three words for when you don't speak 'sheep'

'cool shepherd'

 And here we are, after a blogging absence due to wrestling with Mr Knox and some particularly stubborn sinners from the 16th c [who are still refusing to give in, but they will, oh yes indeed...c.5-6 weeks].  I have started probation at 'seaside parish' and have been settling in over the last couple of weeks - loving the time so far.  Tomorrow is the first sermon and I feel very, very rusty!  

Following last week's story of calling disciples on the beach, I'll take up the thread by thinking about the characteristics of the One who calls, using Ps 23 and John 10: 22-30.

During the week, I had the most excellent fortune of hearing Rob Bell, who was speaking in the 'burgh.  I pinched 3 words from him to frame the sermon - for, with, ahead.... Blessings on that man - great speaker.  

Here's my small attempt to preach on what is a ridiculously familiar passage...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last week, we heard a story about fish

and of fishermen;

about a barbie on the beach,

about a call to follow Jesus.

This week, in our readings,

we’ve heard about sheep

and of shepherds

and of the qualities and characteristics of the one who calls us to follow.

In the gospel passage we heard earlier,

Jesus identifies himself as a shepherd:

he knows his sheep,

they listen to his voice.

In the psalm,

we heard about what the shepherd does:

how he looks after his sheep. ...

Now, having grown up in a coastal fishing town,

I confess that I speak fish, better than I do sheep...

and, having spent the last 20 or so years living mostly in towns and cities

my opportunities to learn to speak ‘sheep’ have been pretty limited...

Just by way of taking a wee straw poll here:

apart from those occasional drives in the country

or even going on holidays in the countryside,

and apart from those moments when you’ve found yourself watching wee lambs sproinging all over the place

– ‘sproinging’ ...being the technical term J –

A show of hands, if you’re willing:

how many of you have spent most of your life in a more urban, town environment?

Those who grew up in a farming community will ‘get’ the descriptions just that bit more than those of us who are basically townies at heart –

Sure, we see the metaphor,

our imaginations fill in the sense of the thing

and we get a glimpse of where it’s going,

but because we’re not grounded in the reality of a farming context we might have a tendency to be a little pink and fluffy in our thoughts...

or maybe that’s just me!

But I do know that sometimes it’s easy to feel a little disconnected to what both the psalmist and Jesus are talking about when it comes to sheep and shepherds. 

Which got me to thinking about how the psalm might be written if you didn’t happen to come from a farming community?

How might it be written if you spent all your life in the frozen wastes of the Arctic Circle, for instance?

Or if you lived on a remote island in the South Pacific?

And then I had another thought:

what if you’re from a place and culture where there are actually *no* such things as sheep and lambs and shepherds –

if you were translating the bible into a language where the words ‘sheep’, ‘lamb’ and ‘shepherd’ didn’t actually exist?

And here’s another question [so many questions, so little time!]:

if we were to re-write the psalm in our own context - at seaside parish - how might we do it?

Those of you who like a challenge might like to give this a go during the week - and if you do let me know how you get on!

But, back on track:

what would be the essential thoughts

and ideas you’d be trying to get across regardless of whether the description concerns shepherds, butchers, bakers or even candlestick makers ...?

Three thoughts – using three words:

With...

For...

Ahead...

First word: with –

The Lord is with us:

We know this from the story of Christmas:

God all-powerful, made God all-vulnerable –

Dependent upon the hospitality of the human heart to take him in....

The one who spoke the universe into being

The one who breathed us into being

The one beyond all time and space...

Becoming human

Becoming

One

With

Us.

Understanding first hand what it is to be human

What it is

To be us...

In cell, and skin and bone;

In all it’s crazy, messy, funny, sad, mundane, and sometimes scary glory.

God in Jesus,

Jesus as human;

Shepherd, teacher, friend.

With us.

In another psalm, psalm 139,

the psalmist states:

‘You are all around me on every side...’

And asks:
‘Where could I go to escape from you?

Where could I get away from your presence?

If I went up to heaven, you would be there;

If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west,

you would be there to lead me,

you would be there to help me.

