross

All stories lead to this one
Tell of them all this week in this one story framed in palms and passion

'Even the stones will cry out'
And they did
After all the 'Crucify!'
On Easter morning
The stone shouts back.

A wee starter

Here's what we'll be using as a gathering rite on Sunday. The words will probably change a bit more but the idea is there. A vase of twigs will be set up in the centre of the worship space within a wilderness scene that we have used each week of Lent and throughout the service the twigs will be replaced by flowers so by the end of the service the vase will be colourful and in full bloom. The sign of promise, and of deserts that bloom.

When barren becomes meadow
when desert becomes field
when wasteland becomes forest
God says: behold I am inspiring with the new

When spent becomes refreshed
when bitterness becomes love
when drab becomes inspired
God says: behold I am invigorating all that is exhausted

When exile becomes promise
when bondage becomes freedom
when history becomes future
God says: behold I am making all things new

When the story seems to have run out
and the words dry up
then the God whose story this is
begins once more
Let us worship

How obvious?!

This being the fourth week of Lent, or is it the fifth because does Ask Wednesday count as week one...? Never mind, life's too short to worry about that. Anyway we've been going through some of the episodes of DreamThinkBeDo which as been good again.

We were looking at the Bible again. No surprise there then, obviously. I've heard what a number of the folk on the DVD say about a few of the ways that engage and interpret the bible with a more 'progressive' model many times. I say them  myself. I believe them myself. I've been thinking that all my life but something someone said on the DVD hit me again for the first time: The Bible is a human construct in the same way science is a human construct. Wow! Obviously! Of course! Why did you not make that connection before!?

Science is a way of trying to understand the world. It's a whole set of formulas and theories and ideas that try and make sense of what happens. And the Bible: a whole set of stories and theories that try and make sense of what happens in life.

As we learn new things in science the theories need to change to adapt and include some new discovery. Dark matter for example along with dark energy and dark flow (check out the BBC's Horizon programme). As we engage with the world, with new situations and circumstances, the stories need to evolve to enable us make sense and handle these new circumstances.

It was a new insight for me. Kind of obvious but a helpful way to look at it. Lots more to say about it but that's enough for now. Thoughts?

Chocolate Teapots (21st March 2010)

Isaiah 43:16-21

Sometimes it's good to know the ending of a story. I know when I'm watching Dr Who (when does the new Dr begin?) or some other world class serial drama I don't need to get too uptight because it's on again the following week and the hero has to survive. I don't know the details of the ending but I know the general outcome. Life is far less tense when you know the ending.

Does dogma the end paragraph of our faith story: God wins, Jesus saves, the Spirit does whatever she does best and we're all hunky-dory? But with the ending of a faith story comes the ending of the Faith itself surely? Nothing left to trust our lives with, nothing left to expect or dream about or long for. It's dead in the water. Bit like the Exiles possibly in Babylon: the faith story had come to an end, there was nothing left in which to place your expectation. Babylon was fine, no thanks to God and they were doing well.

Then came Isaiah No. 2. "You think you've reached the end of faith now that you are all settled and cosy in Babylon? Well, have I got news for you!" and so the story jump-starts into a new imagining, a new vision and risking that can once again give people's lives value. You see, in my tiny mind, only when there is a risk you might be wrong, does something increase in value. Only when you have to take a chance to trust something with your life, does faith have value once more. Knowing the ending leads to deflation. Risking the story once more leads to inflation (I never thought the global economy has anything to teach the Faith. I thought it was the other way around).

So where are we in this never ending story continuum? Still willing to risk putting our trust in a new retelling of the adventure called faith where it is not all already sorted? When you know the ending it's hardly worth beginning! Please go with the Isaiah principle rather than the Dr Who one: it ain't over till it's over and their ain't no fat Davros in the wings clearing his throat ready to sing. 

So where are those hymn that hold faith's uncertainty principles and risk taking? Or how can we read this passage in worship that leaves us wanting to jump on board with or without the Doctor?

Lent 10 - Never ending story

Haven't got to Chocolate Teapots yet but this weeks theme for Lent 10 is about that moment when you think silence is all there is, then comes the Hallelujah Chorus. or the river has run dry and then it beings to rain for 40 days, or the desert seems endless only to start to bloom after only a smattering of rain. I don't quite know what to call it. Perhaps the secret life of hope which makes the past seem dull compared to what will happen.

