Lives that make a difference… Mother Teresa

This weeks reflection comes from this months d-church, over the next few months we are focusing on ‘lives that make a difference’, we started with a focus on Mother Teresa, who was made a saint recently by the Catholic Church. We could have focused on her work amongst the poor but after chatting about it we decided to think about her doubt and struggles with her faith.

 

So with this in mind check out one of her quotes on the picture…

 

I wonder what strikes you about this quote?

 

How does it feel to know ‘celebrity Christians’ have struggles?

 

In what ways do you doubt and struggle with your own faith?

 

We will be chatting about this and generally sharing life together, why not come and join us if you are able… we meet this week at The Red House Farm pub from 8.00pm, you are welcome to join us.

 

Peace, Rob

Person reported… send all the horses… taking on water…

Hi folks, I hope you have had a great summer, I’m fresh back from my annual pilgrimage to Greenbelt festival, over the years this has been a place I like to call home. This year I went to a worship event in The Grove, which was an outdoor venue in the middle of a bunch of trees… it was a beautiful setting, the guy that lead it is one of the Methodist Churches Venture FX Pioneer Ministers. He told us some of his experience of pioneering and working to see where God is working in the midst of the world. He operates in places outside of the church walls. He also sings and lead us in some songs, he asked us to contemplate and reflect on the words, music and the atmosphere of the place, the sounds of music from other venues, the sounds of rustling trees, children playing and the gentle hum of noise that makes Greenbelt what it is. There was a sense of intimacy in that space that drew us to consider the possibility that God is all around all the time if we choose to acknowledge it.

One of the songs that he lead us in was one of his own and it had these words in the chorus, “Person reported… send all the horses… taking on water…” This song was a response to the refugee crisis but as he spoke we were also encouraged to think about ourselves and those who we know who maybe finding life to be a bit like this. Only you know how the summer has been for you, I have loved it for many reasons, its had its challenges and as I think about the weeks and months to come my heart sometime struggles, I really don’t like the winter, and its looooooooming!!

There is though a sense of hope in the midst of these words from this song… we may begin to feel  like we are taking on water, but my hope and prayer is that someone will notice and that they will send all the horses to help out! But i also hope that we will be those that keep watch and look out for those who we know have some big things going on in their lives and that we will watch out for those who as yet do not know what is around the corner…

This week we will be meeting to chat about this at the Sportsman from 8.00pm, we also have some changes to the venues as we will now go the Crescent Club twice a month and we will lose the Cumberland from our program.  We also have one of our number Andrew doing some work with us over this next year, so your prayers for him would be appreciated. We have been thinking about our leadership group for BeachcomberFX and Sunday@thepub, we will be meeting to discuss and plan ahead for the next year, so watch this space!

Peace Rob

GRINNING!

Hi folks, I trust you are doing ok even though as we look at the world and our current political climate it’s hard to know what to say and where to start! 

Today as I write this, is the commemoration of the battle of the Somme and it’s a powerful reminder of our fragility and also just how insensitive humanity becomes when faced with the complexities of everyday life. I know I have done and still do daft things and sometime people remind me and call me to account, I’m not perfect but I hope I’m a work in progress! 

Anyway in the midst of this ‘tough stuff’ a friend reminded me to make sure I do something today that makes me grin! I love this! In the midst of anxiety and angst there are always those little things that make you smile and crack a grin! 

Part of my reality of being a follower of Jesus is that I’m challenged everyday to be a person of light… That for me is about smiling at the stranger on the metro who is opposite me, it’s about trying to spot the good things that we see and experience and saying thanks! It’s about picking up litter and putting it in the bin, it’s about trying to be encouraging… I don’t always get it right, but I try! So today why not make yourself grin and in the process why not try to be blessing to others and make them grin too! 

This week we will meet at the Sportsman from 8.00pm to chat and share together, we hope you can make it

God bless, Rob

Referendum and hope…

Hi folks, it’s 12.50 am and i’m watching the results coming in from the referendum, as I write this I am aware of my bias towards wanting to remain… if you are not in that camp… please continue to read on. I also write as folks gather at Glastonbury (I’ll come on to that later). I have found the debate on both sides to be more often than not, toxic, it has divided families, communities and the nation… as I went to get some shut eye just after 4.00am it looked like Brexit had got it although it wasn’t certain.

