Back from Sabbatical!

Posted on Thursday, September 3, 2009 by rupert

sabbatical1 So I am back!  I had thought I might spend more time blogging, but in the end there were others things that I was doing that seemed more important.  So here is a summary of the way in which I spent my time:

  • At the beginning, I had a week-long course on conflict transformation, run by the London Mennonite Centre.  I blogged some of my reflections in a previous post.
  • A few days at home, were followed by a wonderful two week holiday near Ullapool.  We had some pretty reasonable weather; some great exploring, climbing, walking in the surrounding area.  It was a great family holiday, and my Mum and Dad drove all the way from near London, to spend a couple of days with us, partly to celebrate my upcoming 40th Birthday.
  • On our return to Edinburgh in mid-June, I was at Luke & Naomi’s wedding (a couple from our community), followed by a great dinner party with a few friends to celebrate my 40th.  We had some brilliant food, with a gorgeous (and really expensive) rib of beef for the main course.  I had intended to do something else to celebrate over the summer, but time seems to have slipped by!
  • By this point, it was four weeks since I had been at work, and I felt physically refreshed.  I would have done the course and holiday in any case, so this seemed to me to be “real” start to my sabbatical.  I wasn’t coming home to loads of emails, and things to do.  I had eleven weeks stretching before with no set agenda, no demands and tasks, and the day my own to do as I wished. 
  • I started this time with a plan for the days and the week, which in the end, I tweaked a bit, but found the major components stayed the same.
  • There were four major components to my weekly rhythm: prayer & reflection; reading & study; exercise and fellowship.  These are broadly based on a monastic rhythm.
  • I had intended to a have day of prayer each week, but in the end prayer was a greater component (at the start) of each day than I anticipated, so I only had 3 days of prayer during the eleven weeks.
  • Every week, I went to New College Library (the divinity faculty library of Edinburgh University) for most of one day.  It was the first time I had been in the library since I had graduated 16 years previously!  These days were one of the highlights of my sabbatical – I intend retaining this practice now I am back at work.
  • Each week I went to the gym 2 or 3 times a week.  This was the first serious exercise I have done for a long time (apart from cycling around the centre of town a bit), and I feel hugely different for being fitter.  I also intend making this a regular part of my weekly rhythm when back at work.
  • I spent quite a proportion of my time reading books (on leadership, gifts and strengths, preaching and communication and a number of Eugene Peterson books!) and on personal reflection.  I also spend a fair amount of time meditating and praying Scripture – mostly in a few passages, returning to them regularly.  The key passages I spent time meditating on were: Psalm 23, 24, 27, 51; Mt 5; Lk 10:38-42; Lk 15:12-32.
  • We had intended on visiting other churches, but in the end we only went to two.  In the end, going to unfamiliar churches with 3 small children, isn’t easy, and we found it difficult to engage with the service while fulfilling our parental responsibilities.  In the end, we spend our weekends doing jobs in the garden, visiting our wider family, seeing friends, and hanging out together a family.
  • I basically spent Monday to Friday during the day in prayer, reading, study etc.   I would sometimes see some people during the evenings and we enjoyed having two days off over a weekend!
  • Part of my prayer for the sabbatical time was to have a renewed sense of God’s call and vocation, and to be clearer about my priorities in the coming years.  God is answering this prayer for me.
  • My sense, too, in coming in to this season of withdrawing (retreat) from work and all it demands (and joys!) was that it was more about what God would do in me, than anything I might accomplish.  I didn’t realise how true this would be, nor how profoundly the change that I needed and God wanted to do.  But that story is (possibly) for another post…
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Jesus stands before you…

Posted on Wednesday, September 2, 2009 by rupert

what do you want me do for you So Jesus is standing before you, and he is asking a question:  “What do you want me to do for you?”  What do you reply?

It seems such an innocent question.  But it penetrates deeply to our core.  This is no ordinary offer of help.  This is Jesus.  And he is offering to do something for you.  Anything.  You just need to name it.

This was the question that a man, many years ago, was asked by Jesus.  He had an immediate answer for Jesus: “I want to see” for he was blind and therefore had no money, wasn’t able to work, and had to rely on begging to just to survive.  He was the poorest of the poor, in a society that had a lot of poor people.  Jesus spoke some words, and the man was able to see.  You can read this story in Lk 18:35-43.

Four years ago, while on holiday in France, I was meditating on this Scripture.  I had a strong sense that Jesus was asking me that question: it was a serious question that he was looking for an answer for.  He might even grant what I asked for!  But what should I ask for?  The more I thought about it, the more I realised what a penetrating question it was.  And most of the answers I could think of, seemed so superficial, so shallow, so transitory.  The question revealed something:  the desires of my heart, and what I saw there was more carnal that I cared to admit.

