Loose talk

The talk on the block is of end times! The Vice President of the US - JD himself, was interviewed by an American Christian channel about whether he thought the return of Christ was about to happen, and he essentially said that he thought that was likely, if it hasn't happened already. Certainly, it is reputed that some American Military Leaders were actively encouraged by Peter Hegseth, US Minister for War, to ensure that when in battle against Iran, that they make Armageddon happen, and thus the return of Christ take place. The suggestion that Jesus Christ is somehow under the summoning power of any human government, leaves me shaking my head. Something here about at best, mis-reading scripture, at worst choosing to intentionally manipulate it.

And yet, something else is before us, and is happening and if I'm honest, I'm a tad nervous about it.

The talk in the UK is of climate devastation and food interruption, significant price rises in the next year, and farmer's crops and harvests significantly reduced this summer. The El-nino of this summer is predicted to be repeated in 27, and alongside water shortages, the Iran war causing gas and petrol increases, plus the Russian-Ukanian war now closing in on Putin, some retaliatory action is now not just thought possible, but likely.

There are one or two or more in WBC, as elsewhere, who follow Peter Greig and one of my colleagues posted yesterday a somewhat disconcerting "Word" from him entitled "Prepare for War" from a time in March with 24-7 when he was in South Africa. I don't actually follow him, but it's better to know what is being said - right or wrong, than live in ignorance.

So what do we make of the days in which we live? The scripture calls us to "Be alert!" Actually 3 times in 1 Peter and once in Mark's Gospel. I think we need to hear this summons, and more so rather than sleep walk into future days.

Being alert surely leads to reflection and then to prayer and then action.

The way we are living is, once again, seemingly about to change, and not necessarily for the good. Harder, more challenging economic days are indeed ahead. Speaking personally, our grocery bills have gone vertical, our petrol costs too, our bank balances not what they were.

The Harvest Festival that we will share in a few weeks time, must surely take on board the changes we are facing - not as "out there somewhere" but for us, now! The lack of harvest is now tangible and real and it's right now an issue for us all.

It's simply not possible, let alone wise, to think that this Autumn and Winter is likely to be "normal". Something is happening that, at least for this moment, we're not sure what it's going to look like, or how it's going to affect us.

If this doesn't lead us out of any sleep walking and awaken us to prayer, then what will?

Pastor Sam

From Refuge to Warm Place

 Yesterday afternoon, after many months of looking guiltily at my home desk (it had become a collecting point), I finally sat down and started sorting and throwing out papers. It's because we have visitors coming soon, and ...well, you know how that goes!

And I came across this Wellington Weekly under a pile of papers. I really don't make a habit of keeping WWN copies, but this one I did! And I wondered why? And then I saw it!

From pretty much 4 years ago, an account of the opening of our Warm Place,

It's interesting to consider how we began the Refuge, or as it's now known, "The Warm Place." We prayerfully considered this long and hard at our church meetings. We discussed it, prayed into and sought to understand what God was saying to us.

Warm Place partly came out of the Ukraine Café, partly out of the Utility and Economic Crisis and is a missional response to feed those who cannot afford to do so, hence “Warm Place.”  Since those two big social challenges were experienced, it is accurate to say that their causes have not vanished, WP has matured into broader areas of social and local community connection that give comfort to the lonely and is a safe place for those struggling with mental health. Both of those are real areas of local community need, and as such have placed the church in good standing within the town. Not, predictably as an evangelistic outreach, but as a genuine good news activity of faith. People come because they are welcomed, not judged, nor preached at, but listened to and where possible practically supported.

WP has always existed in our ministries as stretching us, more than a church of our size could ever have considered taking on, let alone sustaining. Probably less than 25% of teams are WBC folk. And yet, WP nonetheless is known as a mInistry of the church. It is an intense, stressful and costly ministry, and it is one where spiritual realities are engaged with.

It is not, and never was intended to be the only outreach of WBC, even if some have perceived it as being so. In the town, others have come after us and developed their own. All of them struggle for volunteers,

WP until 25 was made up of 2 shifts – day and evening, all with their separate teams, which was intentionally designed so that new teams came on site and they were fresh and energised and ready to go. In fact, originally, WP went all through the entire day from morning through to evening, serving lunch and supper. We saw the meal times naturally dominate, so people would come mid-morning and settle in for lunch, then go. Then after lunch it crashed to a mere few sat either asleep, reading or chatting. Then the late afternoon surge for supper took place, with around 25 to 30. In 25 our evening shift numbers crashed out and that made the leadership team make an honest decision to review, and this led to close evenings. Unfortunately, the idea of shifts has in a minority not been heard and some have been present all day and night.

On numerous occasions, some have said “we could be doing this, and that and adding this extra facility and this one too!” I have welcomed such vision but in the end, the overriding reason that these were not moved forward with was that we did not have the people resources. 

At its simplest, it is a response to show the love of Christ to those in the community in response to the call of Jesus to clothe, feed and care for those who cannot, because they are Christ, Matthew 25: 34-40. 

In this context we are not directly evangelistic, but we are entirely missional. The thrust of such mission is therefore to show Christian love through practical care.

In the same way, those who attend Warm Place come from a broad spectrum of largely non-church and faith based background. I know of one distinct Christian attendee, for example. The vast majority are not. We see some homeless, some who are not badly off but lonely, some who struggle with mental health issues, some who are distinctly anti-church and faith.

WP is not a complicated vision, and in fact, the vision is in the Bible! Some suggest that having a more direct evangelistic vision to WP would solve the staffing challenges we have. All the text books say that vision can solve staffing. I suspect that this isn’t the case in this instance. Unless that is, that what is being said here is that “if the vision was one we liked, then we might join in with it.” 

It's good to remember where Refuge/WP came from, and to mark the 4 years we have been carrying out this ministry.

Justice in the community

 Article created for local Wellington Weekly Newspaper Christian Comment:

Justice in our community can be exceptionally challenging in these days of social media. Barely a day goes by without someone posting something that they want justice or resolution over from within the town. Posts are either very specific with photos “to name and shame” or more general with a “yet again” feel about it. Often posts are anonymous for fear of reprisal or online harassment. The way we do justice, mercy, restoration, forgiveness has now changed; not necessarily for the better.

On the other hand, local social media can be advantageous in some circumstances where a missing person needs to be found, or a tragic hit and run where no obvious witnesses saw what happened. Other scenarios too.

Recently I was assaulted in one of our local parks. I was so shocked that I immediately wanted “something to happen” and was sorely tempted to post something. I had to drive myself not to do so, simply because these are not my values.

Irony: the majority of people reading this will be doing so in traditional newspaper form. Not many will therefore be aware of the online tensions being frequently played out. Our local A/S Sarjeant has requested that this doesn’t take place and that statutory procedures, where appropriate are followed.

No part of this is easy to think about and reflect upon, except to ponder whether we have lost the ways of mercy, forgiveness, setting right disagreements and sitting down with others and talking through different opinions and views in a mature but appropriate way. Particularly where we see low key frustration, annoyance and modern-day tension, rather than being specifically criminal.

As a Christian, I find a different model of justice, mercy and reconciliation in the Bible. Scripture tells us to go quietly and seek reconciliation one-to-one. To seek peace and forgiveness, not revenge. To examine my own motives, speech and actions and to see if there was any offense in me. To heal and restore and grow with others rather than create further alienation. To live in peace with others as far as it is possible.

It might be that we need to “unlearn” some of the new ways of communicating, and in such instances make peace face to face.

Revd Sam Griffiths is the Minister of Wellington Baptist Church

COMS in Federation Space

 As an avowed "Trecky" - and by that I mean none of this modern Star Wars stuff (I know, I know - I'm really showing my age) but the proper Star Trek generation, the key breakthrough with alien cultures was when "The Universal Translator" became a feature of all Federation Space Ships. "What the heck are you going on about?" I hear you say. This little chip, attached to the little diamond on their Star Trek shirts, enabled them to communicate easily with all alien cultures, even though they didn't speak the lingo! Whether it was Klingon, Romulan, Borg or Vulcan, everyone could communicate with each other instantly. Not so, however, in a church! We struggle in numerous ways.

For one thing, there are a myriad of desired com-methods: some use only email, others won't go anywhere near anything electronic and are committed paper users. Others rarely go to their emails and use SMS Text. Whilst others still use Whatsapp only, and then still others use Facebook messaging. Then the really steely-hard pioneers still use a face-to-face encounter with their voices and occasionally their eyebrows. Some people claim their method of coms is email, but rarely check them!

