Sunday, June 08, 2008
Finished
Last day of ERMC. A final Group D worship session, breakfast, a 3rd session on global Christianity: Cathy did a fascinating presentation on Indian Christian spirituality. I'd really like to find out more, actually. So would she, after doing the research, apparently. A round-up Q&A session with staff, then photos, then the final Eucharist. The choir sang the Stanford in G Nunc Dimittis, and I did the baritone solo. Half-way through, I was shaking so hard I could hardly hold the copy still, and nearly threw up. But I kept it together. And it went well.Sad to see people go. But it's done. Nearly 3 years of my life, and the next step is ordination in 3 weeks. I was talking to someone about this last week, and it's a little like before I married Moo. Of course I'm apprehensive, and of course I don't know exactly what I'm letting myself in for, but it's the right thing, and I don't have any doubts about that.
Got home, took the girls out to the local playground, and a little later did a barbecue for a family supper. Ironing in the evening.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Last weekend
(backposting) Well, I didn't stay up too late last night - in bed by 1230 or so. We had a couple of interesting sessions on global Christianity last night. We also had an Exposition of the Sacrament service, which I'd not been involved with. The choir sang Byrd's Ave Verum, which was great. We sang pretty well, I think, and got lots of appreciation. Today we had sessions on the sacraments: detailed ones on baptism and the eucharist, and a more broad one on the sacraments in everyday life, which didn't really gel for me. A final session with Ian, the course director, telling us, mainly to take time off and look after ourselves. Went out to the pub with Sally, Simon and Gary: three folks I'm going to miss. But on the other hand, we all Facebook a lot, so we'll definitely be in touch.Then back to the bar. I'd intended to get to bed around 2200 or 2230, but it ended up being more like 0130. Silly me.
Labels: ERMC
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Today, I shall mostly be ...
- ... sleeping in (but not as long as Jo and Moo)
- ... taking the girls swimming with Moo
- ... spending more money than I meant to in Waitrose
- ... clearing the dog poo off the lawn
- ... mowing the lawn (first time this year, if you exclude the two strims it's had)
- ... stepping in several instances of dog poo that I missed
- ... barbecuing with Si
- ... drinking beer with Si
- ... eating the barbecued food with Si, D, Morgs, Boo, Moo, Jo and Miri
- ... drinking wine with Si and Moo
- ... geeking with Si
- ... whilst drinking more wine with Si
- ... going for a walk with the girls, Moo and Buster
- ... having a bath with the girls (but not Moo and Buster)
- ... putting Jo to bed (very quick!)
- ... clearing around a bit
- ... loading the dishwasher
- ... doing some washing up
- ... and ... finishing my last essay for ERMC. YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS!
Labels: drink, ERMC, family, friends, geekery, swimming, walk
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
I give in
Yup, I've done it. The new barbecue arrived today, and it's a gas one. It's just going to be so much quicker to have barbecues, particularly for the girls, who aren't great at waiting for food. Tried it out for Moo and my supper, and it worked very well. Put it together all on my own, as well.Started on my final ERMC essay tonight. 6,000 words. I've got the first 1,000 or so done, which I was dreading. The next 3,000 or so shouldn't be too hard, and we'll see after that.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
And then home (again)
It seems that a goodly percentage of the posts I'm writing at the moment involve saying that I'm going home, but I don't have plans for any more trips in the next couple of weeks. This morning we had a couple of excellent sessions on Child Protection, which were very useful. Talked, among other things, about how paedophiles groom adults as well as children. Also about ways to make children safer from predators at the same time as making adults safe from false allegations.Got home a couple of minutes before the girls and Moo. We got the paddling pool out, they splashed, we all had a barbecue. Good stuff.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Ethics
(backposting) An excellent, excellent couple of sessions on Christian Ethics with the Rt Revd David Atkinson, the Bishop of Thetford. Arguably the best sessions on any topic over the past 2 and a half years at ERMC. During the afternoon the choir rehearsed the music for tomorrow, and then looked at the Stanford in G Nunc Dimittis. We'd really hope to do the Magnificat as well, but unluckily there's not going to be time to fit it in at the June weekend. I felt for Susannah, as she was going to do the solo for that, but also felt a little guilty, as I'll be doing the solo in the Nunc. However, it's shorter, easier, and fits better with the service we'll be doing it in.We had the ERMC Ball in the evening, which was fun. I even danced. Question: should we have "The Spirit in the Sky" for the Leavers' Service at the June weekend?