So I return to my question:  Jesus is standing in front of you, and asking you a question:  “What do you want me to do for you?”  What would you reply?  What would you ask Jesus to do?

It has taken me four years to figure out an answer.  But this summer, I finally settled on an answer, hoping Jesus had been patient with me, as he waited for an answer.  It turns out, that I wasn’t the first to ask this of him.  What did I ask him?  Well for that, you will need to come to Community Church this Sunday (6th September) at 10.30am to find out…

Posted in Bible, Community Church Edinburgh, Engaging with Scripture | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Transforming Conflict – Some reflections

Posted on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 by rupert

Last week, in the first week of my sabbatical, I attended what I had been calling a “conflict resolution” course.

barbed wire On the first day, I realised I hadn’t come to a conflict resolution course at all, but a “conflict transformation” course.  Now that might seem like semantics, but there is the wor(l)d of difference.

In many circles (perhaps especially business), there is discussion around “managing conflict”.  The idea is to effectively minimise conflict, contain it, and eventually sweep it away, preferably without having to face it.  Conflict Resolution is a second understanding of  reducing conflict within organisations.  The danger here, is that there is somehow the prospect that all conflict can be resolved, some unanimity found, a common agreement.  But that is not always the case, and potentially can lead to the suppression of conflict within an organisation.  What we were being offered was “conflict transformation” … a way of transforming the conflict from a potential danger to potential opportunity, and in the process transforming the individuals involved and their relationship.  Resolution may never be achieved, but transformation can be, and even if resolution is achieved, transformation takes it deeper.

And the course was certainly transformational .  At the beginning we were invited to draw an image that depicted conflict for us.  Most of us, myself included, drew something with negative connotations.  By the end of the week, we were all invited again to draw an image, and I certainly felt much more positive towards the idea of conflict, realising that I have some skills to engage with conflict constructively, that it is a normal part of being human and engaging with other humans, and it doesn’t have to be destructive, but can be constructive.

Of course, conflict can escalate quickly, and can be devastating.  I have some experience of this.  But conflict suppression is no antidote for bad handling of conflict.  Churches are experts at both, but we should be world leaders at transforming conflict.  We have the model and the teaching of Jesus, and the work of the Spirit today, that can bring us to healthy engagement with conflict.

One of our values at a church community is “celebrating diversity”.  We certainly have some diversity, and resist attempts at conformity.  But I am not sure we have learnt to celebrate that diversity – a culture within our community that encourages difference, learns from others perspectives that are different from ours, embraces others, and engages constructively with conflict. 

I need to learn to draw out the voices of people who see things differently, who disagree with me or the prevailing wisdom, who have alternative perspectives to share.  This will enrich us, and help us to discern together God’s presence and leading, and respect & engage everyone within our community.

And this was just from session 1!  More reflections to follow.

If you had to draw an image of conflict what would that be?  Do you thing conflict could ever be constructive?

 

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Posted in Community Church Edinburgh, Conflict Transformation, Unity & Diversity | Tagged | 1 Comment

Sabbatical

Posted on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 by rupert

sabbatical1So, I am on Sabbatical.

Since graduating from New College (Theology) at Edinburgh University in 1993, I have been working for our church.  16 years later, I get to stop for a few months, withdraw from the demands of work and take time to be replenished, refreshed & restored.

Sabbatical, comes from the word Sabbath, a Hebrew word that means to desist or cease (from work). In his book simply called “The Sabbath“, Abraham Joshua Hershel  writes of the Sabbath:

He who wants to enter the holiness of the day must first lay down the profanity of clattering commerce, of being yoked to toil … He must say farewell to manual work and learn to understand that the world has already been created and will survive without the help of man.

What is true of Sabbath, is true for Sabbatical.  For me, to understand that the world (and the church) has already been created, and will survive without the help of Rupert.  Hard to believe I know, but here is one of the lessons of Sabbatical.

However, contrary to some popular misconceptions, this is not an extended holiday!  I will be taking a couple weeks holiday near Ullapool with the family, but in the main, the next few months are a chance to stop doing the day to day activities of leading a church.  Some, maybe, are wondering what I will be doing with my time, and how I intend making the most of this amazing opportunity.