Within a church, there has been a general trend away from paper to the e-coms means, because not only does it reduce copying costs (to say nothing about postage costs) but it also does justice to the green-planet-debate. Lower communication costs thererfore are vital.

And some people are never off their mobiles, and some people might occasionally turn them on once a day. Some read an SMS for 3 seconds and then forget it. Some people never reply to emails!

We are sinking in communication methods and yet we are a generation that still struggles to communicate!

It's not possible in a church to use all and every method of communication. Nor is it possible to pander to different methods that individuals require. We do not have lengthy time to go through every means. Ultimately we have to make a choice and then use it and then the church community has to either accept that or - as is becoming clear, choose not to be communicated with. Shrug the shoulders and ignore!

So we have chosen to use Joyned, aka Jovo, which not only complies with safeguarding requirements where say Whatsapp doesn't. Whatsapp shows the phone numbers, Jovo doesn't.

I guess it's possible to groan at how we com, but there is no perfect answer or solution. We have to make the best of it. We can see in Jovo who reads the message and who doesn't. And "ping" "ping" "ping" as yet another responds to the post or message can be annoying. Some people it seems don't want to be communicated with, and that then is a real problem to wrestle with.

Instead of pushing against the grain, might it be worth going with it and trying to make the best of it?

Afterall, in space, no one can hear you scream!

Stretched

Traditionally, summer is (at least in our memories) a time for a slower pace of life. That might have something to do with school holidays. The minute I type that last sentence, the stark truth is that many Grandparents step up, not down in school holidays! So maybe it's a mere myth! Yet I suspect that because we were all young once, we have this instinct that summer days should therefore be slower, more restful and have a more gentle pace of life. And that I think is just not reality. My observation is that many are finding that they are having to work harder, longer and be more productive. And the recovery time is taking longer for some, if not all. In short, there are numerous people, even in our own church family who are stretched more than any other time before. When you are stretched, it can be hard to cope with the ordinary, daily requirements of life. We are all familiar, I'm sure, with the balancing of the mundane aspects of our lives. The cleaning, tidying, washing, dusting (where does it come from), repairing, sweeping, hoovering, admin, financial admin and so forth - absolutely never goes away. It makes me remember Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38-42 and Jesus arrives. You remember it well, I'm sure: Martha is annoyed as her sister, Mary, had left her to do the housework, so that Mary could sit at Jesus' feet. Martha wants Jesus to tell Mary off, and get on and do some house work. So Jesus comes to their house, and it's in chaos and you know what - he doesn't care! Tremendously reassuring. Can I widen it for a moment? He comes to your life, and it's in chaos, and you know what - he doesn't care! So Mary gets the "sister-prize" and just sits at Jesus' feet. Fascinating isn't it? Draw your own conclusions.

We had our holiday for the 3rd year in a row out of school holiday time, and it was delightful, and less expensive, but I found himself suddenly aware of those around us being generally older, and wasn't sure what I felt about that. "Has it come to this?" I heard myself say! But then I went back to reading my book, so it all became okay after that!

The stark truth is that since we came back from a very relaxing holiday, that the same fast pace of life has more than resumed. Which is far from ideal, but I guess not unexpected. 

I've been keeping my eye on local social media, and by that I mean the local facebook community sites I belong to, and off of the back of the local Police Sergeant's appeal for residents to not "name and blame" but report to him, I am increasingly seeing a growing tension on numerous issues. This had made me reflect on several things which I think we need to be aware of and pray into: 1) The means of peace making, mercy and reconcilliation are no longer known or used tools by the current generations. We take these for granted in the church. We may not be very good at them, but we know what should happen. That means that our communities no longer have the skills to reconcile, heal, forgive or be merciful. 2) The process that is becoming common is to now sweep out your camera phone and start filming and then immediately share publicly - "shame" so that public support in the form of "likes" can basically dishonour a person from within the locality. [irony] How clever we are and astute that this new basic form of "going for your phone" allows the truth to be be known. Except that in the brave tidal wave of AI now sweeping into our worlds, be very careful indeed, because the camera now pretty much always lies. What these observations and points say to me is that our "salt has lost its saltiness" in the community. Many simply do not have these key Kingdom values on how to live, forgive, reconcile and restore. And this is not somewhere else in some inner-city, it's right here on our doorsteps and in our community. Just like it's in other communities too. What are we going to do about it?

Pastor Sam

Wisdom is the deepest yearning

Sparked by watching the extraordinary speech to the USA Congress by His Majesty King Charles, I began to reflect on how we find wisdom. 

I read an article yesterday, probably in The Daily Telegraph, (I think it may have been - I read around 5 newspapers each day and rarely remember what was where) on how that speech would have been formulated and prepared, and who was responsible for it, and how long it took to create and edit. The article was fascinating, and yet in some respects it wasn't surprising. 

As someone who's regular task is to prepare talks, aka Sermons, the process interested me. Most Preachers in a local church rarely get the opportunity to hone and fine-polish a talk in the way that this speech would have been, and - according to the article, The King spent hours in his private garden and on the flight to the USA, and on the journey from Andrews AFB to Washington, still smoothing it through and learning it's required nuances. The process spoke to me, and rang echoes in my own small act of sermon-prep, of how a really good talk is gradually sharpened until you can do no more.

And some words of defense for the local church Minister who faithfully preaches each week: when Church friends tell you they went to hear a wonderful visiting speaker at an event nearby and how brilliant they were, remember - that speaker got to prep, hone and shine that talk with plenty of time, lots of funny lines and gags and quotes, and now they're off again to give it somewhere else. We, the regular preachers who do it each week, and move on to another text the following week, have no such luxury of time.

Back to the King: then I wondered, as indeed journalists around the world have done, as to just how much POTUS would have actually heard and understood. Congress seemed to love it, but Trump wasn't there, and the careful diplomacy hid the many highly significant points that the speech sought to make. Would someone have had to have told him or explained it to him? Or is POTUS merely surrounded by "Yes" people?

One of my regular prayers is "Lord, please give me wisdom." As I intercede and pray for people and situations, I finally begin to wrap up, which is when I pray for myself. And the continual prayer in 38 years has largely been that - "Lord, give me wisdom!"

I feel so often out of my depth in numerous situations that are complex. These are pastoral and leadership situations, none of them straightforward, and they are more often than not, of such a nature where I cannot essentially go to someone and say "What should I do?" These come with the territory of being a Minister of the Gospel. I feel the weight of them and they often exhaust me mentally and physically and I would observe that as a Minister, it is what we carry and continue to carry, which most drains us. There is a picture that I have hung above my desk which shows a robed Priest sat on his own, and the moonlight is shining through the church window upon him, with his head in his hands. For me, this perfectly sums up the call in ministry to carry!

That also got me thinking about ordinary, everyday wisdom and listening. And it struck me for all of us, when we need wisdom or advice, that "listening to what we want to hear is easy!" 

Just think about that for a moment. All of us can play a pretend game of wisdom-searching wherein if we want to have affirmed what we already think or have determined is right, then we go to those who we know will merely affirm that same script and say "of course you're right!" How often we do that with those around us. But listening to something different, to something alternative, to a different perspective - can I put it like this - "listening to what we do not (or may not) want to hear" - is very hard indeed!

It seems to me that real wisdom isn't necessarily found in what we want to hear and may have been pre-determined in our minds. Yet often, that's precisely what we do. Might I suggest that this is "shallow-listening?" And as for whether it's wisdom - well, you tell me what you think!?

That's why I wonder actually, if in truth,  wisdom and listening go together. If we're not good listeners, then we are, it seems to me, less likely to show wisdom or even be thirsty for it. If we're more prone to talking and always having an opinion, then maybe, the lack of listening might indicate a dearth of wisdom - maybe!

When Solomon asks for wisdom in 1 Kings 3, did God give him the ability to listen well too? Returning to the POTUS matter, I'm struck that this is potentially an obvious deficiency. It is a high-risk area for many leaders. When self-focus becomes your daily aim, how on earth are you able to listen?

In the book of James, wisdom is portrayed as a practical, heavenly gift and not an intellectual one. This, according to James, requires godly living, relational harmony and endurance during trials. It manifests through righteous behaviour, peaceability and humility and distinguishes itself from earthly wisdom rooted in selfish ambition and disorder. (3:13-18)

So let wisdom be something we work hard at and aim to listen well in. And, like the good fruit of the Spirit, work ourselves towards.