Friday, May 09, 2008
ERMC penultimate weekend
(backposting) Yes, our penultimate weekend with ERMC, and the last one at Ditchingham. Stayed up till 0200, which didn't feel that late, as I was still a little lagged.Labels: ERMC
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Last seminar
Today was my last ERMC seminar. It was on ethics, including deontology (we follow do what's right, no matter what) vs consequentialism (the end always justifies the means). Obviously it's rarely as cut and dried as that, but many entrenched ethical arguments often boil down to these two approaches. Also the question of whether we can be told to love, and what laws and commandments are for, came up. Weird that it's the last seminar.Went to Infosec 2008 during the day in Olympia, one of th emost difficult places in London to get to for an exhibition in my experience. Some leads, but not very much.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
ERMC day 3 - "And we shall be changed. We _shall_ be changed"
We had one session yesterday on ministry in schools by on of the people on the course, who's an expert in this field, and we had two more today. Managed to stay awake: they were very interesting, and I know that I'm going to be doing at least one in the next month or two, so paying attention was a good plan.A good service, in the charismatic tradition - the quote (which, in that form, is from Handel's Messiah) was my response to the weekend. Some good songs/choruses (I'm learning not to refer to them as "hymns"), and I was administering one of the chalices today. This was fantastic: it can be good administering the chalice anyway, but it was such a privilege today, when I know those receiving well, and know that they are staff or ordinands like me. It was just very special.
Labels: communion, ERMC, theology
ERMC day 2 - Resurrection and Ascension
A very enjoyable day, with three sessions on Resurrection (Christ's and ours) and Ascension (Christ's). Really got me thinking, and firming up exactly what I believe. Might get round to discussing this at some point, but I ended up being more orthodox than Gary had expected!Stayed up rather late (0300) discussing many things. Must remember these books for the essay I discussed yesterday:
- Celebrating Christian Marriage by Adrian Thatcher
- The Family in Theological Perspective ed. Stephen Barton
- also found this when searching Amazon: Life Together: Family, Sexuality and Community in the New Testament and Today by Stephen Barton
Labels: ERMC, family, theology
Friday, March 07, 2008
ERMC day 1
Got there in the afternoon, had a good session on preparation for essays a number of us need to write on Christian Belief and Ethics. I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to write about: it's a reaction to Edelman's No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive, which I've mentioned before, in terms of eschatology. Only just getting my head round it, but we'll get there.A hint for anyone planning to walk into a nun's bedroom in the middle of the night, assuming it's the bathroom because you've not bothered to check, and you're looking at a copy of Thomas à Kempis' "De imitatione Christi": make sure she doesn't wake up, and get out very quickly.
Picked up a free copy of Thomas à Kempis' "De imitatione Christi" today.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Friday, February 01, 2008
Essay posted
I only have another 6000 words of essays to write for ERMC now: one of 4000 words, and one of 2000. They'll both be on ethical issues, though the first one will be looking at some issues of belief and doctrine as well. Three more weekends.The paperwork's beginning to come through, including Crockfords yesterday and the diocesan directory today. It really does feel like things are actually happening.
Labels: ERMC, ordination
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Essay on Psalm 137
So, I decided that I _could_ use David Gray's "Babylon" as a reading of Psalm 137, and I frankly don't care if I get marked down for it. I think I made a good case for it, so we'll see how it goes. I've sent a copy to Sally, contrary to my usual practice not to send anything out until I've seen a marked copy. This decision is mainly because I can't face bothering enough not to, and because I suspect that Sally will have some interesting things to say about it.Very excitingly, I got a letter from Crockford's today, asking for my details so that they can put me in their publication. This means that I really will be a _proper_ priest at some point. One of the things they asked for was an email address, so I've given them a new one, which I now feel happy about releasing: mike [dot] bursell {at} anglicanpriest *(dot)* org. You can take out the relevant bits and pieces to make that a real address, and see why I've not felt happy about using it until things looked pretty certain.