  • I have just got back from a “Transforming Conflict” training course for church leaders, run by the Bridge Builders from the London Mennonite Centre.  I will (try) to blog a bit about some of my reflections in another post.
  • I sense that being too goal orientated will detract from what God wants to do in me.  My internal journey  (process) is more important than specific outputs (outcomes).  Withdrawing from work & church gives me a chance to disentangle God and church, Rupert the person from Rupert the Pastor, the Bible from a sermon text, books for personal learning rather than informing my work in church etc.
  • I intend having some rhythm over a day & week.  Drawing from monastic traditions, I intend mixing my day & week with prayer (& silence), study (& reading), something physical (walking / gym?) and hospitality (community).
  • I am going to base some prayer around daily offices from the Northumbria Community.
  • I intend having one day a week out of Edinburgh, to pray.
  • I am continuing to meet with a local minister about once a month, who is helping me refine my strengths and calling.
  • I would like to meet with a spiritual director during this time, but as yet this is still to be arranged.
  • We will not be at our church on Sunday’s during this time, but do intend visiting some other churches around Edinburgh.  It will be interesting to see what they are up to.
  • I hope to do a bit of blogging during this time – check in here, to see what I am up to, and learning.
  • And I am hoping to do a little less, go out with Pippa a bit (babysitting anyone?), and enjoy not being out so many evenings!

Having said I don’t want to be too outcome focused, I do want to make the most of this time.  So here are some of things I am hoping (and you could be praying !) from this time:

  • I want to position myself in a place before the Lord for Him to do His work in me.
  • I am looking for clarity and focus concerning my contribution to our church community.
  • I am desiring replenishment, seeking to return to church leadership with a greater sense of vigour and energy.
  • I intend to do some study on leadership, communication & preaching, church systems & conflict, and the sermon on the mount.
  • I would like to do some writing.
  • I am hoping that, when as usual I think I can do more than time actually allows, I am kind to myself.

 

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Sermon on the Mount – Salt and Light (Part 1)

Posted on Monday, March 30, 2009 by rupert
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Sermon on the Mount

salt-and-lightSo we proceed to the next verses of the Sermon of the Mount (Mt 5:13-16):

You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Often these verses have been used to encourage individuals in “personal evangelism”.  However, we need to bear in mind that Jesus has in mind here a community, a Kingdom Community, who demonstrate to the world there is a different way to live.

In our English this is masked by the the world “you” which can be either singular or plural.  The Greek is clear: it is plural, you could translate “you folks”.  You folks are the salt of the earth.  You folks are the light of the world.  The community of people, who live out the sermon on the mount, are salt and light, in the way they live together.  In the way they sort out their differences.  In the way they are faithful to each other.  In the way they are people of integrity, doing what they say will do.  In the way they don’t retaliate and love each other. 

They show a world that is watching, there is a different way to live.  A world that is so often characterised by grudges, bitterness, unforgiveness, revenge, unfaithfulness, lying, hatred. 

It all seems so reasonable.  If someone offends you, get your own back.  Or at very least, don’t let him do that again.  And probably a few judicially placed words to others, to make sure (of course) that they can’t do the same to others. 

Stay married.  Until it is better for you to separate.  Feeling stifled?  Feeling unfulfilled? Arguing all the time? Found someone else?  Well then go on, its OK, start again…

Look out for yourself.  No one else will.  So its good to be honest, until you find yourself in a situation where lying is a better option.  To cover up indiscretion and incompetence.  To climb the ladder.  Dog eat dog is justified as that’s the way the world works.

But Jesus calls his followers to a different way.  To live it together.  And to live it in such a way that others who aren’t followers of The Way, can see there is a different way.

 

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Sermon on the Mount 2

Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2009 by rupert
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Sermon on the Mount

So we come to the Beatitudes in the series on the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:3-12).  These have sometimes been ignored (as impossible to live up to); sometimes seen as Jesus setting the demands of Holy Living so high that we are driven to Him to find grace; and occasionally as entrance requirements to the Kingdom (you must be like this to enter the Kingdom…).

Beatitudes Most commonly, though, they have been presented, as ideal or virtues that “good” Christians should aspire towards.  Hence they are sometimes called the “be-attitudes”!  To read them this way, does require some gymnastics with the mean of the words, which are invariably spiritualised.  So “blessed are those who mourn” is taken from it clear meaning of people who have suffered some kind of bereavement or loss, to people who mourn or grieve over their Sin.

To understand the Matthew passage, we must also keep in mind Luke’s version of the beatitudes (Lk 6:20-23), which invariably make the blessing more gritty and earthy:  blessed are the poor (instead of Matthew’s poor in spirit); blessed are the hungry (rather than those who hunger and thirst after righteousness).  Further insight in gleaned when we consider Isa 61, which has many echoes of the people that Jesus is referring to in the beatitudes, but Isa 61 it clear that the Holy Spirit is to break in the lives of these people to bring deliverance, to set them free, to comfort them, to bring hope instead of mourning.