The shock of summer

So we bravely move into British Summer Time! One day you're in shorts, and the next day you're back in Jeans and a jumper! Such is the summary of our day-to-day lives - some days are great, and others perhaps less so. I am, however, struck by how we are into the 2nd quarter of this year, and life seems to not lack pace. If we merely cruise along, we will have let this year float away. I am determined to not reach Autumn without having made something of this year, even when some opportunities are already escaping me. And that makes me annoyed!

I am distinctly aware of just how many in the church are having to manage and cope with elderly parents and the required management of their lives. We are not on our own! In fact, the chatter over coffee after the service can, for some, be a moment to touch base over the week's challenges. It is "very" not easy to be in this place of having to deal with finances, health, carers, medications, power of attorney paper work, house clearances or "matters technical" such as the right button to press on the remote control or what's now gone wrong on the mobile, heating, online banking, spam emails, phishing scam phone calls, paperwork, or trying to explain what an app is, let alone how to use one. To have such loved ones nearby locally is one thing, to have them live further afield is taxing indeed. For most, these seasons creep up upon us when we were least expecting them, and rarely do we fit them into our existing fast-moving realities. Sometimes you can laugh at it all, and others find yourself weeping or angry or in despair, These are real emotions and are okay. Don't feel guilty. The honest reflection, I think, first seen in The Diary of Adrian Mole, is akin to being parents to your own children, whilst finding yourself parenting your own parents! The expression in The Secret Diary escapes me for a moment [answers on a postcard, please]. And having to cope with all of this, particularly when an emergency comes along, is very, very not easy! And that's being polite. The stress, worry and the sense of being pulled in all directions, whilst finding part of you is sublimanally grieving underneath, either by what's happened, or even by what's not happened yet, its all so very difficult. Perhaps we should form a club of like-minded WBC individuals who can share their woes and tribulations?

The Easter period for us in WBC was a truly joyful and amazing one. Many have provided very positive feedback of the United Good Friday Worship, and to celebrate on Easter Sunday with a Baptism was very thrilling. I observed just how many churches across the SW peninsula were actively involved in Baptismal services. So much so that it was reported and remarked upon by local media. God is clearly doing something new in the UK. To try to label precisely what that is, seems to be a potentially clumsy action at this point. Calling it a "Quiet Revival" may well make us feel warm and fluffy inside, but its premature to give what is happening a title or to analyse it. It seems best for us to engage prayerfully and with all our energies in this current wave and see where it goes.

Going back to how good Easter was, let me put a different personal perspective: it crept up on me, and that's not happened before. What got me this time around was the late breaking up of schools - essentially into Holy Week, or was it simply that Easter was early? Whichever it was, being asked to do Easter assemblies in Holy Week completely threw me, when normally I am doing my best to keep my head above water in Easter preparations. I have this problem at Christmas too and have now inked out those traps in that season. Clearly I am going to have to do the same now for Easter! Even after all these years, I am still mastering my diary so that there are no surprises. Know that feeling?

We have introduced a new channel to our Joyned communication called "Creative" - all of you are creative in numerous ways. Join Joyned Creative channel and share your creations!

I meant to say (and remembered on our dog walk) that Pope Leo is having a top quality run at the moment as he engages prophetically with the challenge of North American war engagement. He is saying publicaly what so many of us in reality think and feel. The contrast is great wherein previously the North American church seemingly acted with prophetic utterance in some areas, now that is gone and lost. If ever they needed to stand up and be counted, this is the time!

Into all of your day-to-day diary and care challenges, and just survival and coping of life, I pray God's peace and blessing.

Pastor Sam

Tank or donkey?

What would your choice be: a tank (if you can afford the diesel) or a donkey? Both are available, and the former says “power” or potentially “destruction” all over it, whilst the latter is largely harmless, and is so counter to our modern culture that it's highly likely to be mocked and screamed at from across our streets.

Inevitably, our thoughts right now are full of worry, apprehension and concern about the war taking place in the Middle East, and within Iran. This week hopes have been raised when POTUS stated that peace talks had in fact been initiated and in his own hapless way expressed the hope that they lead to something otherwise, “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.” Seemingly a choice between the way of aggression and domination, and the way of peace. The former is about power, and the latter seemingly worthy of mockery.

We are presented with two choices in the biblical account of Easter, which is so up to date for our struggles, challenges and choices for our lives today. In the days before the Passover supper, arrest of Jesus, his stitched up trial and crucifixion, Judas hopes that Jesus will arrive in Jerusalem in power and authority (assuming legions of Angels) and deal with the Romans and their abusive military power and dominance. Jesus confounds Judas’ hopes by arriving on a donkey instead, thus showing a very different kind of Kingdom which has nothing to do with the abuse or display of human power.

Palm Sunday, Holy week, Good Friday, Easter Sunday provides us with a distinctly different choice on how we live our lives. Not for Jesus, the way of the tank, but that of the peaceful donkey. As Pope Leo recently stated, “God does not go to war!”

I love this Methodist prayer: “Come to us as you came to Jerusalem, not wrapped in dominance, but clothed in humility. Teach us to recognise your presence in the ordinary, vulnerable and overlooked. Open our hearts to peace that confronts violence, to justice that repairs harm, our voices to praise that become action. Through Christ, who comes gently and truthfully, we pray.”

Is public prayer wrong? (the right wing object to public prayer)

In today's national papers there are articles about whether "Public Prayer is un-British"(Telegraph) and brought to prominence by an Islamic gathering for prayer in Trafalgar Square of 3000 Muslims. Lest you immediately conclude that this is something that is typical of the Telegraph (The CofE newspaper), then you'd need to read more widely and see it's been picked up across the board. Actually, look a bit more closely at today's papers and you will find a number of Islamic stories running today, and the sharp will realise that this is in all probability to do with Ramadam, which Muslims are engaged in at the moment.

The right wing traditionalists are up in horror at such a spectacle happening so publicly and are arguing that in a Christian country, such public worship and prayer shouldn't be happening, and should be confined to Mosques. They are seeking to put the blame for this event at the feet of the Mayor of London.

It's fascinating that my preparation for my Sunday preach (at YBC) is Acts 17: 16-34 where Paul visits Athens and in particular the Aereopagus and comments on the many stone idols they have, and the one to the unknown God. Interestingly, the best translation (RSV) of vs 16 isn't that he's angry, it's that he's provoked! It's worth noting that.

For sure we now live in a post-Christian country, and whilst the state church does its bit, it's hardly what you'd call prophetic or dynamic, but the UK is now very much like the Athenian supermarket of faith: there are numerous religious experiences, some mere stone monuments, others sincere, but what above all else is true, is that Christians no longer have a closed-shop on public prayer or worship. Why should we? The right wing are so behind the curve on this that it's a tad embarrassing.  And any argument that other faiths shouldn't be permitted somewhat stinks of hypocrisy. Christians will in just 2 weeks carry the cross through the streets and declare the death and resurrection of the one true Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ - Jesus is Lord, Christ is risen! The Gospel via the resurrection, stands on its own - fact! Paul in Athens doesn't tell the Greeks off for their stone monuments, he is provoked to passionate Gospel proclamation - "the one true God."

Then again, there is a sense here in which those who object are yet to catch up with power of the Gospel and how we should not be ashamed of it. Merely trying to object to JWs or New Age shops in the High Street seems archaic, unless you are arguing about how it reflects on the Christians of the town. Don't get me started about the embarrassing actions of anti-Harry-Potter-ites from 25 years ago either (feel free to google that one)! I'm more likely to object to the embarrassing Christian street preacher who makes me cringe and not want to be at all aligned with them - but that may just be me. Somehow even they seem not really Gospel-rooted, just noise!

So we should be careful to remember Paul when faced with the stone gods, doesn't tear them down, he merely is secure and passionate in the Gospel and the true God of the Scriptures.

Welcome to the brave missional opportunistic world!

When you run out of words

 Well, I can't speak for you, but at the moment, I've run out of words. 'Thank goodness', you say. 'At last, some peace and quiet!' What am I thinking about? The Iran war ofcourse. And again, I'll make no assumptions about your views, "Dearest Gentle Reader", but I am aghast at how this could be happening, and how we now seem to be in world freefall. The only view I have is, I guess, one that essentially is a Christian one, which leans towards a "war is wrong" view. I wouldn't say I was a pacifist, but I hate the thought of war, and the wilful destruction of innocent lives and institutions that are bystanders to the abuse of political power by unstable, unqualified, out-of-control world leaders.

