How easy it is to get so wrapped up in what's going on for us, how the world is affecting us, that we don't see our neighbours until it is too late.
On the slightly more positive side of that observation, last night my sister and I were invited to join our neighbours on our shared drive way for the celebration of their wedding with a feast. We were hesitant, knowing no one, not really knowing the bride and groom, not knowing what was expected. In the end I heard an echo of a conversation I'd had recently, in which I was reminded that it is not so much how we offer hospitality, as how we receive it, that is our participation in the mission of God. How we receive hospitality. So I went out there grateful for the opportunity to receive my neighbours' hospitality, and found myself wishing I had got to know them better sooner, as we'll not be living here much longer. Still, I am grateful for the chance to share in this celebration, and to have received a most generous, warm, welcome from our neighbours and their friends.
On the less positive side of that observation, I wonder if we knew some of our other neighbours better, they might have come and talked to us when they were concerned at the number and position of the cars on the street, rather than calling the council, who sent someone to slap fines on us. One guy received a $40 fine for being 10cm over a yellow line for not very long, and I got a $60 fine for parking on the gravel at the top of our driveway, end of a dead-end street, out of everyone's way. NOT HAPPY JAN!!! I cannot get over the officious, legalistic, ungenerous attitude of our neighbours, and wish we'd got to know them better, too, so that we might have parted as friends, not in the spirit of antagonism that now hangs in the air like a foul stench. I don't know which of our neighbours called the council, though I have suspicions; if I did I might go and apologise for the cars, and express disappointment that they couldn't come and talk to us first.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
in other news
In other news, amidst the turmoil that is my current church pioneer experience, I have received a scholarship covering the registration, accommodation and food costs for the International Network of Biblical Storytellers' Festival Gathering in North Carolina in August this year!!!
I am very excited - I will have the chance to meet a whole range of storytellers, hopefully be pushed further in my craft as a biblical storyteller, and also hopefully meet some people engaging in studies in performance hermeneutics.
Now to find the end of the rainbow with the pot of gold that will cover my airfares!
And I think I'll look for what else is happening in North America around that time, since it would be a shame to travel all that way for five days. I will barely have enough time to get over the jetlag before I get back on the plane if I don't stay for longer than the gathering!!
I am very excited - I will have the chance to meet a whole range of storytellers, hopefully be pushed further in my craft as a biblical storyteller, and also hopefully meet some people engaging in studies in performance hermeneutics.
Now to find the end of the rainbow with the pot of gold that will cover my airfares!
And I think I'll look for what else is happening in North America around that time, since it would be a shame to travel all that way for five days. I will barely have enough time to get over the jetlag before I get back on the plane if I don't stay for longer than the gathering!!
Friday, March 18, 2011
alternative church - asking the hard questions 5
the hardest question of all - one with an answer you don't want to hear
when all the questions have been asked, when we've wrestled with them, when they've kept us awake, made us uncomfortable, and perhaps even moved us further into God's realm of loving kindness, what remains is a question that
does pioneering really have to be such a lonely lonely road?
and of course the answer is yes.
pioneering by its very nature is stepping out of the known, it is experimenting with the new and untried, it is taking risks and holding a crazy dream others are yet to imagine their way into.
pioneers are by nature, out there where others are not - are by nature, in many ways, on their own.
there is a question whose answer we do want to hear - what can we do? from the shore line as the pioneers launch off into uncharted territory, give us seaworthy vessels (what carries us safely is the tradition, the Christian story), keep the lines of communication open (stay in touch, listen for how we are travelling and what we are discovering), send food packages (the money problem: we need enough resources to pay the bills so that worry doesn't diminish our ministry), and send more after us, teaching the next pioneers from our experience.
it won't stop us from being out there alone - but we don't need to remain alone, and we will be helped by not being forgotten or abandoned out there.
when all the questions have been asked, when we've wrestled with them, when they've kept us awake, made us uncomfortable, and perhaps even moved us further into God's realm of loving kindness, what remains is a question that
does pioneering really have to be such a lonely lonely road?
and of course the answer is yes.
pioneering by its very nature is stepping out of the known, it is experimenting with the new and untried, it is taking risks and holding a crazy dream others are yet to imagine their way into.
pioneers are by nature, out there where others are not - are by nature, in many ways, on their own.
there is a question whose answer we do want to hear - what can we do? from the shore line as the pioneers launch off into uncharted territory, give us seaworthy vessels (what carries us safely is the tradition, the Christian story), keep the lines of communication open (stay in touch, listen for how we are travelling and what we are discovering), send food packages (the money problem: we need enough resources to pay the bills so that worry doesn't diminish our ministry), and send more after us, teaching the next pioneers from our experience.
it won't stop us from being out there alone - but we don't need to remain alone, and we will be helped by not being forgotten or abandoned out there.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
alternative church - asking the hard questions 4
what are the rules?