All this pushes us to reconsider the beatitudes.  It seems to me that they speak, not so much as virtues to aspire for, but they say more about what God blesses.  He blesses people, that the world around us considers not worthy of being blessed.

You don’t have to be like these to people to be blessed.

But if you are like these people you can be blessed by God.

The “poor” being refereed to here, are the lowest of the low of society.  The unclean and the expendable.  The drop outs, the dregs, the failures, the won’t be missed, not noticed, irrelevant of society.  The ones that are hidden away, an embarrassment, shunned, pushed, trodden down.  And Jesus says that even they can be blessed by God.   The Kingdom is theirs.   The values of the Kingdom are turning everything upside down. 

We live in a world (and often a church) that blesses the successful, go getters, rich, powerful, attractive, those people who have got it together.  But Jesus blesses people in spite of their inadequacies.  Not because they are virtuous.  But in spite of their brokenness and failure.

And we are called to be like Jesus, and do the same.

 

 

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I will write in a later post my view of the other blessings in Matthew 5.

Posted in Community Church Edinburgh, Sermon on the Mount | Tagged | 2 Comments

Sermon on the Mount

Posted on Monday, January 19, 2009 by rupert
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series Sermon on the Mount

 

sermon-on-the-mount Over the next year in our church, I am speaking on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).  Over the last few months, I have been reflecting on the famous inaugural speech from Jesus, as he seems to outline his manifesto.  It is gripping, scary, and very enticing.  Imagine a world where everyone lived this sermon?  Where we loved our enemies, sorted out our differences, remained faithful to those we loved in heart and action, where we resolved our anger towards others, didn’t worry about tomorrow but trusted God, where we didn’t judge others, and weren’t consumed by the pursuit of money, but served God?

Sounds a bit like heaven on earth.

And so, this last Sunday, I opened the series, primarily looking at the context for the sermon.  Here is a summary.  You can listen to it here, once it is uploaded in a day or two.  Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated, as we learn together, and discern what God is saying to us.

 

 

The Context

Jesus came announcing the Kingdom had come, and was here (Mt 4:17).  Now.  Not some future hope (although it was surely that too).  But the possibility of living in the Kingdom on earth, now.  Here.

To demonstrate that the Kingdom had come, Jesus  travelled throughout Galilee, healing people who were sick and ill, setting people free, and preaching about the Kingdom (Mt 4:23-25).  Crowds followed him, as this revival spread.  And we come to Mt 5:1-2 …

Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them saying:

Jesus left the revival (as good as it was) because it was too small a vision.  I believe he had seen something about the Kingdom, that was wouldn’t just change a few people’s lives, but change the world.

A New Community

Jesus saw a community of God’s people, who would live out the Kingdom life, on earth.  Groups of people, who would realise the instability of the worlds system, that one day will eventually pass away, and would live with a different set of values.

For ages, I have always thought of the sermon on the mount as an individual ethic.  But it isn’t.  It is how we can live in Christian community.  A community that will embody the Kingdom.  Jesus leaves the crowds; his disciples follow (not the 12, as they weren’t all together yet – but a group of people who were willing to follow Jesus).  Jesus has a vision of them forming a visible Christian community, that would show people there is a different (and better) way to live.

resident aliensA Missional Community

This community is at its heart, a missional community.  Not necessarily in what is does, but in who it is.  We are salt and light.  We reveal the nature of God, by the way we love, and forgive, and trust God, and don’t judge, and don’t rely on power, manipulation, status, or position.

We don’t form community that is hidden or removed from the world in which we live.  We live this out, in the midst of the world around.  But we aren’t of the same system.  As Hauerwas says in the title of his book, we are “resident aliens”

Turn the world upside down

Jesus invites us into this kind of community.  It isn’t a question of are we saved or not.  Or will we go to heaven.  But to go beyond faith in Christ being for our personal needs, to living and incarnating the Kingdom with others.  And this will turn the world upside down.  When Paul & Silas were in Thessalonica, they upset some of the Jews and people were becoming Christians (were they worried about their diminished influence?) and they went to get them questioned, shouting “these men have caused trouble all over the world!” (NIV).  Which doesn’t sound that attractive to me!  But it is more helpfully translated “these who have turned the world upside down have come here too“. (NKJV).

Jesus left the revival, because he has a vision of a Kingdom and a Kingdom people who would turn the world upside down.  He invites us, to move beyond our allegiances to this system and values that characterise so much of this world, to turn the world upside down. 

Now I think that is worth giving our lives to.

What do you think?

