Captain's Log July 2014

Wivelsfield Weekend 11th - 13th July

And the sun shone…

It has always been such a delight to join St Peter and St John the Baptist, Wivelsfield for their Village Day. 

Jane and I went up and stayed over for the weekend in the Caravan that despite its great age continues to hold together – just! 

Alongside the interactive Church Display we offered the usual badge & key-ring making, Psalm Reading and Garden Games.  The Saturday naturally spills over into the Sunday and Café Church in the Village Hall. The theme for the weekend was ‘Hero’s’ and as part of the Service Jane and I offered the fantastic story of David & Goliath told as two opposing football teams. (It was World Cup Final day!)  I picked this up some years ago and it really is a lot of fun and gets across a great message at the end. 

Happy to send you a copy if you like and you might be able to view it on their FB page. 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/WivelsfieldParishChurch

Spiritual Directors Course – this month we concluded the year long Introduction to Spiritual Direction. I have been part of the small team who have worked alongside the tutors doing all things practical. I went through this Course last year and so this was an opportunity to go through the material again plus some different aspects of spirituality. I especially liked the one that focused on male and female spirituality.  I am currently reading through Stephen Cottrell’s

book From the Abundance of the Heart: Catholic Evangelism for All Christians.  He strongly emphasises the place of prayer and the need for a deep spirituality alongside the task of evangelism. We need to travel deep into the Father heart of God and in so doing we will find our motivation to share that love with others both in word and in actions.

This month also saw our 32^nd Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated with a lovely meal at one of our favourite Vegetarians Restaurants in Brighton, ‘Food for Friends.’  Sadly many restaurants are a bit like churches when it comes to the ‘vegetarian option.’ Occasionally there is nothing at all on offer, or maybe one or two dishes, and as Jane says, that’s not a choice it’s an ultimatum.

Some Churches also offer a very limited menu for ways of engaging with God in worship!

Part of the need is to embrace some of the seismic shifting and changing taking place in the Church of England, and I am not simply talking about woman being accepted to the Episcopate. We really have to discern and discover what kind of Church God would have us be in the 21st century. I have been revisiting Sodal & Modal and especially the paper by George Lings on this and found it very helpful and insightful.