Miri can now say "cat" pretty distinctively - to the cat, or about it, when she wants to go and see him - and has a sound that she associates with dog (but doesn't sound much like it). She also has a hysterically funny face she does that has been labelled "hippo", where she puts her hands out, opens her mouth very widely, and vibrates her head from side to side. You have to see it. What's particularly amusing about it is that she looks very much like Jo when she does it.
Labels: ERMC, essay, Jo, miri, ordination
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Seminar yesterday
I forgot - I had a seminar yesterday. Richard, the staff member, was leading it: on the atonement. We had quite a discussion on the nature of sin. I take the view that sin and evil are pretty much synonymous, and without conscious humanity, there would be no evil. His theodicy is rather different to mine: he sees a broken creation, whereas I see a broken and fallen humanity. Christ dies on the cross, for me, to atone for humanity's sin, but for Richard, he atones not just for moral evil, but for the "evil" he sees in nature: the pain of a dying animal, and the death of an innocent neonate human baby.I don't see evil in this way. For me, the phrase "the lion will lie down with the lamb" is allegorical, not literal, but if you take a view of creation that it is broken, then the Atonement must, I suppose, include this. My concern with this view is that I believe that God's grace is strongly shown through the natural world, and that any intervention that breaks the rules of that world - of what we call scientific laws - would be a denial, by God, of his grace and love.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Steps
Miri learnt how to do steps today: upwards, that is. So that means we need to be yet more vigilant.Oh, and I've decided that David Gray's "Babylon" _can_ be a reading of Psalm 137 for an essay I'm writing. I ate enough Krispy Kremes, obviously.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Difficult decision
If I eat enough Krispy Kreme glazed donuts (sic) (sick), can I pretend that David Gray's "Babylon" is a reading of Psalm 137 for an essay I'm writing?Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Title post
I've not been able to talk about this until it's all be approved and agreed, but at 1940 this evening, I handed over my letter of acceptance to Rev. John Blore, who will be my training incumbent in the Halstead Team Ministry, which will be my title post when I'm ordained on June 29th, God willing.I'm immensely relieved - it's been a long slog - and very happy, as I really like the team, what they're doing, lots of the worship (I've attended a number of services across the team parishes over the past few months), and the members of the team have lots to teach me.
I have three essays left to write: around 9,000 words. And three more weekends. And that's all. Things are feeling close now.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Psalm 78
(backposting) Not sure why I mention it particularly, but it's my very favourite psalm, despite being the longest one set for a single morning or evening in the old BCP. We used to sing some great chants to it at both Christ Church and King's, and it's lots of fun. It's set for the evening of the 15th, so I had it for evening prayer tonight. I also did quite a lot of reading about sin - particularly the original type - for the "Christian Belief" module that I'm doing for ERMC at the moment. That and the nature of grace.Today I also met the churchwardens for the church at which I may spend my title post. A good meeting: we got on well, and I think it's important to have the sanity-check of a non-clergy view in these cases.
Girls to bed even quicker tonight, and Moo was back by 2130, so not too bad. Had a really nice long chat as we went to bed about her day away - she's doing a course - and what's going on with the girls. We don't often get the chance, as Miri's requiring attention, but she managed to stay in her own bed until 0400, which is almost a record at the moment.
Labels: church, ERMC, Moo, sin
Monday, January 14, 2008
Moo's away
Put the girls to bed pretty easily, though Miri's suddenly really, really mobile. Turn your back, and ... she's gone. I followed her to the step down from the bathroom, and it was very interesting to see her turning back from it.Lots of work done today, was hoping to do some ERMC work, too, but it was not to be. Need to do some tomorrow, as I have a tutorial on Wednesday.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Renewal of covenant service
(backposting) There's a great Methodist service which they tend to run once a year to renew the covenant with God, and we also have it once a year on the course. I really like it: there are some good readings, and it makes you think, too. An interesting sermon from Richard, too. Before that, we had a short "what you need to know about Canon law and taking services in 45 minutes", also by Richard, which he did quite well, I thought.Back home: Moo not very well, poor thing.