I've explored the question of the relationship between the inherited church and fresh expressions of church in an earlier post.
This is similar, but a little more technical.
The question that emerged out of a conversation recently is, where do these new forms of church fit within the heritage and theology of the Christian Church? How are they accountable? To whom? And for what?
The person with whom I was in conversation had concerns about the theological soundness of new church communities - were these a bunch of heretics, rebels, not living out the tradition faithfully?
I got a little defensive at first - I am an ordained minister leading this new church community, what is your problem??
But on reflection, it's actually an important question to ask. Not because there is one theology to which true Christians should all ascribe. I don't believe that for a second. No, it's because there is a stoyr here, there is a thread that continues back to Jesus who lived, and even further to the Hebrew peoples and even beyond to the Creator and the story of God's relationship with Creation throughout time. If we are claiming to tell this story - not that we're claiming it's the only story - but this story, we must tell it faithfully, with integrity for the story and the communities of faithful adherents to the story throughout history.
(the problem has become, of course, for the church in the West, that we've got into the practice of telling the story without integrity for the hearers, for the context into which the story is being told, and we have thus inhibited people's ability to make meaning of and through this story, or to encounter God in and through the story ... probably another post in that!)
So, the questions here are around accountability - to?
to the Christian Church.
to the culture, our community here and now.
to God, who is active in the world and calling us to participate in that transforming activity.
and for? ah, here's a question.
we'll be held accountable for authentic representation of the Christian story. Are we interpreting the Biblical story faithfully, holding to the faith expressed in the creeds, teaching and living according to the life, teaching, healing, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Fair enough.
we'll be held accountable for money - if the inherited church (local congregations, presbyteries or synods) offer financial support for these new ventures, what will be the measures by which they will judge appropriate stewardship of resources?
I worry that in a climate of leadership modelled on business, the KPIs for fresh expressions will resemble KPIs for small business or franchisees. Will growth be measured by what - the amount of money we earn? The number of people who become signed up, paid up members? The number of people we encounter, disciple, send out ... Just how do we measure the 'success' of a community of faith? When it's not even yet a community of faith because that takes years - years - to become.
for fresh expressions connected to the Uniting Church we'll be held accountable for the way we live out the Basis of Union. But that raises more questions, like how do we define 'connection' to the Uniting Church, which bring us back to earlier discussion around parenting and responsibility for these emerging forms of church.
and will we - or at what stage will we - be held accountable for the way we adhere to the regulations of the Uniting Church? Some years ago, faith communities became acknowledged as smaller 'congregations' that were small in numbers and couldn't reasonably live out the expectations of congregations as described in the UCA's regulations. Expectations such as the numbers of people on church councils, number of meetings for church councils, financial and other responsibilities to the wider UCA ...
But in my experience, it will be a long time before the members of a fresh expression of church may be ready to name themselves even a faith community, with its lighter responsibilities - because it will be ages before they're even ready to consider naming themselves individually as members of a community. And with the ecumenical, or less overtly denominational, feel to many fresh expressions of church, lapsed Catholics or Anglicans might resist the inclusion of this alternative church community into another denomination. And the leaders of emerging forms of church will necessarily need to be sensitive to these concerns, because it is precisely for these de-churched and the un-churched among our community that we are seeking to create new forms of church.
Personally, I have no problem with the accountability of fresh expressions to the wider church, or to a particular denomination or tradition. I think it is necessary for the integrity of an alternative Christian community to be clearly aiming to live faithfully according to the Christian Story. It is a rich tradition, and it holds much in the way of our ancestors' wrestling with the meaning of the incarnation, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And I have no problem being personally responsible to the Uniting Church. This is the movement in which I have been formed and ordained, and I expect to be called on to adhere to the heritage, polity and theology of this reformed, catholic and apostolic church.