 

As I woke up to the news on BBC6 Music and the result was announced I turned on my phone to check social media… and I was met with so many thoughts and comments, most of which were sadness and disappointment, but by all means not all! As I read my news feed, 6 music moved from the news to its regular programming – but its Glastonbury so most of the coverage this weekend comes from this festival of love, hope and positivity… it was a moment of relief that in the midst of confusion, victory speeches and resignations that there was a glimmer of community at its best, that life somehow goes on.

 

I was also reminded of the emotion that was left after the last election, which lead to comments that I believe still haven’t been engaged with, much of that was about disengagement with the system, and about the poorest communities being left behind, much of that is still the case, if not worse, even though the politicians said that they needed to listen more… that was once again the rhetoric I heard over night… so when will the politicians listen? How will they begin to engage?

 

So where do we go from here? Both to recover from a decision that many didn’t want and where do we go as a society as we move to towards leaving the EU, what will it look like and what will happen? But maybe we should be asking a different question… Should we not be asking, how can the hope, community spirit and love that is discovered at Glastonbury be evidenced in our communities and how can I be apart of that? So for me I think I need to love more, I need to care more, I need to be more generous, I need to respect more, I need to allow myself to be more open, I need to take action more when I see things that I don’t agree with… I need to be a bringer of peace, a fighter for justice for all no matter who they are, I may even need to become more politically involved… who knows! All I know now is that if I put my head in the sand then I become part of the problem… so today its onwards and upwards because as a follower of Jesus I realise that I MUST become more involved… what about you? I also enclose this prayer…

 

Peace Rob

History…

This week marked the 72nd anniversary of the D-Day landings and last week Karen and I had the privIlege of spending a short break in Berlin. Wherever you look in Berlin there is some aspect of Its hIstory that stands as a reminder of Its past. Some of the buIldIngs that were used by Hitler and the Third Reich are stIll there in other guises, and those that are no longer there, now have memorials or museums to mark them. There are also memorials to those who were murdered in the concentration camps as well as the reminders of the East-West divide made synonymous by the Berlin wall.

So where am I goIng wIth this? History is such a vital part of who we are as the human race, it is all around us and we experience it all the tIme, but maybe we don’t consider it or dare I say even be thankful for it! We are all marked by history in some way or another and it would be easy to say that we need to forget ‘some’ parts of our hIstory, but I think there is something profound about remembering D-Day and the acts of the Second World War, something powerful about considerIng the events about the East-West divide that hung over Berlin and Germany and the whole of Europe after World War Two .

But history isn’t confined to natIons and events its part of who we are personally, it has deep roots within us, and often it shapes us, sometimes for the better, sometimes not so positively. We are all a product of our history, and maybe we shouldn’t be so harsh on ourselves or on others wIth the way that makes and shapes us. The God that I believe in and the Jesus that I follow is not just looking to the future but is also considering the past, my faith tells me that our history is important. I am reminded of a couple of verses from the bible first of all that classic poetry from Ecclesiastes that states ‘What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun’. (Ecc 1:9) and then from the gospel of John ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God’. (John 1:1)

There is something reassuring about these passages, so I am wondering how do you view history? Do you think its important to remember things like the atrocities of WW2? What kind of things should we learn from history? How does it make you feel that God might care about our past?

This week we will be meeting at The Cumberland Arms in Tynemouth from 8.00pm why not come along and join us.

Peace, Rob

Should i stay… or should i go…

Hi folks, i hope you are doing ok…

This is Karen’s last week working as a probation officer, and so I have been thinking a bit about moving on, transition and what it means to be home. It can be an unsettling time and certainly over these last few years I have also experienced that, moving from full time to part time and then getting other employment… it’s not easy! In my thinking I came across this passage from Matthew 8:18-22

18 When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. 19 Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, ‘Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.’ 20 Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ 21 Another disciple said to him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ 22 But Jesus told him, ‘Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.’

