Captain's Blog for February/March 2019

It might be because I spend a good deal of my time with smaller rural Churches that I hear lots of stories of despair. Low numbers, ageing congregations, money problems, nobody coming to help, etc. etc. etc. 

I am on a bit of a campaign to change this negative narrative that has a tendency to become a self-fulfilling prophesy.  So I was delighted to be invited by the Rural Hope Team from Salisbury Diocese to be a speaker at two 24 hour residential's  (same presentation twice).  One was for rural ministers in the north of the diocese and then another two weeks later for minsters from the southern region of the diocese. 

The presentation was called ‘A Vision Expressed’ and I began by getting them to consider their dreams and vision and write that down on a postcard.  We then moved into the importance of Story. In particular I focused on the need to move from being Church Congregations to becoming Faith Communities.   Faith Communities, who are committed at the core, open at the edges, evangelised and naturally evangelising. 

We explored five key stories through a variety of exercises. Our personal faith story, our Faith Community story, our wider community story, the Jesus story and finally God’s big overarching story, the redemption of the cosmos.

I was a tad nervous to begin with but once we got going everything was fine and it was great to see their engagement. Hopefully I have left them with various tools and models they can take back to their parishes and begin to change the narrative.

Back on home turf I am delighted that we now have a Rural Officer for Salop whom I met over coffee. We also have another one coming on stream for the Staffordshire area. Again he and I are to meet shortly to discuss the role. We also have a great Rural Mission Team with two ‘Conversations & Consultations’ coming up in March plus our Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/184152225508512/

I had a change in a couple of diarised engagements this month. I was scheduled to accompany Alan Betts on the last session of ‘Frontline Discipleship’ at St Laurence’s, Biddulph. This was looking at Intentional Relationships and Small Groups. 

Jane and I sadly had to attend the funeral of Jo, Jane’s sister-in-law. It meant a 500 mile round trip in one day as we had to go via Oswestry to pick up Jane’s sister. But it was definitely the right decision to go and I did allow myself a lie in the next day!

I also had to reschedule another engagement, a Rural Consultation & Networking event hosted by Stafford Borough Council. I was representing FCN. Thankfully we did have another two FCN volunteers in attendance.

My reason for non-attendance was due to being asked to go and have a CT scan following some anomalies which had shown up in a couple of blood tests. The day before a CT scan you have to follow a special diet and then fast plus drinking Gastrografin, so staying and working from home seemed most advisable! I am still awaiting results.

I had my regular monthly trip to St Anne’s, Brown Edge and this time we just nudged into double figures!  These good people are not only talking a negative narrative, they are living it out! Please pray for them.

Towards the end of last year I was part a small group who had ‘guided conversations’ with several key Church Leaders on behalf of Love Stafford. We were seeking to discern if there is a heart and mind for further development. We followed that up this year with a Church Leaders lunch time gathering when the findings were presented which led into a wider discussion. To our delight they have elected to have a quarterly ‘Church Leaders Forum’ to discuss town wide plans and projects. The first Forum is on March 13^th when they will be discussing, among others things, the idea of a Churches Festival Week in June 2020.   

Lastly we had another great time 'Chewing the Cud' at Amerton Craft Farm. Hosted by FCN we simply invite anybody and everybody to come and drink tea/coffee and 'chew the cud.' It is always great fun and we never know how many are going to turn up or how the conversation is going to go, but we always seem to happily chat away for a couple of hours.  

Then following that I had a similar meeting this time with our local Church Army Cluster Group. A small number of us gathered, but we still had a valuable time looking at Scripture, sharing our stories and praying for each other.

        

      Some appointments & engagements for March

Friday 1^st

Tabitha’s birthday!

Saturday 2^nd – Saturday 9^th

We are in Cornwall

On Sunday 3^rd Isla is being Baptised at Holy Trinity, St Austell. She is Daniel and Tracey’s third daughter, born last October.

Sunday 10^th

Preaching and Leading Service of the Word, St Anne’s, Brown Edge.