But what it comes down to is polity, is theology, is heritage. Fresh expressions will live out church organisation differently, will express theology in different media and language, are forming a new heritage. How is the inherited church helping fresh expressions of church to do this without throwing away any 'babies'?
We need to find ways to steep pioneer leaders in the heritage, theology and polity of the Uniting Church and equip them to reinvent, to reinterpret, to reimagine the essence of who we are for our time and place.
I think that's what I'm saying ...
I've explored the question of the relationship between the inherited church and fresh expressions of church in an earlier post.
This is similar, but a little more technical.
The question that emerged out of a conversation recently is, where do these new forms of church fit within the heritage and theology of the Christian Church? How are they accountable? To whom? And for what?
The person with whom I was in conversation had concerns about the theological soundness of new church communities - were these a bunch of heretics, rebels, not living out the tradition faithfully?
I got a little defensive at first - I am an ordained minister leading this new church community, what is your problem??
But on reflection, it's actually an important question to ask. Not because there is one theology to which true Christians should all ascribe. I don't believe that for a second. No, it's because there is a stoyr here, there is a thread that continues back to Jesus who lived, and even further to the Hebrew peoples and even beyond to the Creator and the story of God's relationship with Creation throughout time. If we are claiming to tell this story - not that we're claiming it's the only story - but this story, we must tell it faithfully, with integrity for the story and the communities of faithful adherents to the story throughout history.
(the problem has become, of course, for the church in the West, that we've got into the practice of telling the story without integrity for the hearers, for the context into which the story is being told, and we have thus inhibited people's ability to make meaning of and through this story, or to encounter God in and through the story ... probably another post in that!)
So, the questions here are around accountability - to?
to the Christian Church.
to the culture, our community here and now.
to God, who is active in the world and calling us to participate in that transforming activity.
and for? ah, here's a question.
we'll be held accountable for authentic representation of the Christian story. Are we interpreting the Biblical story faithfully, holding to the faith expressed in the creeds, teaching and living according to the life, teaching, healing, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Fair enough.
we'll be held accountable for money - if the inherited church (local congregations, presbyteries or synods) offer financial support for these new ventures, what will be the measures by which they will judge appropriate stewardship of resources?
I worry that in a climate of leadership modelled on business, the KPIs for fresh expressions will resemble KPIs for small business or franchisees. Will growth be measured by what - the amount of money we earn? The number of people who become signed up, paid up members? The number of people we encounter, disciple, send out ... Just how do we measure the 'success' of a community of faith? When it's not even yet a community of faith because that takes years - years - to become.
for fresh expressions connected to the Uniting Church we'll be held accountable for the way we live out the Basis of Union. But that raises more questions, like how do we define 'connection' to the Uniting Church, which bring us back to earlier discussion around parenting and responsibility for these emerging forms of church.
and will we - or at what stage will we - be held accountable for the way we adhere to the regulations of the Uniting Church? Some years ago, faith communities became acknowledged as smaller 'congregations' that were small in numbers and couldn't reasonably live out the expectations of congregations as described in the UCA's regulations. Expectations such as the numbers of people on church councils, number of meetings for church councils, financial and other responsibilities to the wider UCA ...
But in my experience, it will be a long time before the members of a fresh expression of church may be ready to name themselves even a faith community, with its lighter responsibilities - because it will be ages before they're even ready to consider naming themselves individually as members of a community. And with the ecumenical, or less overtly denominational, feel to many fresh expressions of church, lapsed Catholics or Anglicans might resist the inclusion of this alternative church community into another denomination. And the leaders of emerging forms of church will necessarily need to be sensitive to these concerns, because it is precisely for these de-churched and the un-churched among our community that we are seeking to create new forms of church.
Personally, I have no problem with the accountability of fresh expressions to the wider church, or to a particular denomination or tradition. I think it is necessary for the integrity of an alternative Christian community to be clearly aiming to live faithfully according to the Christian Story. It is a rich tradition, and it holds much in the way of our ancestors' wrestling with the meaning of the incarnation, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
And I have no problem being personally responsible to the Uniting Church. This is the movement in which I have been formed and ordained, and I expect to be called on to adhere to the heritage, polity and theology of this reformed, catholic and apostolic church.