When my bones were being formed,

when I was growing there in secret,

you knew that I was there - 

you saw me before I was born.’

The Lord is with us:

With us in the places of refreshing

With us in the dark reaches of the night.

But always,

Always,

With us:

Awesome thought.

Second word: for.

The Lord is for us:

On our side

Protecting

Guarding

Guiding

For us in our times of need:

We shall not want.

For us:

Rather than watching us beg for a place at the table,

we’re invited in as honoured guests at the banquet

For us – and blessing us

For us – and setting us free:

free to live life authentically,

to the full...

full to overflowing.

For us in both the good and the bad

The joy and the pain:

For us when we feel hemmed in on all sides

When we feel there is no-one who hears us

or is on our side.

The Lord is for us with a staff, a shield,

With a hand that pulls us through the valley of shadows.

And, as Jesus states not once, but twice in our gospel text:

For us so much that he will not let us be snatched away.

Third word: ahead.

The Lord is ahead of us:

the one who knows us

and who calls us by name

walks ahead of us.

If you happened to be wandering around the countryside in the Holy Land

And, if you happened upon sheep and a shepherd,

chances are that the shepherd would be up ahead of the sheep,

not urging them on from the back

but leading from the front.

The Lord is ahead of us:

where it’s better to see the dangers and meet them head on;

to see the obstacles in the way

and make a clear path.

Ahead of us leading us on the right path

Keeping us on track

Making a way forward rather than leaving us to wander in ever-increasing, ever-dizzying spirals:

Beckoning us to move with him,

moving us from destructive patterns and ways of being,

coaxing us to leave behind

those stale and brackish

soul-sapping routines and ways of thinking...

urging us instead, to pools of fresh, life-giving water...

Ahead of us:

bidding us to be open to the unexpected,

the unimagined,

firing our hearts and souls

to say ‘yes’ to God

and ‘yes’ to others;

doing this by widening the perimeters of our thinking.

Ahead of us

Moving us beyond ‘it can’t be done’

into an exploration of limitless  possibilities as we follow in faith.

Ahead of us

teaching us what it is to be people of vision.

And so we follow:

The one who is

With us

For us

Ahead of us...

As we follow

So we do also...

What does our calling look like?

As God is with us

So we are with God...

And with friends

And family

And the friendless and forgotten.

With those who can’t quite remember their name

But whose names and stories are nevertheless remembered by God, and by us.

With those who are lonely, or alone

And who yearn for a cup of tea and a good blether,

With those who only hear harsh words and long for kind ones.

With those who are afraid, who are ill, who despair.

With those who weep and with those who rejoice.

As God is for us

So we are for others:

For those who have no-one on their side.

For those forgotten by the system

For those living in fear –

Of failure

Of not quite measuring up

Of hunger, poverty, or harm.

For those who would never dream that they, too, might have an honoured place at the table...

we are for them, passing them plates and filling their cups as welcome friends...

no longer 'them' and 'us' but brothers and sisters together.

As God is ahead of us

So we go ahead

Clearing the road of obstacles

for those behind us...

we go ahead and show the way to places of rest from the mad busyness of life –

creating space to be, away from the exhausting pressure to do, to achieve, and just be a cog in a machine.

We go ahead,

Instead of going around and around in circles of ever-spiralling arguments –

In which a brick is thrown and a brick thrown back...

And a tank is sent in

And a missile answers...

We go ahead by stepping out of the circle

And picking up a cross

Picking out a path through the junk

The mess and the carnage...

Like the one we follow

Who is both shepherd

And lamb of God.

We go ahead:

widening the path so that goodness and mercy will not just bless us but others...

Knowing that as we do

we need not fear

we shall not want

there is more than enough:

overflowing cups of goodness and mercy

all the days of our lives.

And knowing

That the one who calls us

Guards us and guides us

Leads us and loves us

And never, ever lets us go.

Amen.

Carry on Concluding...

...which is what my academic supervisor wrote in an email over the weekend.  I have a very odd sound track in my head now, accompanied by Barbara Windsor roaming about; rather disturbing.