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Rural ministry
(backposting) Today's topic at the ERMC weekend was "rural ministry", and very interesting it was, too. Gave me a bunch of things to try, and to think about. It was led by Jill from The Arthur Rank Centre, who had an astonishing amount of statistics, experience, stories and ideas. Some of the people on the course found it less relevant, but then again, I'm based in the country, and given how I feel about towns and cities, likely to remain that way, so it was good for me.Last night I stayed up till 0100, but didn't feel too bad. I got around 6 and a half hours' sleep, which really isn't too short of normal, but thought I'd go to bed a little earlier tonight. Say 11. We started learning some British Sign Language from Andrew, a guy on the course who's a chaplain to the deaf. Learnt the Lord's Prayer (which I can still mainly remember), and other useful words and phrases like "beer" and "Doctor Who". Ah, past 12. Well, still chatting, and doing some real theology and pastoral (ask the others who were there). Hmm 0100.
Went to bed at 0200. Lots of water - and I'd finished drinking a while before, but not the best plan.
Friday, January 04, 2008
ERMC
Off later today to an ERMC weekend at London Colney: not my favourite venue, but there you go. There will be some work on Rural Ministry which should be relevant to what I do, and will be doing, and a chance to catch up with friends, etc..Labels: ERMC
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Canons B1-B43
(backposting) I read all the Church of England's "B" canons today, in preparation for a weekend at London Colney with ERMC. They are all about what services should - and must - be celebrated within the Church of England, what's allowed, and what's not. My Dad's Liturgy, Order and the Law is pretty much the definitive guide, it seems, and I've inherited something of an interest. There is certainly relevance to what we can and can't do within the Anglican Cathedral in SecondLife, although part of the question we're looking at is exactly which of the canons are relevant, and which aren't: these are the Canons of the Church of England, remember, and SecondLife is international, as is the group that comprises the Anglicans on it. Insisting, for instance, that all services are conducted in English might be inappropriate: but what languages _should_ be allowed? The doctrine behind this insistence is that all attending should be able to understand (hence Welsh is allowed in Wales in certain circumstances). Most of the members of the Anglican group in SL have English as their first language, but not all: and would we want to restrict ourselves? So, these are the sorts of questions we need to tackle.Did all the ironing, watched Samuel L. Jackson's fantastic performance in The Negotiator, went to bed around midnight.
Labels: church, ERMC, films, secondlife
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Hard work time
I've been working away at a document for the folks at HQ for a while, getting the background - it requires quite a lot of new knowledge - and suddenly I hear that they want it rather quickly. So I spent quite a lot of time on it today getting lots of stuff sorted on it.Also had my last tutorial on the Hermeneutics module today, looking at a short book by Thomas Merton called Praying the Psalms. Too patriarchal for my tastes: both at the Papal level but also at the family level. A good supervision, though, and one of the things I've learnt from this module is that we can look past the stuff we don't like (though it's important to exercise hermeneutics of suspicion) to a "new naiveté", and realise that the Holy Spirit works through people in their own contexts and times.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Assignment
I've just finished an assignment on using a model of theological reflection within a placement context. I used the Pastoral Cycle - everyone does - within the context of my hospice placement. It doesn't quite fit, but was useful at the same time. Anyway, some useful insights, and the essay's now finished. One more to do by the 7th January, a verbatim, and a goodly amount of the preparation is already done for that.Tomorrow I'll sanity-check this one, and send it off. Thanks be to God!
Labels: ERMC, essay, placement
Friday, December 14, 2007
Title post
Yesterday, I had a letter from the DDO (the Diocesan Director of Ordinands) inviting me to explore whether I'd like to go forward with a title post in a parish. This is an immensely big deal. For reasons too legion to indulge in here, this letter has turned up rather late in the process, but it's a real relief. We had our yearly meeting of ordinands, those considering ordination, and their spouses this evening, and I spoke to the DDO about it. We agreed that I should follow up, and I told him that was very positive about the parish.I can't, at this stage, say where the parish is, though I've talked about it with those involved in my training, and with family. It's entirely possible that I, or the incumbent in the parish, might decide that it won't work, and for that reason, it's not fair to discuss it at this stage.