But what it comes down to is polity, is theology, is heritage. Fresh expressions will live out church organisation differently, will express theology in different media and language, are forming a new heritage. How is the inherited church helping fresh expressions of church to do this without throwing away any 'babies'?
We need to find ways to steep pioneer leaders in the heritage, theology and polity of the Uniting Church and equip them to reinvent, to reinterpret, to reimagine the essence of who we are for our time and place.
I think that's what I'm saying ...
Monday, March 14, 2011
alternative church - asking the hard questions 3
fresh expressions - What are we naming as a fresh expression? Or, when is a fresh expression not a 'fresh expression'?
When we're thinking about fresh expressions of church, what are we thinking of naming as a 'fresh expression'?
When is a fresh expression not a 'fresh expression'?
When it is alternative worship.
When it is a church plant.
When it is a misional activity of an established church.
Why are these things not fresh expressions?
Alternative worship is not alternative church because it is an alternative way of gathering for worship for an established community of faith who are seeking to re-invigorate their expressions of worship.
A church plant is not a fresh expression of church because church plants take an existing model of church and plant it in a new location.
A missional activity that seeks simply to be a missional activity, not to form a new, independent community of faith, is not a fresh expression of church.
These things might be different expressions of Christian life and community for a particular community of faith, and they are all valid, valuable, and necessary for the health and growth of the wider body of Christ.
However, a fresh expression of church is an intentional effort to engage with people beyond the church through loving sharing of life where people are - rather than waiting for people beyond the church to come to us - and seeking to form a community of faith from that context.
These new forms of church will therefore be shaped by their context, by the interests and activities of the people - not the practices of generations of church-goers.
The reason for fresh expressions is to, as Steve Taylor put it recently, ask ourselves, what is God up to in the world, and to go there and be part of it. To take with us the Christian story and tradition and become conversation partners with others who are experiencing and expressing their spirituality, their encounters with Spirit, and to journey together in transforming relationships of healing and hope.
But to recognise that the Christian Church has become somewhat disconnected with the experience of spirituality for many in our part of the world, has grown comfortable with the way Christian community is ordered, and is not attractive or authentic for this time and this place.
God isn't irrelevant. Christian community and living isn't irrelevant. We have stuck with Ye Olde Englishe when the culture has moved to speaking nu engl'sh. We need to stop trying to translate Christianity into the language of the people, and let the language of the people express for the people the Christian story authentically.
So why ask the question about what is a fresh expression? not for elitism or exclusivism. For the most effective support and resourcing of these emerging communities of faith so that they will grow and flourish and be communities of healing through God's transforming way of Love.
When we're thinking about fresh expressions of church, what are we thinking of naming as a 'fresh expression'?
When is a fresh expression not a 'fresh expression'?
When it is alternative worship.
When it is a church plant.
When it is a misional activity of an established church.
Why are these things not fresh expressions?
Alternative worship is not alternative church because it is an alternative way of gathering for worship for an established community of faith who are seeking to re-invigorate their expressions of worship.
A church plant is not a fresh expression of church because church plants take an existing model of church and plant it in a new location.
A missional activity that seeks simply to be a missional activity, not to form a new, independent community of faith, is not a fresh expression of church.
These things might be different expressions of Christian life and community for a particular community of faith, and they are all valid, valuable, and necessary for the health and growth of the wider body of Christ.
However, a fresh expression of church is an intentional effort to engage with people beyond the church through loving sharing of life where people are - rather than waiting for people beyond the church to come to us - and seeking to form a community of faith from that context.
These new forms of church will therefore be shaped by their context, by the interests and activities of the people - not the practices of generations of church-goers.
The reason for fresh expressions is to, as Steve Taylor put it recently, ask ourselves, what is God up to in the world, and to go there and be part of it. To take with us the Christian story and tradition and become conversation partners with others who are experiencing and expressing their spirituality, their encounters with Spirit, and to journey together in transforming relationships of healing and hope.
But to recognise that the Christian Church has become somewhat disconnected with the experience of spirituality for many in our part of the world, has grown comfortable with the way Christian community is ordered, and is not attractive or authentic for this time and this place.