However... blogging as such has been pathetic / patchy and will continue to be so until I submit the thesis.  I am hoping to get the beast in on [appropriately] April Fool's Day.
This blog post, then, is by way of a place-holder until some vague normality returns to my life...which will hopefully be from April as I start probation placement and prepare to defend my thesis in the viva of dooooooom.  Subject to passing/ corrections, heck, I may even manage to get this thing done and dusted and mebbe even be doctored by the end of the year...
Wish my luck as you wave me [temporarily] goodbyeeee.

Nike prayer: just do it

A little incoherent rambling... it is late... but this is a small 'back to basics/ reminder to self' note.

Over at the Revgals blogsite on Monday, there was a book review featuring the title 'Help, thanks, wow' by Ann Lamott.
The book focuses upon the matter of prayer and, happily, takes less of a didactic 'follow these 87 steps to an effective prayer life' and more like a 'so, gang, what the heck are we doing and let's just keep it real, yeah?' approach.
Looks good, and I shall probably acquire it as a handy resource.

Lamott breaks [honest] attempts at prayer into three categories, as per the title of the book...help, thanks, and wow... essentially intercessions on behalf of self and others; thanksgiving for God's good gifts, answered prayer; wow - adoration.
It's a nice and simple approach to what is so often overly-complicated... although saying that... I'd mix it a little and add a couple more:
wow
oops [sorry, stuffed up]
thanks
help
aaaand...breathe [space for silence to listen for the still, small voice of God]

Whether 3, or 5, it's a handy in a nutshell essential guide to what we're basically doing when we pray.
It comes without the baggage of how often, how long, what time of day/night, or where.
Without the time-wasting displacement involved in making sure you pick just the right place, time, or even words.
Without the pointless guilt when you get these bits and pieces somehow 'wrong' or don't follow it in the 'correct' way.
Without that odd competitive spiritual testosterone that can give rise to nonsense conversations such as:
'so, I get up at 6.30am and pray in my bed for an hour before breakfast'
'6.30?  Man, that's late.  I get up at 4am, pray through until 7.30 - on my knees with hands raised to heaven, and spend time crafting specially chosen holy words.'
'Dude? Seriously? My day is just a total loss if I don't wake for prayer at 2am, and stand in a cross-shaped position through until breakfast at 8.  Often I choose to fast until lunch.'

Truly, I have heard conversations a little along those lines...scary biscuits.

What makes for effective prayer?
Bottom line?
That it is ... done.
It is so easy to get tangled up in the methodology and actually spend more time sorting that out, rather than actually just getting on with it.  Well, maybe that's just me....
I suspect it has at least got to be honest - which is what Lamott is trying to point out very gently.
The honest gasp of amazement at the beauty of God's creation, or the small, heartfelt sigh that acknowledges you hurt someone and that you are so utterly sorry for it is authentic prayer as much as long rambling discourses...sometimes, more so.  Although there are those times the long rambles are the way of processing and working through to that 'aha' moment of insight.
Prayer, boiled down, is as simple as breathing...and simultaneously the most profound activity we can do.
Point is: just do it.      

lectionary leanings: Luke 2: 41-52 a child in the midst

For what it's worth, some of my own potted ramblings and ponderings on the gospel passage for tomorrow.    
The lectionary time-warp at this time every year makes me laugh: this time last week Jesus hadn't actually been born yet; now, suddenly, he's 12 - they grow so fast... :)

The young Jesus, along with his family, are in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  The reading implies that this is an annual practice that this family, immediate and extended, appear to keep.  Once the Passover has been and gone, all begin the journey home, but Jesus quietly turns back and heads off to the temple.
 

Cue scene at the temple: here's a kid - well, a young man given he's 12 - sitting there amongst the teachers, all the wise and learned folk. 
There he is listening to all that's being discussed.  This is important: it makes the point that there's a maturity in the way he is engaging - he listens first, speaks second, he's not just spouting off. 
He then asks questions; he is curious about this faith/ religion and wants to know more, wants to see how things are, how they work, what things mean, and why this is so.
All who hear him are amazed: they hear him.  Here's a bunch of grown ups who are taking a young person seriously:
1/ by letting him remain in their midst in the first place, not sending him out to do some activity...
2/ by responding to him - they are obviously answering his questions - or at least in conversation
3/ by not shutting him up
4/ by acknowledging that this young'un has something of value to say/ to add to the conversation.