What, however, is a title post, and why's it important? Well, assuming that I am ordained deacon in June (oh, we got the date, too, it's the 29th June) - and this is not a foregone conclusion - then I will be attached as a curate to a parish. I'll stay there for 3-4 years, first as a deacon, and then (again, God willing) as a priest (usually deacons in the Church of England are ordained to the priesthood a year after they are deaconed). So, it's where I move into the next stage of training after ordination, and "learn my craft", as it were. It's possible, but frowned upon, to move away from a title post to a different one, but generally, you want to stay where you are. So, a lot of thought goes into selecting a title post from everyone's point of view, and I hope to be meeting the incumbent - who I've actually met a few times before - after Christmas. I've got an overview of the parish and related matters already, and this is where the careful reflection and prayer takes over.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
A poor hotel in Grenoble
Well, I really wouldn't give it 3 stars, is all I can say. It's serviceable, and there's broadband over Wifi, but functional is about it. Flight OK, read some theology for the course.
Oh, and there's even snow!
Friday, November 23, 2007
Hospice - day 2
My second day at the hospice - and there's to be one more next week. Again, a fascinating and interesting day. I started it with a visit to a funeral directors. I'd never been to one before, and they were very helpful and accommodating. Spent some time with another member of the chaplaincy team, including taking communion and talking to some of the day centre patients.My mum had turned up by the time I got back, and went to get my dad later on: they're staying at a pub nearby, as we've got other people staying with us this weekend.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Hospice day 1
(backposting) I've taken two days off work for my placement at St Helena Hospice, today being the first. I spent the whole day at the main site (and the Colchester Day Centre), attending meetings, meeting staff and patients, and discussing it with my supervisor Alan. People were very generous with their time, and it's one of those places where the staff - from volunteers to directors - really believe in the place. I had a very interesting time, and enjoyed myself very much.Did a little more tidying in preparation for our visitors this weekend (Miri's baptism), and then did lots of ironing in front of Tuesday's episode of Spooks.
Oh - I hate providing IT support. Particularly for Windows. And even more when it's long distance, over the phone. That's one of the downsides of Polly and Lee moving out.
Labels: computing, ERMC, television
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Essay done!
Yes, you saw aright. It's finished, and I'm even quite pleased with some of it: we'll see how it goes down with the markers. Got some work done reacting to the HMRC news from yesterday and how it affects us, threw out some old computer cases and bits and pieces to Black Barn Computers, who may be able to do something with some of the newer pieces. Yesterday, they have me a quite serviceable CRT (monitor) to give to Jo's pre-school, which was very kind, so I thought I'd try to send some decent stuff their way along with the, um, rubbish.Speaking of rubbish, England are 2-0 down to Croatia. We're going out, and deserve to do so on current form.
Labels: computers, ERMC, football
A bad night - and some shocking news
(backposting) Very little sleep, and a fairly quiet day, including doing some more work on the largeish document I was working on last week. Rather pleased to get that off.In the evening, I had a seminar in Stowmarket, and it was before the seminar started that I heard the shocking news. Not about the 25 million people's details (that's over a third of the population) having been "mislaid" by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, though that's pretty shocking - our details will be on the list. Worse than that, by quite an order of magnitude: I discovered that I have a 3,000 word essay due in on Monday, for the "Gospel and Western Culture" module that we spent lots of time on at summer school. I had no idea, and have done absolutely no preparation.
We had quite an interesting seminar on hermeneutics in the modern (and postmodern era), and on the way home, I rang Sally, who kindly looked up the essay titles so that I could think about them as I drove home. When I got home, I started things off, and managed to get 700 words, and a fair plan done before heading off to bed at 1245.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Pre-school
Spent time at Jo's pre-school today, which was lovely. Work, doctor (sinusitis), supervision with Keith. In no particular order. Seminar tomorrow: I feel rather well prepared, which kind of makes a change.Sunday, November 11, 2007
Remembrance Sunday
A terrible night's sleep - Jo was coughing so badly that I was beginning to get worried. She ended up in the spare room with me, and actually slept quite well. We went to the Remembrance Sunday service at Great Yeldham, and I played the organ. The church was as full as I'd ever seen, and Jo, Miri and Moo came along, too. Although we don't have it as a hymn, I've finished the service for the past few years with "I vow to thee my country" on the organ, as it's a fantastic and stirring tune.I made it clear on my Facebook profile yesterday that I wasn't in a good way, and I've really appreciated the love and prayers that people have sent my way. I've had a bit of a knock sideways, and prayers, in particular, are much appreciated.