In my previous church, we had a weird moment where we were all invited to the local USAF military base, to the firing range, to try out some guns. The officer in charge was part of our church, and remains a friend, but I hated the feel of the gun in my hand and its potential for violence, and even when we had our son's paintball party, I struggled at the whole thought of hurting anyone.

18 months ago I wrote in the wbc church magazine that in my view, sadly, it seemed inevitable that globally we were headed for some kind of conflict. Well, conflict is what we have right now. There are arguments that attempt to justify the rightness of the war, to do with the threat of nuclear bombs, and I guess they need to be heard, but how we have ended up in this mess is beyond me. Even as I type, I have shaken my head in disbelief. War does not seem to be an answer, nor should it be an inevitability, and if this is all a cover for other American political issues, then I can only pray that sooner rather than later, the necessary accountability of the American voters, and the two representative Houses of Government will step in.

It's so difficult to pray about all of this. And when you read (as I do) the regular news feeds and live reports, one ends up feeling almost stunned into silence. But pray about it we must. The consequences and ramifications of all of this are so far reaching, and very scary indeed. Hanging on to the Lord in all of this is vital.

Thats enough of that for now!

Holy Week and Easter will soon be upon us, and I can't believe how fast time is moving. And herein lies some important foundations. Stopping and slowing down to truly reflect on the awfulness of Holy Week, and the awfulness of the victorious cross is necessary. In a world where our lives spin ever faster, we have no hope of fully understanding the depth of love of our Saviour, unless we stop and look at the cross ourselves. Then and only then can Easter Sunday and its joy be fully embraced.

Can I ask you to pray please about the two Easter school assemblies I have in a week's time? It's so difficult to communicate the death of Jesus to a secularised scholastic culture.

Finally, I crave your prayers, please. I wouldn't normally bother mentioning this, but I'm in pain, and I'm hating it. I don't know what's happening, but my right knee is agony at the moment, and I've had enough of it. At the start of the year it was my left leg, now it's my right one! It's affecting me in the daytime and I've no idea what's happening now to cause it, and I can't get a Doctor's appointment, as there are none. I'm sure your situation is worse than mine, but I'm a wimp when it comes to pain.

God bless you this Easter!

Pastor Sam

Mid week musings

 I was saddened and taken-a-back this morning by the photo in The Times marking the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. Of course my reaction was illogical (there are thousands more, and on both sides), but the shock I felt stopped me quite suddenly. This is on a par with the great World Wars. The article I read recorded that where once Ukrainians were calling for revenge, that all they want now is peace.

I was musing this morning upon how when I trained for the Ministry at Spurgeons, that all of the "how to do .." ministry books suggested good answer machines, phones by the bed for night pastoral care, and in one case a Minister friend used to have a ring-code for his family so that he would know when to answer (they would phone and let it ring twice, then put the phone down, then re-dial and he knew to pick up), and I distinctly remember the then Baptist icon Steve Chalke who was one of my fellow students, turning up with a black brick phone, which made us all mavel at how high-tek he was. Now Smartphones have completely turned most of our lives upside down (and the job of Ministry too), and landlines are almost dead. We no longer blink at instantly dialling or messaging. So for me getting through my day off yesterday and attempting to ignore most of my church based coms was a massive challenge. The trouble with the tiniest of ministry coms is that it sparks a forest of thoughts. Having a "day clear for the recovery and restoration" - a sabbath, is impossible, particularly when the mobile goes a buzzing!

The lighter and brighter days are hopefully beginning to have a positive effect on everyone, and whilst today is set to be a heat wave and the week pretty dry, we haven't thrown it all off yet. After all, "April Showers" is still well written into British-psyche. And so we start to awaken and feel the need to do new things. I haven't yet heard the first lawnmower though. People start cleaning, writing lists, making plans.

I have started making a list too and my love-hate relationship with them always surfaces: writing a list feels somehow carthatic, until that is, the list becomes too big, or even too detailed. The trouble is that writing it down solves little, until the task is completed, and its in the ticking-off that it feels very satisfying. For me, the world of list-writing is full of uncertainties: too much on the list and I feel defeated.  And where has that bit of paper actually now gone, which was such a brilliant list? Writing the list feels fine, but then other stuff often invades, and the help of using a list seems to wither away rapidly. Lists make me feel somewhat driven, when often I find myself more here and there and everywhere! Lists can make me feel satisfied that I have achieved something, and in the next breath defeated by my lack of achievement. I have an electronc list I haven't looked at in ages - that drives me too much, but at least I don't lose it. The most useful tool I have in my mind is to "elephant task" jobs, and by doing that it feels far more productive and satisfying. If you don't know what that is - please feel free to ask!

I posted on Baptst Ministers FB page last week at how I had had a conversation with a fellow church leader in the town as to why on earth the "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" is always held at the worst time of year: when its dark and wet and no one comes out! The question I posed was who decides what this date is, and apparently its "The World Council of Churches" and usually in a EST climate. The sub question I posted was whether any other towns do their own thing and hold it at different times of year, more conducive to attendance and unity? The responses poured in: most definitely - Pentecost, Summer Time, and "do whatever suits you". It seems that the way ahead is obvious.

As a Baptist flavoured Christian pastoring a Baptist Church, I often reflect upon how our ecclesiology is different to other tribes. We absolutely believe in the gathered church. This means that when we come together we are the church, wherever that is. When we don't, we stop being the church. That means that in a Baptist Church, you cannot be a Church Member if you stop attending worship. There is no membership card or lifetime membership. It's possible to be away for a short few weeks, but intentionally staying away isn't an option, in the same way that if you start attending somewhere else, that the expectation is that you have cleaved to that church and left your former church. It's important that the integrity of this doctrine is honoured and personal integrity with it too.

What will we do with Easter this year?

 As I meandered through the high street this morning, I noticed that the Coop had decided to "go Eatser-ish" and put up a banner display, with the inevitable chicken and egg display. In the commercial reality of today, it is somewhat late to the stage. Afterall, Lidl were stocking their chocolate eggs during Christmas. I cannot abide this commercial pushing of the seasonal boundaries. Christmas isn't Easter, and it's definitely not Easter yet, in the same way that Advent isn't Christmas, even though (yet again) you could buy mince pies in Lidl in September.

None of these rants reflect where my mind went this morning.

First, I felt sad that in the gloom that our nation is in at the moment, that this seemed like the next "moment" that commercially and socially was on offer and which the community (we might logically conclude) might look forward to next. Really? A few chocolate eggs! Though of course, there is now this accepted secularism that the eggs and the Spring flowers and the change of the hour is essentially the launch of summer in the UK. And so we spin round and round through the seasons. Seems fairly empty to me. Where is the real hope?

Second, I felt - surely we can (as Christians) do better than this? In fact - far better! So how will we present the glorious life changing moment of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is so powerfully different to a few chocolate eggs? What will we do with it? How will we communicate it?

Or will we merely fall into the secular trap and go with it?

BTW, I'm already booked for my 2 Easter assemblies in WP and BG. It's one of the hardest biblical themes to present to children. Presenting the execution of Jesus is exceptionally difficult and to do so by being true to the Gospel, without getting into trouble and causing upset ("Mum, the Baptist Minister came into assembly today and talked about nails being hammered into Jesus on the cross."

Value your prayers on that!!!

Out of the Ashes: The journey

There are often days for me when I literally push my feet onto the floor from bed, and there is the beginnings of an article that I want to write straightaway. I somehow doubt that there is a hidden author in me, let me rush to assure you and the rest of the world! In all probability it's the preacher in me, and the "interesting ideas factory" in my head - well that's what I'll convince myself for the time being, anyway. Some days, the Sunday sermon is often concluded in the morning shower, which initiates a whole series of reflections. The trouble is that by the time I have come downstairs and faced realities, a flood of other things along the lines of "must-dos" have infiltrated my mind. These are an array of mundane things to do around the house: cleaning, repairs, paperwork, and on the days when my wife, Claire, is working, it's "what shall I cook for supper tonight?" Don't get too impressed, I am a lousy and boring cook.

There are other not insignificant things that I carry: I look after our mother's finances and other matters, run the family business as a landlord, and that's before I think of the ministry things I do: District Minister, Moderating a local church, British Legion Chaplain, local Public School input, and local schools work.

Once those thoughts have invaded my mind, the initial inspiration to write, ends up being swept away and I feel the stress beginning to weigh heavily upon my shoulders. Inspiration is replaced by the mundane.