If I were prepping for sermon tomorrow, I think I might be inclined to head along a theme of how we engage with the younger folk in our parish / congregation...
how do we make space for them?
how do we engage with them?
do we listen?
do we acknowledge there's something we can learn
do we allow space for them to listen and speak...?
if we have a conversation, is it one way or two way?...
when we say 'we want more children and young people' - do we really mean that?  Or, is it conditional - only when it is on our terms?

In the passage, the boy Jesus is not merely tolerated, but accepted and even celebrated as a valued person in their midst. If we don't value our young people - on various spiritual/ practical/ emotional etc. levels, we should not be surprised if 'numbers' [ugh 'success' measured as statistics, dislike!] are low... and rather, be surprised if we do actually have some at all.

hmmm, accidentally now have half a sermon... ooops.

meanwhile, 96 000 words into the thesis...

*talking to earlier research Nikki version*
'gosh, I'm actually impressed - you really did do more than just play computer games when looking at this particular section of the thesis. Jolly well done self.' 

*earlier research Nikki*
'why thank you. There were indeed occasions when I needed a little distracting from rescuing naughty sorceresses and such-like. Although, I note with pleasure the return of that much-loved favourite game at this time of year 'Hunt the Haggis'. What impact do you think its return will have on your current thesis section?' 

*current research Nikki...furrows brow...looks up from game*

'Hmmmm? Ack, just missed a golden haggis in Loch Ness...' 

*earlier research Nikki*
'Ahhhh. Plus ça change'

*cue sound of gurgling haggis in background*

we ordain women because we baptise girls...

The thesis is, rightly, giving me little time to do anything else at the moment; I am immersed in the performances of penitential Protestants and desperately trying to write up.  I did pause, however, the other day to follow the live feed on the discussion and vote for/ against women being ordained as bishops in the CofE.

While I am not Anglican, I am grieving for friends who are - and for those in particular who are training for, or have been ordained into, the priesthood.  I never did quite understand why this was not sorted out when women were allowed to become priests in the CofE 20-odd years ago - by 2 votes I believe.  Then again, I have never managed to quite get my head around the fact that women being called to ministry is an issue - given 50ish% of humanity are women.   We ordain women because we baptise girls...!

The strange technicalities of voting meant that while an overwhelming majority voted in favour of allowing women to become bishops, the motion fell by just 6 votes; each of the three 'houses' needing to have a two thirds majority, which was not what happened in the house of laity.  I was reminded of our own arcane ways and processes: of motions proposed at General Assembly and sent down under the Barrier Act, that come back with a resounding 'no' a year later, this often based on the will of tiny presbyteries of 6 or 10 or 12 parishes who have the same power as larger presbyteries of 50, 80, or over 100 parishes within them. 

While I am not always convinced that the church should bring things in on a majority vote, neither am I convinced by the checks and balances that have been put in place with the (rightly so) intent to safeguard against whim, to ensure folk with different views don't get trodden on, etc.  What I am more convinced about, however, is that the systems in place within our institutions are set up in a default position that mitigates against bringing any kind of change.
No system put in place will please everyone; no system is perfect.
And yet, despite our flawed systems and institutions which seem to be built as monuments to fear, God still manages to manoeuvre between the cracks despite our 'best' intentions to stymie things.
I wonder what building systems based on trust would look like, and how they might work? 
Systems designed to work with God and each other in generous grace and mutuality and without the fear that needs to control who is in, who is out, and who gets to make the rules?

In the meantime, came across this courtesy of a friend, which is as fitting a response to what occurred within the CofE this week as I have seen:

When I am ordained, I shall wear purple
with killer heels and bright red lipstick
And I shall go round preaching from the Bible
...The liberating truth that Jesus calls women

and tell those who say otherwise that it is they,
not I, who are bad theologians.