It’s a really interesting passage and so often it’s entitled ‘The cost of discipleship’. I wonder what we mean by this phrase? Is it about not being settled?

I wonder too about verse 20, which is God’s usual, normal, pattern in nature – to be settled in a home or to be homeless?

I also wonder about the tension between being a wandering / journeying / pilgrim people on the one hand, and home-making / promised Land / settled place on the other. It seems that most of the physical churches we have created are about this second aspect of being settled in a place, I wonder is that what we should be about or not?

How can we be a wandering pilgrim people with a deep sense of place in the ups and downs that life throws at us…

This week we are meeting in the Sportsman, hope to see you there from 8.00pm.

Peace, Rob

In, out, in, out?

Hi folks, I hope you are enjoying the sun! I have an idea of a theme for this week, but it’s where to start… So I wonder if it’s time to talk in, out, in, out… You’ve got it! Let’s talk about the EU referendum that is coming up in June.

So here is where I am at… I am fed up of the scare mongering from both sides, I have also got brain freeze thinking about the various financial implications for in or out… the figures they throw around actually mean very little to a little guy living on the coast… they are just big numbers and they make NO SENSE!!

I do though have a view on this issues, from all I can see its YES from Rob! But even I have been floundering in recent weeks as there are just so many unknowns and so many questions. So here is one of the things I have been thinking about…

I’m unsure about borders, as I believe we should know, and in fact, every country should know as much as they can, about who has come into a country. But on the other hand i’m aware of something I heard the other day… ‘we should live as though we are already free’ – one way to interpret that little statement is about borders… in other words, borders don’t matter, they are irrelevant. Or are they???

We also have, I believe a duty to help those who are fleeing poverty and war and those who are weak and frail within our society and from other countries in the EU and around the world… I remember when the Vietnamese boat people came to the UK in the late 70’s, as a kid it made me sad seeing these children, probably about the same age as me struggling… I think that was the first time it really struck me that some people really do have a tough life… I think the charity my mum worked for (NCH) took some of the children in. We seemed as a country to cope, but can our infrastructure cope with the mass migration that’s occurring today?  Especially when we as a country have not invested in it… apart from in London of course! You can tell this is a rant can’t you…

One of the things I like about the EU is that it makes us mutually responsible for each other, which I think has helped us to cope with conflict in Europe, even if we have made a hash of the various conflicts in the rest of the world. I asked a mate for his thoughts… and he passed me this which I thought was interesting… Revd. Mark Wood wrote ‘Would Britain be “better off” outside the EU? it’s impossible to say.  But that is not, perhaps. The right question. Arguably a better one is, “Would the nations of the EU (Including Britain) be more prosperous, more just and more secure with Britain inside?”

So what do you think… in or out? and why? And the spiritual bit… does God care? This is just a starter to kick us off! 

Peace, Rob

Faith and doubt?

A couple of weeks ago i was leading worship in a couple of churches and I focused on doubting Thomas from John 20:19-31 It’s a great story! I hadn’t really looked at it much before and I’m not sure why, as it spoke to me about the importance of doubt and questions, as well as affirmations about our journey of faith as we explore deeper what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

In the two services that I lead I did something a little a different, I gave people the opportunity to write out some of their doubts and questions and we offered these to God during the offering.

A lot of the questions were about suffering and about the state of the world, which is interesting in itself and speaks into our times. It was also interesting that doubt didn’t feature in the questions as direct questions but they were formulated through the questions, so there was something about the sovereignty of God and the role of those who follow Jesus.

I don’t really want to look at them, thats for another time. But i do want us think a little more about faith and doubt and how they sit together. If we are supposed to be confident in our faith and confident in who God is, is there room for doubts and questions? Certain streams of Christian thought often see it in negative terms. But i would suggest that for me and others i know that it is very affirming. I have found freedom in the gray areas and in the things i thought i had tied down. I used to think that I needed answers… now I don’t. I realise that some people reading this they will find it hard to understand, and there is nothing i can say to help that… its just the way it is for some people.