I recently stopped over the last 2 few weeks. In all honesty the crisis in my emotions had now reached its impending reality - please feel free to laugh, but for me it felt like a crisis for which I had no control. Underneath I was in freefall. The turning of my age clock, which for me is February, brought me to 60 and I hated the very thought. It had been worrying me for many months, and I was determined that after a crazy December, and outrageous January, that what I absolutely needed to do was stop and face this crunch moment head-on. I don't feel 60, I didn't want it to happen, but now it has. Stopping was not straightforward, I even missed my annual Minister's Retreat! But I said to many of the groups I had involvement with - "Nah, I'm not available then!" For some, saying "no" to them was not acceptable, and I was chased by email by some, and they were not willing to give in. "No!" was my answer. I had to live with the feeling that I had let them down. Tough! I needed this time to face this crucial change in me.

And my birthday was great. Spending this time surrounded by my lovely family by the sea, was a great tonic. They made me feel very much safe, loved and at peace.

Stopping has been good for me. It's been clear for a while that, not for the first time, there are too many plates spinning for me. Careful reflection is required. Once you are past 60, you start to think about pace of life and what you want to do, rather than what you should do. I value your prayers in this.

This morning I sat in bed and listened to R4 "Thought for the day" with Canon Angela Tilby, who spoke on Ash Wednesday. This is the day that we need (she said) to face our mortality - yikes! Yet far from it being a negative or gloomy prospect, facing our humanity and its limitations is precisely what every Christian needs to do. We are indeed finite and there is one life, and this is it. We were born, and one day we shall die. Ash Wednesday and Lent invites us to face our mortality head on.

Re-visiting the Iron age

 Why such a title? Well, I last blogged (when many were, but aren't now-a-days) some 4 to 5 years ago, and looking back at what was written then, it seems like visiting ancient history!

But here we are again, and I can't help but wonder whether these things might just go around in circles.

But the thing to do these days is to Vlog, but then (from my humble experience) we seem to enter into a not-so-easy life of video file size and whether something can infact be uploaded or not. That's not completely true as I've done my own fair share of vlogging. 

But here's the reality check: we've finally decided to experiment with un-papering the church magazine, and go digital. Microsoft are removing their Publisher program from their lineup, and that, plus a few practicalities, raises the question. And that raises a new set of problems, and one where how we can continue to "magazine" on our new Joyned channel. Enough blab - I bore you! Well this is the Pastor's script in digital form.

The brighter mornings are at long last revealing themselves as we meander towards BST. And thank goodness. It has been an abysmal winter and virtually everyone - apart from the ducks, have struggled through these weeks just hoping for change: a sunny day or at least a dry one. It has left us feeling weary and somewhat disillusioned. Allied to the extraordinary world political crazy events, and our own national ones - and don't forget the pot holes and road works (which seem merely a micro-picture of our deeper dismays), it has, I imagine, left many struggling with hope, and whether the lunacy might stop and better days be ahead.

Here at WBC, despite these dark days, we have continued to be strong in worship and fellowship together, and have indeed been encouraged by our common life together. With another Baptism and our reflections around the Motto Text, there has been a sense of God's presence and of joy amongst us. Long may it continue. And we have not been without our church family pastoral challenges, and these have been never far from our prayers and concerns.

As we look to the future "brighter" months, may we know hope in our hearts, God's peace in our minds, God's grace in our mouths and actions, and His ongoing strength in all that lies ahead.

Pastor Sam

What will happen if we can't sing?

I sat and listened recently to a group of Pastors "check-in" as we always do on a monthly basis and the conversation turned to our frustration at Government restrictions that are holding us back from being the people God ordained us to be - worshipping people. 

The discussion was broad and had different perspectives, but what was clear was that we were predominantly not happy with what the guidelines were restricting us from doing when seemingly others in our community in the hospitality industry are permitted to go beyond what churches are allowed to do. We need to sing! There is a desperate thirst in our church families to do what our Heavenly Father has created us to do. 

And today in the media, Andrew Lloyd Webber has thrown down his gauntlet in regards to the June deadline, saying he is prepared to open his theatres on "Freedom Day" come what may and is prepared to face arrest if regulations block him. Of course, performance is quite different to worship, isn't it .......well yes and no! You see agree or disagree, this is one of the major stings of Covid to churches: performance has become our current thing rather than true biblical corporate worship, because of the regulations! Six can be involved in worship from the front only - no one else can sing. At the moment we consume, we watch and we view. We are making the best of it, but we thirst for corporate worship with all singing their hearts out!

Now don't shoot me before I've finished laying my cards out. I would be one of the first to absolutely say that our Baptist Theology, Principles, and Heritage does not limit worship merely to singing. We worship when we come around the Communion Table, we worship in prayer, we worship through liturgy, we worship through silence, we worship when as we hear the Word of God preached, and we can raise our hands or clap in response to inspired songs - but at the moment, only those that are leading from the front can sing! And so you see I still want to say "I miss the singing!" In fact, at times I ache for the singing to return.

So - all good so far! You know what I mean. And in the church I Pastor we have obeyed the guidelines and regulations and we have prayed that the day will come soon when we will soon sing again! We have for good scientific and medical reasons obeyed the advice and we have put government guidelines and science before our faith - for the good not just of the church family, but for the good of the community and indeed for all! We have trusted what we have been told and done what is necessary. And now it's almost all over, and infection rates have vastly reduced and the risks are significantly lower. All good! Yes, there is still minor unfinished business, but the consensus is that we are way past the very worse, and we are into better days. So maybe we should continue the way we have been going and continue to do as before, without question!?

Except I have a gnawing sense of unease that's started to grind away within me, and the question is I think: "What will happen if we can't sing?" What if the government continues to say that we cannot sing - then what?! So far we have been good as a Union of Baptist Churches and the advice from the government has been translated and interpreted and passed down into our churches and we have obeyed. We have made our buildings Covid Safe by risk assessments and practical steps and we have worked hard to make socially distanced worship workable. In the meantime, numerous aspects of the life of our churches have been savaged and destroyed, and some churches may indeed struggle to ever reopen again. And we have done so at the expense of our religious freedom and with the trust that this was the right thing to do because we trusted the advice was right.

And now we have a set freedom day and the days are counting down towards it. I hope and I pray that this will indeed be held to. But what if another two weeks are added on? And then another two weeks? What if it turns into a month? And another month? And still, we cannot sing. Should we obey the government or should we put our faith first and our desire to sing and worship the Lord?

There are some key Baptist Principles here for us to consider when pondering this question:

The principle of RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, namely that no individual should be coerced either by the State or by any secular, ecclesiastical or religious group in matters of faith. The right of private conscience is to be respected. For each believer, this means the right to interpret the Scriptures responsibly and to act in the light of his conscience. 

The principle of SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE is that, in the providence of God, the two differ in their respective natures and functions. The Church is not to be identified with the State nor is it, in its faith or practice, to be directed or controlled by the State. The State is responsible for administering justice, ensuring an orderly community, and promoting the welfare of its citizens. The Church is responsible for preaching the Gospel and for demonstrating and making known God’s will and care for all mankind.

These two principles are worth carefully reflecting upon. On the face of it, they seem straightforward. But what if the state ceases to govern well, fairly, or appropriately? Then it is right and proper for the church to dissent. Now Baptist Christians are not idiots or weirdos, nor are we anarchists, nor are we extremists! Generally, we are amongst those who would be described as careful, level-headed thinkers who pray for those in authority, not least those in government. But we are also people of the Word and Spirit who have had our hearts won by the Lord Jesus Christ, and desire to follow his call to live differently and often radically.

Dissent begins with the weighing up of what is being required of the citizens of a nation, with what is set out by the principles of God's Word. Are we being cajoled into something which is against God's good principles? Dissent continues with honest reflection and questioning - often in a prayerful way - consider Daniel's precise approach in a similar scenario that led him into the end to the decision to face several sets of lion teeth than compromise! And dissent then in reality ends up with some kind of blunt choice - to obey the state or to obey God. Church leadership teams need to beware at this point and carefully consider the arguments placed before them. The choice is surely not simply reduced to obey the government and do what it says, or choose to seemingly disobey and go our own way! Is that really the sum total of the argument?! Of course, leaders are trustees these days and such positions carry heavy responsibilities. Does that mean that a church leadership team might feel compromised to choose to stay within the law rather than obey God? Good question!