I shall sit down with fellow clergy
when we are tired of fighting for equality
and going the extra mile with grace when we are put down,
And we will make up for it:
by encouraging one another as Scripture says,
and praying for those who abuse us,
and rejoicing that we are suffering
(but just a little bit) for Jesus,
And we might even eat some chocolate.

I will adopt the ordination name “Junia”,
and remind those who object,
that there may be a boy named Sue somewhere in the world,
but there probably isn’t.

But now we must face the world,
Who think we are traitors to our sex
For working for the Church
And face our brothers and sisters who think
We are being unbiblical
And face those in our Churches
who have failed to notice the pain this week has brought.
And we will go in the strength of Christ.
We will not turn our backs on our calling
Because God is not finished with the Church,
And He is faithful.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am ordained, and start to wear purple.

by Rev Mia Smith

church recruitment: aim low and you're never disappointed

And finally, we are looking for someone to volunteer for the post of church treasurer...

I sense a new direction to take when it comes to encouraging folk to get involved in church leadership/ or other offices within it... Perhaps we have been guilty of too much spin?  Or of over-accentuating the positive?  Or a little obsessed with 'fresh expressions' of church?  

How about the following attempt: 

Wondering what to do with your life?
Tried lots of things but not really managed to achieve much?
Are you a wee bit feeble?
Possibly stupid?

Vaguely spiritual?
A loser in love's cruel lottery?
Take heart! There is one more option you could explore!
In the comforting words of G. D. Henderson: 

'if one were not strong enough in body or mind to become a satisfactory robber baron, or if one had a leaning to contemplation or sainthood, or if one had failed in the marriage market, then the Church offered its opportunities.' [G. D. Henderson, The Scottish Ruling Elder, p12]

Marvellous... although, personally, I quite fancy having a go at being a satisfactory robber baron :)
He does go on to discuss 'a remarkable cleavage in society'.  The mind boggles!!

Providence, plague, and punishment in Perth, 1585

When it comes to the public performance of
penance and the punishments given to offenders in early modern Scotland, context matters...

Perth, in October 1585, was being ravaged by the plague.  Having a providential view of God, the kirk was keen to root out any behaviour that had obviously caused God's wrath to visit the town in the form of the 'pest'.  Further, to demonstrate their repentance to the watching God, the kirk session had called for the townsfolk to undertake an octave [8 days] of ritual fasting.

On the 'first Sonnday of the holie communion and of publict fast' an unfortunate and, alas, unmarried couple George Makchanse and Elspet Cudbert were caught in flagrante delicto; buck naked in bed together.
In reaction to the dire horrors being visited upon the town, the session took an exceptionally dim view, and a very severe line.  George and Elspet endured a most public performance of repentance for the 'sclander' they had caused, and for the potential peril that they had placed the town in.
The minute of the session record notes that on the Saturday following, they were to be 'cartit bakwart throuche the town from the said Elspet house quhair they war apprehendit, haiffand paper hattis on thair headis, ...and thairafter to be wardit til Sonnday at quhat tyme the officiaris sall convoy thame with thair paper hattis to the the [sic] publict seat of repentance, that thair they may confes thair offence and ask god and the cong[regation] forgifnes for the sclander thay gaif and evil exampil to utheris to commit the lyk.'
[Perth Kirk Session Minutes CH2/ 521/1 f.117 - or see the wonderful Margo Todd's newly printed transcription, p325]

Being carted backwards physically and visibly demonstrated that George and Elspet had morally gone the wrong way, further, the said cart was very probably the dung cart and as it passed through the town with the hapless couple on board the townsfolk would have not only flung insults upon them, but would also have made use of rotten eggs and veg., dung and dirt.  The cart, having begun its journey at the 'scene of the crime', as it were, was then driven around the town, the most likely route taking them around all the town gates.  This ensured that the whole town saw the couple's disgrace and was able to demonstrate its displeasure.
As to the paper hats... often in public rituals paper hats, or badges made of paper were worn on which had been written the offence.  This further compounded humiliation and, in effect, was a witness to show why repentance was required.

