God Unknown

I'm currently on Sabbatical (study leave) for 3 months, which is a fantastic privilege. Because of family commitments it's not easy to go away for a lot of the time but we have spent Holy week and Easter on Iona (which will be my next post). I've also enjoyed going to church as a normal punter, having a relaxed pace and having the time to read.

This book is one I've been reading.
It's a good read and nicely thought provoking. By Ian Mobsby of the Moot Community in London, it's an exploration of the Trinity. He accuses the church of neglecting the importance of the Trinity and sees "Emerging Churches", such as Moot, as calling us back to a more balanced Trinitarian approach.  It is certainly true that in many churches one person of the Trinity is emphasised to the detriment of the others and that this leads to unbalanced theology and practice. It is perhaps not only in Emerging Churches that there is a renewed emphasis on the mystery of the Trinity but he has important things to say about how a fuller Trinitarian Theology can speak into our current cultural setting.

I haven't finished reading the book yet, so might well have more to add but some key words and thoughts are:
Apophatic: An emphasis on the mystery of God, where we talk of what God isn't, and get to understand God by personal experience rather than logical reasoning.
Perichoresis: The mutual, loving relationship of the three persons of the Trinity. A dance of love, that invites us in.
Panentheism: God's active presence in all of creation (Not the same thing as Pantheism, which limits God to being the same as nature)

Ian makes good use of Rublev's Icon of the Trinity, which has spoken to many of the importance of the mutual interconnectedness of the persons of the Trinity. Ian has found this Icon to be very important in many Fresh Expressions of church, although in my experience it has a wider appeal and usage than he credits. He has some challenging things to say about our current post-modern cultural setting where "spirituality" is viewed positively but traditional forms of church are not. There are very positive opportunities for the church if we are able to seize them but also dangers. We certainly need to speak in new ways, which are often actually old ways. Ian speaks of the Ancient: Future Church as one that doesn't use modern, rational arguments but rediscovers the mystery of God and invites people in to experience the more complex Trinitarian God who is Creator, Redeemer & Sustainer.

We live in interesting times. The internet has radically changed our relationship with information, we are more defined by what we consume than what we do, we are loathe to commit but keen to try out. In this milieu the church needs to find new ways to authentically discover more of what God is doing in God's world and share this with others. Ian Mobsby has some useful thoughts for us and I certainly think that diving into the mystery of the Perichoretic Trinity needs to be at the heart of what we do.

Changing face of Salford

I've been in my current post for a little over 10 years and although I realise that this part of Salford has changed a lot in that time I forget just how much. I've dug out some photos from early 2005 that I took from the tower of Sacred Trinity Church and taken the same view today to compare. The changes are striking.

 Looking North

Looking towards Victoria Station

Looking West 

St Philip's Church tower was there, then it wasn't!

   Quebec Building

 North again

Silver Jubilee of Priesting

This year it is 25 years since I was ordained priest and I have been in active ministry ever since. I held a little gathering recently and reflected on what I have learnt in 25 years. It largely isn’t great.

I have learned that I have not got any better at what I do but I have learned to cope with my failings, perhaps a little better.

I have learned that however often I tidy my office at home it will always get messy again.

I have learned that even if I write reminders in my diary I always prepare at the very last minute

I have learned that I forget a lot of things and my memory is not getting any better. I meet people in Sainsbury’s and know I know them but can’t remember their name. Often I remember just after they’ve gone.

I sometimes forget to turn up to meetings but not very often.

I have learned that our buildings are a blessing and a curse – I love showing people round, I love the “wow”, I love being able to go on the roof at St Phil’s… I don’t love the constant feeling that I need to work on a funding bid and having to unblock the toilets and put the chairs away and I know it shouldn’t always rely on me but when I’m the one who is here and the toilet is blocked right now, I unblock the toilet!

I count it a privilege to be with people at profound moments in their life. To be with people as they die and to visit a new baby.

I still sometimes cry after a funeral and occasionally during it. I still love doing weddings and am immensely grateful for my own marriage. I love doing baptisms in all the crazy ways they come to us, the gorgeous little babies, the screaming babies, the toddlers who don’t co-operate, the youngsters who ask big questions, the adults who really commit and the adults who aren’t sure but want to be baptized.

I have learned that it is usually good to say yes and usually bad to say no but sometimes I should really have said no. Perhaps it is okay to say no to doing a wedding on Christmas day! But I hope that I always remember the primacy of Love. I believe in a God of love who is at the heart of everything and calls us to love. I have grown to love the community I find myself in and its people. Yes I sometimes get annoyed but I try to remember to love people and usually the more you get to know them the more you love them.

So thank you for putting up with me. I am constantly in need of your forgiveness and the forgiveness of God but despite my own failings I have loved doing what I do. I pray that sometimes God has been at work in me and that somehow together we make the love of God a little more real.