All that's pretty heavy - and what has that to do with singing? After all, some would point out that we are not restricted from worshipping how we want to in the open air! Good point, but why should we feel pressurised into accepting second best - particularly if it's pouring down with rain and we want to worship? But we don't believe in the church as buildings, but as the family of God's people - we can worship anywhere! Yes, Yes, and Yes! Even in the days of Old Testament exile, God's people found themselves worshipping him in a strange land. And therein maybe lies the truth - we must worship as we want to and indeed need to, and as God has told us to. Our primary goal is to worship God and to please him. Everything else is secondary.

What will happen if we can't sing? Well, I hope that we will be allowed to and that freedom day will indeed come, and also that we will indeed be virus-free as a nation. But let's not just follow the standard dribble that is being poured out without asking important questions. Let us sing the song of the Lord once again and may it be really soon!

Ministers of the Gospel and Mental Health: it's not just what we do, it's what we carry!

Music is doing "it" for me right now! I'm wearing my fantastic Bluetooth headphones my son gave me for Christmas, and I'm tuned into Radio 3. And it's beautiful. I'm wearing them to walk the dog, around the office, and in the kitchen whilst I cook. And it's helping. I've long gone off Classic FM because of the commercial breaks and frankly, I'm done with listening to adverts for Stannah Stairlifts, Funeral Plans, and Incontinence pads. Or wait, am I mixing this all up with ITV3 - aka "The Murder Channel"?

What is the "it"? It's the mental health. It's stress. It's partly the aftermath of lockdown, and how hard it's been on everyone. And speaking personally as a Pastor, its felt very hard. We've had to keep going whilst watching our church be destroyed by the enemy. .  And it's partly other stuff. But clergy stress and mental health is well documented. Ours is "the highest calling" with few outside that we are able to share with and unload to, and few that understand. Why is that? I think it's because it's not just about what we do, it's also about what we carry! The call is a high and costly one and carrying it is often an impossible challenge.

So to mark Mental Health Week 2021, I thought I'd blog about Clergy Mental Health. And I wanted to write with this in mind: "It's not just what I do as a Minister" - after all, according to my brother - "I do only work one day of the week!" Actually, the truth is even when we are on a day off - a sabbath, we are still there "on call." In fact, the smartphone has partly eclipsed the easier boundaries of the last few decades because it's there and the coms are still on. The dumb phone is less than smart. And now coms take place rarely by phone (remember the days?), often by email, definitely by text, quite often by social media, and even that multiplies out into numerous strands of additional communication methods. And our homes are classed as our place of work too. All of that, is not just about doing stuff that is stressful. It's about the "call from God to be available" - this is what we carry. Yes, there are important points about taking sabbath, boundaries and limits, but even when all of that is dealt with and properly attended to, it's still the call, and it is what we carry, even when we are off. For most ministers, even when the phone is switched off (and mine goes off usually at 9pm), then the church landline is next to my left ear, all through the night. My mother tells me of my Grandfather who was a traditional local Doctor in Bournemouth, and who after service in WW1 began to practice medicine in Scotland, and then Yorkshire, before the days of the NHS. He was the typical well-respected family GP with a practice running from his own home and where he knew each patient by name, and was on call 24-7. According to my mother, he had a tube running from a pipe by his bed, which made its way down to the front door and which patients would speak to him in the middle of the night. I doubt that many GP's of today would provide such 24-7 service. Well, the phone is still next to my ear at night, and over the years some have made use of it, and I've grabbed on my clothes and headed out to either house or hospital to pray with the terminally ill and dying. It's what we carry, and being available is mentally, physically and spiritually exhausting. Today, in this mental health week, I stand with all Ministers of the Gospel and their mental exhaustion, and I pray, "Lord have mercy." Truth is that post-pandemic, there is a very high chance that many ministers will resign, or stand aside, or leave ministry completely because they are exhausted and they can't take any more of the stress and worry. It's because what we carry has become too much, and we can't cope. It's stress, its expectation, its exhaustion and it's also (to use a soldier term) "Friendly-fire" - though I can assure you that there is nothing friendly about it. Those who criticise, who undermine, and attack your character and complain about you. And that by the way is not always to your face, but believe you me, you always get to hear about it, and when you do it's like another arrow into your soul. And we are meant, apparently, to take it! To smile and always be in a great spiritual place. We Ministers are not perfect, and we make mistakes and our characters are also "work in progress", but there is nothing worse than another arrow fired at you and finding its target.

One of the most stressful parts of a Minister's job is in my view - living with the expectations of people. Show me a room of 50 people and I will show you a room of 50 different expectations. Double that to the average UK church size, and that's with one Minister because that's all they can afford, and you have 100 different expectations to live up to. Except that you can't. It's impossible. But these expectations are always in every local church. Sometimes we Ministers can satisfy some of those expectations, but a lot of the time we can't. Perhaps, and in truth, the only expectation we should try to satisfy is that of our loving Heavenly Father?! But living with these expectations is part of what I've so far called "the carrying." We certainly can't make them dissolve and disappear. Expectations can be even down to whether someone gets welcomed on a Sunday, or not as the case may be. But if it doesn't come from the Minister, then there's trouble! From the earliest age, as my Dad showed me around the Restaurant kitchen (two family-owned and run restaurants) on the Weymouth seafront, he always used to say "make sure you say hello to the staff!" And he was right. And we all as a family had the same training from Dad. My mum used to say when she was out the front of the restaurant amongst the tables and the customers - "make sure you give them a bright and positive welcome in!" And she was right, and it worked, and I've always tried to model the same in the church on the door, even though at times, I have been struggling within and feeling broken.

Have you ever wondered how much emotional and mental energy it takes to stand up the front each Sunday? Have you ever wondered how much emotional and mental energy it takes to preach or to lead worship? And to literally give of yourself passionately in preaching the Gospel? And then to feel drained at the end, and then to receive a word of criticism or email of disagreement - it breaks you and empties you. Again, it's not that we will hit the heights of quality preaching every Sunday - far from it! Poor congregation - it's going to be another lengthy depressing sermon. But it's what we have to carry quietly. Except that it's not quite as easy as that. We take it home and it affects our spouses and our family because "we're in a bad mood again because someone has said something or done something at church!

Another for me personally is facing up to discouragement. The church of God is not always an encouraging place, regretfully so. Yes, there are encouragements, and there are some wonderfully encouraging saints in most churches, but more often than not we end up measuring these with the not insignificant criticisms of the people of God. And sadly, when people say "this isn't personal" - it's more often than not totally personal. It is of course the brokenness of the world we all live in. We are all broken, and some are more wounded than others. Ministers do not minister in an unbroken world, otherwise, we'd be out of a job. Though apparently, Heaven looks a lot like that perfect world, and then hopefully we will indeed be out of a job! But I continually live with discouragement. It's like a "black dog" as Churchill used to say. Discouragement is what many Ministers carry!

Of course, the spiritual realities of ministry are that we "wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers" as Paul reminds us in Ephesians. This means that the climate in which ministry takes place is one of a constant battle. Dark powers and even Satan himself and his demonic powers seek to destabilise and damage and wear down the Ministers of the Gospel. It's what we carry!

So let me go right back to the start. To my beautiful music. In 1 Samuel 16: 14-23, the shepherd boy David is summoned to soothe the despairing soul of King Saul. So the shepherd musician David takes up his harp and plays for King Saul, and his soul becomes rested, peaceful and I guess his mental state becomes restored. It's a lovely picture. I love my music. I've always loved singing, from a young age as a Chorister, through to Opera as a slave boy in Verdi's Aidi, to the choral society I sang in, and through my years of experience in charismatic renewal of the 80's and 90's and church now! I love the music my daughter produces on the flute and guitar as she sings. I love the music my son produces on the Trumpet and French Horn, and I love the music my son plays on the drums. And as I listen to Radio 3, and sometimes to the Evensong on the station on Wednesdays, I let the music and liturgy lead me in worship. It soothes my mental state, it heals my soul. Right now, I need it more than at any other time, because the days we are living in are far from easy. You see, it's what we carry, not just what we do!

Pray for all Ministers everywhere please!

The death of the internal combustion hymn book

I'm sure you have experienced it too? The quiet sound of an electric car coming down the road behind you. It's not quite like Ernie's milk float at 5am in the morning. His was louder. It's an extraordinary experience in South Street outside our church offices. You don't hear the sound coming at all. There's no kind of build-up. It just arrives, and it's quiet. It happened to me again this lunchtime in the beautiful blazing sun and got me thinking. I wondered what it's going to look and sound like; this brave new world just around the corner of no engine noise. 