After the humiliation of being taken around the town and being on display to all their neighbours, the couple were required to spend the night warded - those guilty of sexual sins were held in the kirk tower, which was infested with vermin, and being 12 sq. foot, very cramped.
The next morning, George and Elspet were then required to be symbolically on display to God in the kirk in the midst of the community of the godly.  Here, at the stool of repentance, situated in the front of the church just by the pulpit - thus facing the congregation - the couple were to publicly confess their sin, and having done so, ask forgiveness of God and of the congregation.  This ritual, designed to restore divine and neighbourly relationship, had the added spur of desperately trying to avoid further visitations of God's wrath upon an already hard-pressed community.  George and Elspet were viewed to have put the lives of their neighbours into deathly danger.  It is this context that frames the severity of the punishment meted out to them.
  
As an aside: the couple had already been marginalised from the rest of the community.  Suspected of being infected with plague, they were both holed up in the lodgings used for those with plague, situated outside the town wall.  They seem not to have succumbed; George's name was brought up before the session twice in the following March for having failed to marry Elspet as promised.  Elspet is later mentioned in 1587, complaining that her husband spends more time with his friend than he does her - there's no indication that the husband is George, however. 

From the autumn of 1584, plague had stalked the town mercilessly, ultimately resulting in a loss of approximately a quarter of its population - 1 427 people. In the January 1585, the only recorded instance in Perth of a couple being executed for adultery is noted.  Accompanying plague, famine was rife from February 1585, and the town was in a desperate situation.  The session administered poor relief, organised a rationing system, and as the monies from the poor box depleted, took the expedient step of allowing first time fornicators to pay fines for 'pious uses' instead of appearing on the repentance stool.  Todd observes that:
'in the midst of a natural  disaster understood as divine judgement for the toleration of sin, the need of the community to identify and eliminate the source of plague overcame the commitment of the kirk to securing repentance, amendment of life, and re-integration of sinners into the community of the faithful.... Reformed discipline amidst the crisis of epidemic disease gave way to sheer terror and primitive recourse to scapegoats.'
[Todd, The Perth Kirk Session Books, 44-45]

As I sit plotting my Perth Kirk Session spreadsheet and classifying the session minutes, there are far more entries concerned with administration matters - election of elders; settling communion examinations and arranging the distribution of communion; and organising poor relief. Within the three years of August 1584-1587 that I'm currently examining, what does seem to feature rather prominently are entries noting various couples wanting their banns of marriage proclaimed - if I haven't miscounted, these account for 155 in total.  The session entries in which severe punishments feature, and this includes excommunication, are the exception and not the rule.  Overall, between 1577-1590, there are only 6 excommunications recorded, for example, giving the lie to a common misperception that all the kirk ever seemed to do was to chuck folk out - rather, it was a case of the kirk doing everything it could to try to keep folk in.
Context matters.

Perp and Flick: when history and sermon collide

They kick off the start of the HCWR [History of Christianity as a World Religion] seminar series each year for 1st year undergraduates at New College. 
Having been both a student and, latterly, a tutor of said course they have a special place in my heart; 'they' being Perpetua and Felicity and the story of their martyrdom in the arena at Carthage somewhere between 203-211 CE. 
The first year I tutored this course, one of my lovely students presented her findings in the seminar complete with family holiday snaps - they'd been to the site of the martyrdom.  She also brought in some fantastic home baking - and yes, she got an 'A' :)  But I digress...
 
Why not go ahead and read The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their Companions?  Fascinating, disturbing, odd, and heroic in turns - what is rather fabby about it is that here is an early document that may have been actually written by a woman; highly unusual and for that fact alone - if we believe the claims of authorship - a must-read.

Having recently been listening to complaints re. the pointlessness of doing a degree in the pursuit of training for ministry, it delighted the cockles of my aged history-loving heart to read a sermon in which Perp and Flick feature.
So, with a shout-out to the wonderful Martha I link to the sermon for your edification and delight.

No, really, I am not doing any thesis-diverting, nope, not at all... plus, I have just written a paper for a conference next week... and I've done lots of work today, honest...
*wonders if this last smacks rather too much of desperate attempt at convincing self?*