Monday 11^th

Meeting with Peter Hardy over lunch to discuss the role of Staffordshire Rural Officer

Tuesday 12^th

Stafford Deanery Chapter – to be addressed by Director of Mission, George Fisher

Wednesday 13^th

Rural Mission Team – ‘Conversation & Consultation’ morning exploring presence in worship and community

Thursday 14^th

I am joining the Diocesan Vocation Advisors at a review & training session. They have invited me to speak about what I have discerned and discovered in my own vocation.

Saturday 16^th

St John’s (home church) is holding a day to explore our gifts and how we might use them.  (This is following a sermon series exploring ‘gifts.’)

Sunday 17^th

Stafford Half Marathon - I am running for the Mothers’ Union

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gordon-banks9

Monday 18th

Lunch time meeting with Gareth, Mission Development Officer, Coventry Diocese. We had to postpone a Rural Consultation Day working with Rural Mission Solutions, so we are meeting to see if we can find another way forward.

Tuesday 19^th

Meeting with my own Spiritual Companion. And in the evening a meeting for Stafford Litter Heroes with the Borough Council.

Wednesday 20^th

Rural Mission Team – ‘Conversation & Consultation’ morning exploring presence in worship and community. Same as before (13^th) but in the evening, starting with a meal.

Thursday 21^st

Jane’s birthday!

Sunday 24^th

Preaching at St John’s, Stafford (home church) and in the afternoon Tixall and Ingestre Messy Church

Wednesday 27^th

Prayer Gathering of the Stafford Prison Fellowship Group.

Saturday 30^th

Graham, a Staffordshire FCN volunteer, has organised a Folk and Fork Night to raise funds for the work of FCN. 

In Memoriam

‘In Memoriam’

In loving memory

The card did read,

Flowers all tied up

With a sombre bow

The card, like the flowers,

Like Mr Stockwell are rotting;

Committed to the earth,

Human become humus

Who would have thought

A little bay boy

Would some day

Grow old and die

A young vibrant man

Would be the cause of so much grief

To those who mourn

His passing from among us

And why do we bewail,

Is it not that we see how frail

How close we are to death,

Yes, closer with each breath

I will make A to Z

A pleasant affair,

I will make it a hell

For others and myself

But all must pass on

Beyond, out of reach,

Save for the cranks

And the love of God

© Gordon Banks June 1981

Mr. Hopkins Visits A Council Flat

Always having had an interest in poetry I watched a programme about Gerald Manley Hopkins and afterwards felt moved to write this little poem.

Mr. Hopkins Visits A Council Flat

They say, write of beauty,

Of 'dappled things'

And 'brindled cows'

Daffodils and running brooks.

Speak of beauty you ask

When my daily view

Is concrete, graffiti,

Rubbish and puke,

Results of over indulgence,

Seasonal folly

A 'trying to forget.'

Beauty, beauty, beauty,

I do see it

In people,

So often buried

Deep, deep down,

Occasionally seen in a smile

And laughing eyes.

Man used to smile often

But then forgot how,

So God sent him from the garden

To live on a council estate,

Then moved in next door.

Funny thing is

People think he's the caretaker

And responsible

For throwing beauty away.

Gordon Banks (c) 6^th January 1986.

Put out to the deep - transcript of sermon St Anne's Brown Edge 10/02/2019

Sermon St Anne’s, Brown Edge The Fourth Sunday before Lent

Isaiah 6.1-8[9-13] Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15.1-11 Luke 5.1-11

It is a historical fact that Jesus lived and died.

The question that remains however is did Jesus die and live.

Say yes to that question and everything changes.

Say no and still everything changes but in a different way and a different order.

Say no and you are wasting your time here this morning. You might be better going to the Garden Centre and grabbing a bacon butty.

Because if you say no, then all of this Church and Christian malarkey is based on lies, miss-truths, speculations, hearsay and a bunch of other stuff.

Basically it is built on sand and sham.

As we read in 1 Cor 15.17 ‘And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.’

Words from St Paul, who originally said no to the resurrection then following a dramatic encounter with the risen Jesus, said yes – and his life was turned upside down or perhaps the right way up.

And as we heard this morning he also wrote these words to the Christian Community in Corinth…

 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died

Here in these words lie some of the credibility behind the resurrection.