It's nothing more than a dream of course - some engines will inevitably still be around us. I say that as a matter of faith - as a "classic car man!" I naturally (because of my age and era) started to remember my old MGB and its throaty exhaust sound, and then I started remembering leaning over the front wing side tuning its dual SU carburetors (a right pain to balance) and I remembered what my Dad had modeled to all of his sons: that ear to listen to the engine and its tick-over and the slightest peculiar noises or misfires, or lack of balance in the engine's constant tick, or of course any squeaks or knocks! I still do it today. People may be talking to me, but I'm actually listening to an engine! So it's some massive revolution that's taking place - the death of the internal combustion engine! Have I bought my last car with one? 

Revolution is what we've been through in the last 13 months during lockdown. Don't ask me how, but the paradigm shifts have happened in places I wasn't expecting. But let me defend my passionate cause with a dart up a quick cul-de-sac: I absolutely, completely and wholeheartedly believe in the local church and not cyber church! There, that's done!

But if the pace of re-opening continues - and I hope it does, then we in the local church are beginning to dust off some of the old ways that have been gathering dust. And it's not easy. "Lockdown Church" has become a feature. Routines have been established. Of course, a few are still saying "it will be nice to get back to normal!" Truth is, quite a few have now stopped. Normal as was, ain't coming back. I'm not even sure that "the new normal" is coming back. The new is still emerging. The pieces are in the air and they are still landing. I've stopped listening to the "Prophets of the future streaming church only" brigade by the way. Please go away quietly and annoy someone else!

But dusting off the old ways is not easy. There's a rota for this and that, and that too. That's what we were doing 13 months ago, Let's resurrect the rota! Hmm - not sure. It sounds like we ought to, but there's a tad of reluctance. In "Leader-me" - that asks "will people do so?" In "Ordinary-me" that asks "do I want to?" Trouble is, if we don't, then the survival teams of the last 13 months - who have put their heart and soul into holding the bare minimums in place, they will fade and die. These have been the emergency heroes and heroines who have stepped up to the plate and given their all in order to hold it all together. Now we are moving into a new phase, it's almost like starting all over again. The survival teams are tired and we can't continue on these emergency batteries. Now it's time to start rebuilding, but it's all a little different. The combustion engine is on its way out, the electric engine is arriving. Simply going back to the classic car as was, isn't the obvious choice. Do we really need all that we had? Yes, no, maybe! Has the paradigm shift knocked us into simplicity? A simpler, stripped-down, church? Even in simplicity, someone has to "do the stuff." Yes, we do need some of that stuff, but it was important to ask the question, not assume it so. Some of the old ways are very much still good old ways. We must not lose them simply because we can't be bothered anymore. Potentially that's what 13 months have done to us - God forbid that we can't be bothered anymore! We need to be willing to serve - again! Everyone one of us is going to need to step up to the plate once again.

But then there is some stuff that frankly was mere "we're doing it because we've always done it!" So stopping and asking "why were we doing this?" That's a good question to ask it seems to me. We must not assume that "as it was, so shall it ever be!"

I never ever thought I'd see an electric car. It wasn't even in my mindset. The internal combustion engine was here to stay. Well I was wrong there, wasn't I!?

Has the church regretted this season of livestreaming?

It was April of this year since I last blogged and we were about to dive below the surface of Coronavirus and we were living in extraordinary times. I blogged then about some misgivings about what I thought was ahead, and now it's August. To suggest that we are out of the other end or to continue with the imagery I've already mentioned - "we have risen to the surface", would be foolhardy in the extreme and quite presumptuous. Having live-streamed on Youtube, Facebooked live and Zoomed, (and even Microsoft Teamed on a few occasions) with other aspects of church life, I feel its right to blog again. We are due to reopen for worship in 3 Sundays time and the prospect is an exciting one. But I'd like to make some observations of the journey from under the water!

1) Rubbish has been talked of: I have listened and read like many other Ministers to the buzzing of the social media airwaves and frankly, so much rubbish has been talked about. Perhaps that's the nature of social media and in ministry circles its an opportunity to fire off our insecurities and uncertainties. At the moment I am avoiding looking too heavily at such sites. And these have been days like no other. The early days of trial brought out those understandably wanting to ask the big questions: Where is God? What is he saying? What is he doing? Why is this happening to us? I'm not afraid of big questions, my theological training and 30 years worth of ministry have prepared me to wrestle with such. But some questions are just too big and certainly not worthy of trite easy answers in a post where people can respond with like or dislike. And I've heard some rubbish from people who really should know better, some quite prominent in baptist settings. The first I listened to told me that these virus days were an entirely a spiritual experience and God was in them. The second did not come from a particularly Christian source, but went along the lines of "the planet is fighting back and repairing itself." These two were the most memorable for me (stuck in my head), but in between these were a whole load of pronouncements that God was reforming the church and moving it away from archaic building dominated ministry to where it needed to be out there in the community and that our means of communication had now been rocketed up to new horizons as the internet propelled our contact and message to places we had been unable to go before. That last bit sounds quite Star-Trekky, I know! Certainly, our Youtube channel has steadily grown, and numerous other parts of our church life were successfully zoomed. 

My observation is that this has been a dark time and that the virus has been nothing short of intrinsically evil. It has not been a spiritual experience into which God was wonderfully changing, speaking and moving the church. This has been a significant time of suffering and loss. Many have lost loved ones, many have lost jobs and income and far from the virus being some kind of journey which the church might be being mysteriously led by God to grow and change, all I can observe is that has been a time which has been predominantly disruptive and destructive. There is a high possibility that small village churches have been terminally struck and destroyed because their income has folded and this has had the effect of killing paid full or part-time ministry. In addition, churches have lost their fellowship contact to the point where some may not return to their home churches at all, some may physically go elsewhere to those bigger churches that they have liked the look of online, and still others will continue to sit at home on their couches and remotes and engage with something bizarre called cyber-church where the consumer mentality reigns, and where they are not required to respond in discipleship or engage in live Spirit breathed worship. If you think I am being harsh and merely firing off, then I cannot apologise. I have reflected and pondered and as much as we have been successful (and we really have been) in our internet streaming ministry, and as much as it has to some extent sustained some aspects of the church fellowship life (zoom prayer, men's ladies, children's, youth, tea with the vicar etc etc etc), and that this challenge was risen to with a fantastic sense of team focus, I cannot on balance see that it in any shape or form that it has provided an experience of a Spirit-filled church that we had before. Please don't misunderstand me, we were not a perfect church before, but this season has done nothing to perfect us. Slow us down perhaps. Simplify church life maybe. Stress-test our unity maybe (I know - this sounds like "What have the Romans ever done for us?"). It may have actually stifled our mission capability?! Not completely sure about that one. Definitely, it has though deepened the longing for the restoration of fellowship and our gathering just a few weeks ago on the church lawn for a socially distanced picnic and communion, even though rained on, provided something in the hearts of the church family that no upload speed could ever do. In fact, far from the rocketing channel subscribers observed in the first weeks of streaming life, it would be honest to say that most churches have seen a waining of their viewing counts and the numbers have not been sustained. Given the mindset of screen consumerism and the mindset of channel surfing, this is unsurprising! 

2) It's been fast-moving and exhausting: Taking some of the thoughts from point 1, I would observe that rather like a curve on a classroom oscilloscope that we once all wrestled with in a physics class, no one week has been the same. In fact, I would say that I have seen the curve fly all over the place. In over 30 years of ministry I have never experienced days like these. I guess the last few decades have been those of relative comfort and ease in Western Christianity! Now perhaps, these have been the beginning of days of trial? Perhaps even of toughening up? What is certain is that we are not saying and doing the same things now that we were at the start of the virus. There has been movement and progression and when the title of "new normal" arrived we concluded that this would be "it" and that we would all get what it was and settle down to a new routine, albeit of a church life that was lighter, simpler, less constrained by "this is what we have always done!" The  new normal seems somewhat rubbery and it certainly isn't possible to grab hold of it and say "this is what it is." Even now bloggers are providing 10 easy observations about the new normal - well it might do for this week, but it will be out of date next week or the week after. The energy given over to slick video and worship reflections online have mostly run-flat and been replaced with a need for biblical teaching that will go the distance. The hunger for prayer that was apparently reflected in google analytics early on has been questioned and found wanting. And many of my Pastor colleagues and I who have done a sterling job in holding their primary calling of the church they were called to together and literally laying down every ounce sacrificially in the service of their church are mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted. The pastoral support mechanisms that their denominations and streams were initially providing have dried up and are no longer being provided, perhaps through exhaustion too. We have died a death from a myriad of regulations and guidelines sent out (sometimes daily) and some of the national zoom opportunities that were initially helpful have turned into something that have lost their way because we are totally zoomed out and have no appetite left for sitting in front of our screens anymore. Ministry is changing, re-shaping, moving on.