 

I will write some more on the background, and include some of the quotes later in the week.  But in the meantime, here is some food for thought and discussion.

 

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Stewarding Money – Maria’s story

Posted on Friday, November 21, 2008 by rupert

In the last year, our church community has started a venture called The Money Clinic.  It isn’t a debt counselling service, but rather a place for budget coaching and money education.  An analogy that helped me when we setting this up was the difference between surgery or A&E (ER to my US friends) in a hospital or a GP practice.  You have surgery or get rushed to A&E if you are in desperate need of immediate help, but people go to a GP when they are ill, need some help, but not in a life threatening situation.

So with money, people who are on the verge of bankruptcy, who are so heavily in debt need drastic action, and a debt advisor is the place to go.  However, there are huge numbers of people, who aren’t in that desperate situation, but are in debt, who do need help in controlling their finances.  That is where "The Money Clinic" comes in, through either meeting with the person individually, or providing some group training: we help people get in control of their finances.

Neil Duguid, who set up the Money Clinic, sent me this brilliant short video about Maria’s story, of how she got control of her finances using an envelope cash system, that will become clear as you watch the video … 

It is 10 minutes long; I found it very moving, and really worth watching.  This is how I would love to be helping people, with good money management principles, regardless of their connection with church or otherwise.  I think it is the kind of thing that Jesus would be doing – freeing people from the tyranny of serving money.

Posted in Church, Community Church Edinburgh, Missional, Social Justice | Tagged | 1 Comment

Welcoming – how not to do it!

Posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008 by rupert
This entry is part 5 of 5 in the series Welcoming

This has landed in my inbox from Brian Donaldson, and Neil has also posted it.  But for completeness, here it is on this blog.

I found myself cringing, as I recognised how excruciating is can be for people who are not used to church culture, arriving in something that anyone who has been around church for more than a few years gets immune to!

I had an interesting experience, going to a 4 day coaching events for the business world, which is not a world I have any real experience of at all.  There were about 15 of us in total, including some very high flyers from some very well known and large businesses and multinationals.  As they described their work and world, they might as well have been talking Greek as far as I was concerned – I just didn’t understand the language.  When they explained what they meant, I actually understood what they were talking about, but is very easy to feel that you are not part of the "in crowd" or to feel a bit stupid because you don’t understand what everyone else seems to.  I wonder how often people feel like that when the come to church (any church, whatever your tradition!) for the first time?

I was invited to another such course, in a couple of weeks time.  I felt that familiar tingle of anxiety, as I thought about being in such an unfamiliar environment.  Maybe that is a regular feeling for people as they wake up on a Sunday morning and contemplate entering our unfamiliar environment of church?

What do you think?  What was your reaction on watching this video?

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Welcoming 4 – Drawn in

Posted on Thursday, November 6, 2008 by rupert
This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Welcoming

Another post on Welcoming, as we are exploring what happens when someone comes to our church (community) for the first time.  It is a daunting prospect, new people, new language … but how can we help people get drawn into our community.  We’re following the story of a (fictional) person turning up at our Sunday gathering for the first time.  Comments are welcome and appreciated, from members of our church or otherwise.

 

gartmore Well, your friend did eventually turn up, and you realised that, like any party, “start at ten” means come some time after ten. But, by the end of the event you had met some new people that seemed really interested in you … somehow they managed to make you feel that they were enjoying meeting you. You’d got two invitations back to other things that were happening, and while you weren’t sure quite what would happen there, you knew that you would not feel out of it … at least, not if these new friends had anything to do with it.

That was the first of a whole new journey which redefined what you thought about church, and … a bit later … Jesus. In fact, it was the start of a journey into finding your place in the church community. A month later, you feel that some of those initial friends were rather like doors … opening into a whole new community. One person seemed to lead to another, and now you are beginning to belong in this new circle of friends.

Why did it work? The Welcome Table at the back didn’t appear in this story, and neither did rotas or smiley badges. No new visitor form, to be followed up by a pastoral team. Just people, after a shakey start in this case, kicking in and drawing the new visitor in and befriending them.

What we are looking at is how to make the organic approach work better, and also to put a parallel system in place underneath this to try to ensure that new members are drawn in. Do you have any ideas about how this would work?

What about having a picture gallery of all of us, on a couple of the MDF boards? Perhaps also doing this for us grouped into cells? Or getting more pics into the online directory … or are we pressuring people too much? What about more weekends and social functions? Book a hostel and go to Loch Ossian, or Comrie, or New Lanark for the weekend? Or just leave it as it is?

 

Post written by Neil Duguid as part of this series.  Other posts: Part 1, 2, & 3.

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