Then he (Jesus) appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died

Well then – if Paul says there are over five hundred people who met with Jesus let’s go and ask them and check out the veracity of this claim.

Unless Paul was sure of the resurrection this was either a bold or a stupid thing to say that could easily refute claims of the resurrection by asking some of the witness who claimed to have seen him.

Another piece of evidence is in front of you and all around you, this building and the People of God, the Church.

How could a small group of frightened and dispirited followers of Jesus move with such boldness and conviction that within a short time Faith Communities were being established across the known world and eventually the might of Rome would capitulate to the Gospel message.

And although the Church has wandered off the straight and narrow path, quite seriously on occasions, and although there are dark periods and stains on the Church it still remains a powerful force for good across the world.

In our own country Christian’s contribute thousands of hours in social care and other practical expressions of the Faith - Loving God and Loving Neighbour. 

Without the Christian Church the social fabric of this country would quickly disintegrate.

However we can still lose sight of the primary calling of the Church, and that includes this Church.

ABC Justin Welby I believe  summed it up succinctly when he said this…

“I want to start by saying just two simple sentences about the church. First, the church exists to worship God in Jesus Christ.

Second, the Church exists to make new disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything else is decoration. Some of it may be very necessary, useful, or wonderful decoration – but it is decoration.”

Let’s go out on a limb this morning and let me ask you what you think of this idea, turn to your neighbour and chat about it for a minute.

I would argue that without the latter, the making of disciples, the former would not happen.

Because who are those who worship God in Christ Jesus, today’s disciples.

No disciples = no worship of God

We have in our Gospel and in our reading from Isaiah two models to help us think through how we are called to this task of making disciples.

From our passage in Isaiah we hear an individual call to be as a prophet to the people.

You and I have a personal and an individual call upon our lives as Christians.

 ‘You are a unique and irreplaceable actor in the drama of human history, and Jesus Christ has need of you to make known his salvific work in this particular place and at this particular moment in history.’  

Michael Quoist ‘The Christian Response’

Each and every one of us has a distinct and unique vocation.

And it is this distinct and unique contribution that goes towards the building up of the body of Christ.

And it was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for works of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, as we mature to the full measure of the stature of Christ.… Ephesians 4.11-13

If you are not playing your part you are playing apart.

Then let us consider the story we heard from Luke’s Gospel.

And here I want to draw attention to the corporate nature of the Church, the Body of Christ, the Faith Community, the People of God.

Following a time of teaching Jesus invites Peter to put out for a catch. To a seasoned fisherman this is all nonsense; fish go down deeper in the middle of the day, that’s why you fish at night or early morning.

But as daft as it might sound Peter obeys.

For a very small Methodist Chapel in Polzeath the idea that they could do much more than accept the large sum offered for the premises seemed a tad ridiculous.

                                          www.tubestation.org

Yet they went to prayer, made contacts, looked to God and today that little Chapel is called Tubestation, a Fresh Expression of Church.  It is still a Methodist Church but now serves the surfer community with a cafe and has a regular through flow of over 30,00 people a year and with contacts across the world.

What might God want to do here at St Anne’s, Brown Edge – or do you think God has finished with you and you are merely seeing your time out until this fishing vessel is hauled ashore or sold on?

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

Who might be your partners in the task of making disciples? Perhaps ‘Connect 2’, which is also a Fresh Expression of Church here in Brown Edge.

It is now well established and flourishing, meeting in St Anne’s school every Sunday afternoon.

And here is the key verse I implore you to hear, take to heart and put into action like Peter did, although what he was asked to do all sounded a bit ridiculous at the time.

‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch. 

Put out into the deep in prayer.

Put out into the deep in discipleship.

Put out into the deep in study of the Scriptures.

Put out into the deep of fellowship with one another.

Put out into the deep and see who else might come alongside you to help bring in a great catch.

Put out into the deep – or, prepare to haul your boat ashore, cast your nets into a corner and spend your remaining days talking about how good the fishing used to be and how much easier it was in the old days.  The choice is yours to make!

 

Let me close with a prayer attributed to Sir Francis Drake, hoping and praying you will make it your own.

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.