But when i consider the two services I lead, I realised that most people have them… but so often in church life there is limited space to get into these, even in small groups it can be hard to raise your head above the parapet and ask those deep seated questions and unspoken doubts without sounding like you may be wavering in your faith. When really all you are doing is asking questions to help inform your faith.

So much of what we offer in church is certainty, programs, jobs and roles, which can get in the way of getting to grips with some of the big issues expressed within our faith.

So this week let us ponder on our questions.

Should we have questions and doubts in the first place?

if so what are they?

Do we have the space to express them?

This week we will meet at the Crescent Club in Cullercoats from 8.00pm, hope to see you there.

God bless Rob

Gone fishing…

Hi folks, this week’s blog is once again a guest post from Andy, one of the d-church team. This week we are meeting in The Cumberland Arms at 8.00pm to chat and share together, you are welcome to join us if you are able. Here as Andy’s blog…
Tomorrow I go fishing, with my son and a friend of ours, who has fished before.

I have no idea what to expect, and am a novice at this fishing thing. I am not even sure I will enjoy it!

Begrudgingly I am going because my ten year old has nagged me for months. Early last year we got given some second hand fishing gear, that has stayed unpacked and unused in our garage. Now it is time to use it!

There is plenty in scripture about fishing, there are quotes about “fishing for men” and stories about nets being full to breaking when Jesus, tells the disciples to throw the nets on the other side of the boat.

For me its this, tomorrow I learn now to fish, I have mixed feelings about it and am not sure I want to go at all.

I have a nervousness in my stomach similar to that nervousness perhaps when you cross the threshold into church for the first time, or encounter an opportunity to share your faith.

I take heart that the person teaching me knows what he is doing and by the end of the experience I will know a thing or two about fishing. Or put it another way, I am being schooled or discipled in the art of fishing. Just as we are discipled as christians, who is discipling us matters, what they are investing in us means something and produces in us new skills.

So my son and I are stepping into something new together, we will learn a new skill at the same time. As we do church together what things of God are we sharing and what ways of discipleship are we offering to those who accompany us on the journey, from old to new? I wonder what experiences or skills of the path that is behind us, will help us for the way ahead?

Have you ever been fishing and do you like it?
In whatever context you find yourself, what does it mean to be in a christian community.
What main faith experiences are useful as we journey together?
What do we need to put to one side, to enable us to become more like the people, God is calling us to be?

Finally I don’t know what fishing will mean for me or my son by the end of tomorrow. We may hate it, or love it. One thing for sure is that experiencing it together as father and son, will have added value to our experience of our life together.

Lets go fishing..

—
Peace, Rob

Epiphany thoughts…

 

Happy New Year! I trust you have all had a great Christmas and that you are getting your head into the challenges of the new year. This week’s reflection comes after a bit of thought on Epiphany. I was think about traveling, and the Wise men’s journey to offer gifts to Jesus. We do a lot of traveling don’t we? Even the simple trips as well as the journeys we make when we go on our holidays.

Life is made up of traveling, even within ourselves. We may have traveled within ourselves over these last few days to think back over this last year, what were the highs and low points, who have we loved and lost, what are the things that have brought us sadness and joy? Also in our traveling there has been people who have traveled with us, and maybe some of those people and some new people will travel with us over the next few months.

As I think about it traveling always has a past, we have come from something, a situation an experience a moment of wonder or a deep sense of fear and loss. And as we travel forward into the future we have that which is to come… our physical journeys as well as our hopes and fears.

But in the midst of our travelling we have the NOW! We have the very present moment… My hope for us all is that we may take more notice of the now and live in the present more each day, recognising beauty, observing love, giving of ourselves in that moment, being fully present more and more and challenging those who use fear of the past and future unknown to cripple us and cripple society.

I believe that God is in the past as we remember those wise men traveling, and God is also in the future… But God is present right now… in this very moment… even in the muck and mire of life…

So this week we will be thinking about this as we gather on Sunday night at the Cumberland Arms in Tynemouth, why not join us if you are able from 8.00pm.

Peace, Rob