God isn't irrelevant. Christian community and living isn't irrelevant. We have stuck with Ye Olde Englishe when the culture has moved to speaking nu engl'sh. We need to stop trying to translate Christianity into the language of the people, and let the language of the people express for the people the Christian story authentically.
So why ask the question about what is a fresh expression? not for elitism or exclusivism. For the most effective support and resourcing of these emerging communities of faith so that they will grow and flourish and be communities of healing through God's transforming way of Love.
lenten beginnings
it's the first week of lent, and though the protestant tradition doesn't have such a strong tradition of giving up. we are, at Belair, going to give things up, and we will donate the money we don't spend on little luxuries towards projects that bring hope and life into the lives of some of the poorest people in our world. we're also giving our time and attention to their stories, all of which are acts of friendship that transform our lives as they also transform the lives of others.
I'll blog our progress through Lent at Belair on the Belair website.
I'll blog our progress through Lent at Belair on the Belair website.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
alternative church - asking the hard questions 2
the relationship between the established church and emerging church communities
The relationship between the established church and alternative models of church - at an individual congregation / faith community level - has been described as a parent / child relationship (in conversations around 'fresh expressions' in the Uniting Church SA context).
Why is that?
Perhaps it is helpful to think of the established church as a parent who has been around for a while, with some experience and wisdom, that can help guide a growing child? A parent protects, provides shelter and nourishment - pays for things.
So an established church congregation might provide space for an emerging church to use for gathering as a developing community.
An established congregation might provide wise people to help guide, to tell the story of this family - the Christian Church - as the child, or fresh expression, experiments and explores who they are becoming.
The established church might pay for someone to lead, teach, guide - as a parent pays for schooling, music teachers, sports coaches.
And just as each child develops his / her sense of self differently and in unique time and way, so each fresh expression will discover their identity, develop their independence at a unique pace as is right for them. A parent makes the adjustments, responds to the needs of each child individually: will stay close to one who is more fragile, give more space to a more confident child.
My question is -
Is this a role - the parenting role - for individual congregations, or for the wider church?
Is it - in the case of the Uniting Church - a Presbytery or Synod who is better equipped to take on a parenting role for the various fresh expressions of church that are born in our community through our missional relationships?
Is the Presbytery or Synod a parent to the congregation, continuing to support the children who themselves become parents?
Is this even the best - or only - metaphor?
Might congregations, Presbyteries, Synods be midwives rather than parents?
metaphors aside, the root of the question is:
Whose responsibility are these alternative emerging models of church?
The relationship between the established church and alternative models of church - at an individual congregation / faith community level - has been described as a parent / child relationship (in conversations around 'fresh expressions' in the Uniting Church SA context).
Why is that?
Perhaps it is helpful to think of the established church as a parent who has been around for a while, with some experience and wisdom, that can help guide a growing child? A parent protects, provides shelter and nourishment - pays for things.
So an established church congregation might provide space for an emerging church to use for gathering as a developing community.
An established congregation might provide wise people to help guide, to tell the story of this family - the Christian Church - as the child, or fresh expression, experiments and explores who they are becoming.
The established church might pay for someone to lead, teach, guide - as a parent pays for schooling, music teachers, sports coaches.
And just as each child develops his / her sense of self differently and in unique time and way, so each fresh expression will discover their identity, develop their independence at a unique pace as is right for them. A parent makes the adjustments, responds to the needs of each child individually: will stay close to one who is more fragile, give more space to a more confident child.
My question is -
Is this a role - the parenting role - for individual congregations, or for the wider church?
Is it - in the case of the Uniting Church - a Presbytery or Synod who is better equipped to take on a parenting role for the various fresh expressions of church that are born in our community through our missional relationships?
Is the Presbytery or Synod a parent to the congregation, continuing to support the children who themselves become parents?
Is this even the best - or only - metaphor?
Might congregations, Presbyteries, Synods be midwives rather than parents?
metaphors aside, the root of the question is:
Whose responsibility are these alternative emerging models of church?