3) The task at the start was a sustaining ministry, now it's a recovery operation: I set out to our church leadership team at the very start the aim of "keeping the church family in faith, fellowship, prayer, care and worship." And we have been highly successful as a team in gathering around this vision and throwing all our collective energy into making this happen. The church I pastor comes out of this time with a good feeling of spiritual and financial stability and each team member as well as the teams that they have overseen have worked their hearts and souls off to bring great blessing to the church. But now the task has changed - from sustaining to a recovery focus. I cannot underestimate the task that is before us. This season of the virus has not necessarily created healthy habits. People have not necessarily engaged in worship in front of their laptops, they have consumed from their couches as if watching an edition of their favourite weekly TV programme, And the habit of coming together and being the church has been replaced by becoming the remote church, literally separated and almost comparable to old testament times of exile - who knows! This remote church experience is very specific: Surely I can do all that I need to in terms of my previous church existence by staying at home and never coming out again? Other things can be done such as shopping and ironing whilst watching church, but coming together again and being the church seems like a lot of work to be honest, and the habits have been long lost. So now the focus ahead of us Pastors is of a recovery operation. When we reopen our church in 3 sundays time, I am not expecting the seats to be full - no! It will be a drip-feed return to church. Some may not even return for several months. We will, in any case, continue to stream our services, so people could stay home and continue as was. But what a loss! The church is in a risky place right now and we are going to have to work to recover what we have lost, and all of that so long as we have no second or third waves of the virus and further lockdowns - Lord, please no! Yes, the church in every place is in all honesty not in a place of sudden and fantastic recovery, we are going to have to work and pray hard. I'm sure that there will be so exciting new aspects of this new season, but right now we have a significant task ahead of us, and it's not going to be easy.

Has the church regretted this season of live streaming? I can't actually answer that head-on. Probably not, and yet I have never completely felt at ease behind the camera. And I don't think that we have suddenly discovered the future of ministry. I really hope we haven't gained a perception that the future of church is cyber church! Certainly, we have grown in our understanding of technology and in slicker forms of communication. But this evil virus has brought destruction and much suffering and right now some of the pieces are still to fall to the ground! We will have to see in the coming weeks and months how the shape of ministry changes as the oscilloscope curve fluctuates up and down, again and again, as it will for certain. 

Oh, and as to the planet fighting back theory - the new challenge of the oceans is that they are filling up now with all our throw away facemasks and gloves. If that's progress then I'll eat my mask!

Will the church regret this season of live-streaming?

So the coronavirus came like a thief in the night and in a matter of hours and days our entire church life has been overturned, and many of us have, in a reactive and necessary way, ended up cantering towards the brave new world of live-streaming our church services and exploring numerous means of doing so. But of course, not all have been able to do this. We are now all experts (of course not) - or getting there, and like reaching a new challenging level in a computer game or entering a foreign country where the language is quite different, we are coming to terms with this brave new world. I'm in the groove now with the preliminary levels of expertise of the technology: I can do the basics well and each week I find myself modifying or adapting some of the tek, and getting slicker with the presentation. I've taught myself to predominantly get past the lack of a physical presence of a congregation with which I can make eye contact, and yet to imagine our viewers in the homes that I have visited pastorally. And I've taught myself to look at the camera and make presentation snappy. And yes, I've even caught myself thinking "Oh, I don't look like that on camera do I?" And "I really must tidy myself up and brush my hair." And then I've chuckled when others have gone on camera and done the same thing. Then I've found myself unhealthily playing a pointless game that I long gave up years ago, and bound myself over to never, ever play again - the "bums on seats" numbers game, except that this time it's with "the number of channel subscribers game." And it felt good and momentarily injected my ego that we've xxx more subscribers this week. Wow! And then I slapped myself around the face, told myself how stupid I'd been for falling for the old game again, and recommitted myself that this streaming experience was primarily for our own church family, anything else was well "nice, but wasn't why we were primarily doing it." And so we keep going with this brave new world of doing church and we are adapting and perhaps this is a plateau for the moment. The loss of not being together physically Sunday by Sunday is an ache that we all feel, but we have no choice and we must make the best of what we are doing so far. And we are, and we will. Except that I have a sinking feeling that this is not completely all good and how will we recover from it? In the brave new world of cyber church, parts can be cut out, muted, changed and so that we only get to hear what we want to hear. And in cyber church, the complete lack of tangible fellowship holds no one to account.

And the entire world has gone Zoom, Facebook-live or Youtube mad. Now everyone and their mother is doing it! Suddenly I am receiving invitations to zoom-meet with my denominational leaders, association leaders, and church world leaders in the intimacy of my home where before I've not heard a dicky-bird from them. Now, all of a sudden my time can be taken up with all-day Zoom meetings, and my steady emotionally-healthy-spirituality routine has been smashed to bits. I'm just not going to survive the pace if this goes on. More to the point, I'm not going to find the silence, let alone the downtime to just relax.

I recognise that not all churches have either been able to or in fact, wanted to stream and that some church members and congregation attendees are essentially wanting to and needing to engage with an act of worship that is in their style and worship diet. So I guess the natural thing would be to find a nearby suitable church and connect in with their streaming. But now my social media feed is full of a steady list of virtually every possible church from here, there and everywhere advertising their stream. So the opportunity now exists to pick and choose what your diet is going to be each Sunday. Why stick with one? Even my local association is advertising a different church each Sunday to do this with. And okay, I might be a tad moaning here, or overdoing my argument, but the glorious spirit of spiritual consumerism is now fully present in our homes. You can surf the proverbial channels and literally pick and choose and no one will ever know. In fact, speaking as a Pastor of a local Baptist Church, I have no ability to track whether my church members are faithfully tuning in to our channel, or whether this glorious "extended church holiday" is actually a great opportunity to look around and view what others are doing. You see Youtube tells me how many are present, but not who. Facebook is I think different. Zoom shows people's faces. And will this enforced diet divide into a number of different responses? Firstly, will it mean that some will never actually come back to a physical church in the future because of the easier experience of staying at home in your pyjamas and tuning into your preferred cyber church of choice for that day? This I think has been fairly minor in the UK until now, though the USA has lived with the TV church for several decades. The assessment is mixed - physical church attendance has still continued in the US, but the consumer spirit has been strong. Secondly, will it mean that some are using this time as an opportunity to look around other churches, and actually they will choose a new, different church to attend physically in the future? That could be a gain or a loss of course! And thirdly, will there be some who actually will never ever return to church at all, because they haven't missed it. That would be a very worrying situation and one that is out of the control of anyone.

On the upside, service streaming is doing something that I recognise is a positive experience and takes me all the way back to our short few days of training in radio at theological college 30 years ago, where we had to write a "thought for the day" and you discover that most have written far too much waffle and the red pen needs to be applied. Here's what I think its doing: our first service stream was way too long, but it reflected what we normally did on a Sunday morning. But in the TV world, no one is going to stick around that long. So its made me look at what we've been doing in terms of content and cutting it right back to the really important bits, and removing the unnecessary. And actually, most churches have been woefully asleep in this respect. They have thought that what they have been churning out on a Sunday is what people want to see and experience and they have been utterly wrong. This is an unhelpful wake-up call to Preachers, Worship Leaders and all involved to wake up and get their act together. And I'm not talking here about style necessarily - after all some very contemporary churches have for a while been pitching their services almost as rock concerts where the focus is on the hero band, rather than a corporate worship occasion or experience. What we are understanding about the days we have been living in is that people are thirsty for real spirituality. That's why some of the Cathedrals of the UK have been experiencing extensive congregational growth.

We are all looking forward to getting back to normal, in our lives and in our churches. But will that actually be a good thing? We can't go back to how it was in any aspect of our lives. And in terms of church, there are things that we should leave behind. But nor should we merely buy completely into the future of this brave new world. Many have and are grieving what was. But I'm already grieving what we might become. The danger signs are already ahead on the road and much wisdom will be needed to discern carefully what we should take up, as well as letting go of the past.

Good article on clergy mental health

https://www.christianpost.com/voice/how-to-truly-appreciate-your-pastor-233590/