Anyway, before Chocolate Teapots writes itself, let's go for 'when the story has run out'. Beautifully cryptic. Ambiguous enough to be getting on with? Email any images you have that might unpack that theme here and we'll post them onto the Lent 10 - Never-ending story album

Unlearn - a university lecture on the edge of Canaan

As the Hebrews stood on the verge of Canaan, it was time to reflect on what they had had to unlearn... (this is a first draft so please edit it so it make sense.) For Sunday before the reading of the Joshua passage:

Welcome to the University of Canaan… a world renown seat of un-learning. Here we pick apart all the accumulated presumptions we have gathered up about God… and offer you a new coming of age version of the faith...

You may have thought that God would always feed you manna in the desert… This is not so… How long was it… 40 years? Every morning a blanket of food lying with the dew… to gather up only that which you needed… But remember how you were greedy… and gathered up more than a days supply… not trusting that God would supply tomorrow as well… During the wilderness you have unlearned the ways of greed… congratulations...

You may have thought God had forgotten you… taking you on a wilderness quest for three generations… This is not so… Remember the golden calf… It must have been your grandfathers that built that… thinking a God who could not be seen… could not be trusted either… and you sculpted an idol… only to find God was found in 10 rules that enabled you to have graceful and generous relationships with all people… During the wilderness you have unlearned the ways of making God into an idol… congratulations...

You may have thought God did not know the way in the desert… that your wandering really was wandering… in circles… going over the same ground each time… But it was always more than a physical journey… This was an emotional journey too… At first you complained… you didn’t like this land when you first met it… and God refused to listen to children that moaned all day long about how good it was back in Egypt… O how quickly you forgot the reality… and so God… whose patience is great… waited for that generation to die out… and let only those with passion for future living… enter the promised land… You have unlearned the tradition of rose coloured spectacles and now look forward… congratulations...

You have unlearned a great number of things in your wilderness... May that unlearning continue... Now you own Canaan having fought off the people whose land this originally was… You have taken over their land… taken it as your own… This is a time when it has never been more important to remember what you have unlearned during your wilderness years… You have unlearned greed… Now you are free to share the richness and justice of the land with those who live there… You have unlearned idolatry… Now, you are able to see God in relationship with you and others... You have unlearned the rose-tinted past… Now you are set free to look to the future with passion… Your course with the University of Canaan is now complete… We hope we have stood you in good stead to continue to unlearn throughout your life…

 

When going gets tougher

We're in the 4th Sunday of Lent. It's the worst of times perhaps with scarcity and longing both greater now than ever. A prayer:

When we leave only footprints in the dust
of journeys we have taken
and the echo of our story lies tired
and forgotten
when the moments that make up our living
become fragments discarded by the world

blow through the dust
listen through the echo
re-sculpt the fragments
O God
that we may know our worth to you
and may we believe
we are worth the journey
Jesus takes

May we find heaven in the dust
your word in the echoes
may among the fragments, crumbs of bread and shimmers of wine
and know we are in good company
sacred company
among those who find heaven everywhere
seekers of justice
pilgrims of love
believers of resurrection
that finds grace in the dust and alleluias (still silent)

but long
and hope
and wait
for gardens and dawn
of milk and honey after wilderness years
promise renewed and covenant restored
of long days folded in hope
of visions in the gray
of trust in the pain
of flowers in the desert
of kingdom moments in the tired hours
of your presence in all our living

may footprints leave a promise for others to follow
echoes repeat the ancient longing for grace
and the fragments of our lives be embraced by heaven, always
so be it

Justice isn't nosey

We should all know what Jon Venables, jailed for the murder of two-year old Jamie Bulger in 1993 (Venables was 10 at the time), has done to end up back in jail. Why?

The Independent has a good article about this written by Terence Blacker. Because someone has done something wrong, it doesn't mean we all become vigilantes and have a right to know all his latest exploits. I don't know what it is but it is serious and added to that is the horrific murder of Jamie all those years ago, but none of that turns justice into  kangaroo court.

Does it make us any safer knowing what he has done and do we have any right to know it? This has nothing to do with justice and Terence Blacker suggests it is more about titillation and nosiness where we feel we have a right to pry imagining we stand on the moral high ground. But it is far from anything approaching morality. 

Morality, in any faith sense, surely doesn't seek to find some perverse entertainment in the crime, but seeks to redeem the person. Attempting to keep Jon Venables covered tar and feathers perhaps reminds us of our inability or intent to work towards someone else's redemption. Is our own already in the bag?

Lent 10 - Milk & Honey

This week's theme is moving from one sparse wilderness into another abundant wilderness. The Manna has gone and the fileds and flourishing. it's a land of Milk and Honey. So that is this weeks album theme. Any images of your own that we can publish here that help us reflect on this theme, in whatever cryptic or concrete way you wish, please just send here and we'll post them on the sit and we can continue to journey together.