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
alternative church - asking the hard questions
part one - financial support for leaders
There's something about the way the Church looks after its ordained leaders. It's at the heart of why we ordain people, it's rooted deeply in Judeo-Christian history. It is forgotten when it comes to 'fresh expressions' of church.*
The Church has processes to ensure a(n established) congregation provides for the minister's living, study leave, etc. But for a fresh expression of church – which by its very nature is not established for the first 5 - 8 years of its life at least, is an exercise in forming relationships beyond the Church and being open to forming alternative kinds of Christian community – who is responsible for providing for the living, welfare, of the leader? If we do not ask this question and continue without an answer, fresh expressions of church will have no chance of achieving our hopes and dreams for them, and our leaders will burn out.
Right from the early Christian church – no, earlier, in ancient Israel, we have taken care of our religious leaders.
This is because these are the people set aside by the community – called by God – to guard the tradition, tell the stories truly, preside at the rituals that mark the important moments in our live.
Why are we not treating the leaders of fresh expressions with the same care and respect that has been afforded to our leaders - ministers - servants - throughout the history of our faith tradition? Come on, church, answer the question - answer the call more fully, and more care-fully.
How much more able would we be to fulfill our hopes and dreams for these alternative models of Christian community – how much more able to answer God's call and serve the world – if we were provided for, set free to be the leaders our church, our community, our God, requires? Instead of spending precious time and energy seeking funding, or worrying about how we will pay for our rent ...
* Some context: Fresh expressions is the term given to a movement encouraging alternative models of church alongside the established Church of England and Methodist Church in the UK. This term, this initiative, is being adopted in the Uniting Church in South Australia. I have been leading a fresh expression of church since August 2009 - The Esther Project.
There's something about the way the Church looks after its ordained leaders. It's at the heart of why we ordain people, it's rooted deeply in Judeo-Christian history. It is forgotten when it comes to 'fresh expressions' of church.*
The Church has processes to ensure a(n established) congregation provides for the minister's living, study leave, etc. But for a fresh expression of church – which by its very nature is not established for the first 5 - 8 years of its life at least, is an exercise in forming relationships beyond the Church and being open to forming alternative kinds of Christian community – who is responsible for providing for the living, welfare, of the leader? If we do not ask this question and continue without an answer, fresh expressions of church will have no chance of achieving our hopes and dreams for them, and our leaders will burn out.
Right from the early Christian church – no, earlier, in ancient Israel, we have taken care of our religious leaders.
This is because these are the people set aside by the community – called by God – to guard the tradition, tell the stories truly, preside at the rituals that mark the important moments in our live.
Why are we not treating the leaders of fresh expressions with the same care and respect that has been afforded to our leaders - ministers - servants - throughout the history of our faith tradition? Come on, church, answer the question - answer the call more fully, and more care-fully.
How much more able would we be to fulfill our hopes and dreams for these alternative models of Christian community – how much more able to answer God's call and serve the world – if we were provided for, set free to be the leaders our church, our community, our God, requires? Instead of spending precious time and energy seeking funding, or worrying about how we will pay for our rent ...
* Some context: Fresh expressions is the term given to a movement encouraging alternative models of church alongside the established Church of England and Methodist Church in the UK. This term, this initiative, is being adopted in the Uniting Church in South Australia. I have been leading a fresh expression of church since August 2009 - The Esther Project.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
finding the words I want to say
well, life has been a little tough lately, with changes to The Esther Project (watch this space for more as a new era unfolds), still on a low income, driving a car that barely makes it up hills (and my house is at the edge of the foothills, while my life is up the hill), sharing the stresses of sisters, and looking for a new house (up the hill).
I have been talking to as many people around the traps as I can, in various positions within the church, to see if together we can reduce some of this stress.
the congregation in which I serve, Belair Uniting Church, and its council, are the most wonderful community of people. not only have they welcomed me warmly so that I feel immediately at home, they are able to offer support and advice that have helped me find some solutions to some of the problems - and there is much enthusiasm for The League of Extraordinary Storytellers (formerly The Esther Project) moving its base to Belair and becoming a vital part of the life of that congregation and their relationships with the wider community. I think I have said it before - life once you have entered the way of the Spirit is wonderful and magical and mysterious and .... I am lost for words.
the newly appointed fresh expressions officer has long been a friend of mine, and fellow creative woman. she listened to the struggles of the esther project, and of its stressed out leader (me) who was feeling abandoned and lonely on the edges of the institutional church. and together we were able to dream new possibilities for me and for the esther project. I am lost for words.
(on one occasion recently when I was lost for words because of anger, hurt, disappointment, I was grateful for a friend who spoke words I could not say - and I haven't yet found the words to thank him)
the fresh expressions team are all very supportive, and we're all trying to learn as much as we can from my experience so that we can help the wider church learn and prepare for the pioneer leaders who will be studying at the college over the next few years - if nothing changes, they, too, will exit college to an institution that does not understand new models of church and what is required to support and facilitate those who lead these emerging communities.
so that's encouraging. not immediately problem solving for me, but encouraging none-the-less. because what i've been lacking have been advocates, people who can discern with me the right questions to ask and do some of the asking for the help that I need in order to answer the call of God.
our pastoral support person for ministers has also been a wise listener and dreamer of possibilities.
the trouble is, though, that all we have been coming up with are more medium to long term solutions - and this week, at last, enough people had heard the story and put their heads together and I have another day's work a week helping a good friend with admin in the international mission office for a couple of months.
it is amazing, and profoundly humbling, to have so many people rally around to stand with you in the hard places, bring torches into the darkness, and tread the ground around you to find the best place for your next step. this is why we are not fully human without each other. because to stand in those hard places alone is to stand there until you shrivel there. with other humans who have light when you do not, can hear when you cannot, speak for you when your voice falters, you can stand and not shrivel, so that strength and sight will return and you can take the steps you need to and you can continue becoming fully human and one day stand in the dark place of another ...
i sat down to write a post about my visit with the continuing learning participants at Blackwood Uniting's community program today, and I will; but it seems i have found the words after a long silence, to express not terribly eloquently, some of what has been bubbling away for me as i have stood in a difficult place and been grateful for the company of friends to keep me standing.
thank you
I have been talking to as many people around the traps as I can, in various positions within the church, to see if together we can reduce some of this stress.
the congregation in which I serve, Belair Uniting Church, and its council, are the most wonderful community of people. not only have they welcomed me warmly so that I feel immediately at home, they are able to offer support and advice that have helped me find some solutions to some of the problems - and there is much enthusiasm for The League of Extraordinary Storytellers (formerly The Esther Project) moving its base to Belair and becoming a vital part of the life of that congregation and their relationships with the wider community. I think I have said it before - life once you have entered the way of the Spirit is wonderful and magical and mysterious and .... I am lost for words.
the newly appointed fresh expressions officer has long been a friend of mine, and fellow creative woman. she listened to the struggles of the esther project, and of its stressed out leader (me) who was feeling abandoned and lonely on the edges of the institutional church. and together we were able to dream new possibilities for me and for the esther project. I am lost for words.
(on one occasion recently when I was lost for words because of anger, hurt, disappointment, I was grateful for a friend who spoke words I could not say - and I haven't yet found the words to thank him)
the fresh expressions team are all very supportive, and we're all trying to learn as much as we can from my experience so that we can help the wider church learn and prepare for the pioneer leaders who will be studying at the college over the next few years - if nothing changes, they, too, will exit college to an institution that does not understand new models of church and what is required to support and facilitate those who lead these emerging communities.
so that's encouraging. not immediately problem solving for me, but encouraging none-the-less. because what i've been lacking have been advocates, people who can discern with me the right questions to ask and do some of the asking for the help that I need in order to answer the call of God.
our pastoral support person for ministers has also been a wise listener and dreamer of possibilities.
the trouble is, though, that all we have been coming up with are more medium to long term solutions - and this week, at last, enough people had heard the story and put their heads together and I have another day's work a week helping a good friend with admin in the international mission office for a couple of months.
it is amazing, and profoundly humbling, to have so many people rally around to stand with you in the hard places, bring torches into the darkness, and tread the ground around you to find the best place for your next step. this is why we are not fully human without each other. because to stand in those hard places alone is to stand there until you shrivel there. with other humans who have light when you do not, can hear when you cannot, speak for you when your voice falters, you can stand and not shrivel, so that strength and sight will return and you can take the steps you need to and you can continue becoming fully human and one day stand in the dark place of another ...
i sat down to write a post about my visit with the continuing learning participants at Blackwood Uniting's community program today, and I will; but it seems i have found the words after a long silence, to express not terribly eloquently, some of what has been bubbling away for me as i have stood in a difficult place and been grateful for the company of friends to keep me standing.
thank you
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