Oh - I'm off to Canada tomorrow.
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Seville via Ryanair
(backposting) The Westin Alfonso XIII is one of the nicest hotels in which it has ever been by good fortune to stay. Stunning architecture, accommodation, staff service, food, the lot. Took a while to get here, but that's fine, I guess. There aren't that many direct flights, and though I'm not always a fan of Ryanair, they did OK and we got in on time. The airport's pretty close to the city, and although I was feeling pretty rough (a nasty cold started to attack me yesterday and I was streaming and coughing and sneezing by the time I arrived), I managed a lovely meal before turning in.On the way over, I had one of those marvellous, though rare, experiences. I was about to go through the security scan, following a couple. The bloke had already gone through, the the woman was held up. A security guard saw us both getting ready, and said "are you together?" The woman stopped a moment, looked me up and down, and said, "I wish."
You can't even hope for that sort of experience, you really can't. Great for the ego...
Reading The Dying Soul, by Mark Cobb, on spiritual care in the hospice and palliative setting. Very interesting.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
ERMC and home
Woke up feeling even worse - not just a bad throat, but really ropey and shaky, too. Excellent session on work and ministry: very helpful indeed. Thought about going home early, but glad I stayed for Communion, I'm pleased to say.Saturday, November 03, 2007
ERMC (more)
(backpostin) Good Bible study bits on the Psalms and graphic novels. Feeling worse. Two very difficult meetings. Slept badly.Friday, November 02, 2007
ERMC
(backposting) Supervision over lunchtime, went well. Went to ERMC. Not in a good mood. Beginning not to feel very well.Labels: ERMC
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Assembly
Did an assembly at Long Melford primary school today, on caring. Started the kids singing anything they wanted, all at the same time ("I don't care what you sing"). That fell apart, as expected. Then got them all to sing "Twinkle, twinkle little star" all together, at whatever speed and volume they wanted. Ditto. Then asked them to listen to each other, and work together. That did it, although I was ready to conduct them and lead it if needs be. They did very well, and it was a clear and obvious message, and went down well. Ian, my supervisor, seemed happy.More following up of stuff for work, which seems to be going well.
Oh, and Moo's started knitting. We're both sitting in front of the TV watching Spooks.
Labels: ERMC, television, work
Sunday, September 23, 2007
End of the weekend, and back home again
We had a little more on Work and Faith, and some good discussions about industrial action - when and where is it Christian? - and also on "when to where the collar". It was interesting and useful, and I'll be thinking more about it for when I'm ordained next year. The big question is when or if to wear a dog collar at work. Not in external meetings, certainly: when I'm at those, I'm representing the company, and it would just be inappropriate. But when travelling? Sometimes. Socially with colleagues sometimes? Maybe.Football!
(backposting) Not only were my parents-in-law at Anfield today watching the Derby match (a nil-all draw, but they were in the hospitality suite and were treated like royalty so had a great time) but we had more football (ranging from 2-a-side to an mean average of 3.5-a-side) at Ditchingham which was lots of fun.The day was mainly spent doing work on verbatims. I'd presented one about SecondLife, and the other 5 in my group were very supportive and helpful. The other ones were fascinating, and it was an excellent day. It was really hard work listening, reflecting and feeding back, but very worthwhile indeed.
The music at the evening worship was excellent: Tavener, Moore and Holst.
Labels: ERMC, football, secondlife
Off to ERMC
(backposting) Busy day doing bits and pieces, and then off to Ditchingham for another weekend. This time it's the first of two on Work and Faith. As I mentioned before, we had some very good reading beforehand, and the weekend started well with a good session. I was a good boy, and went to bed at midnight.Labels: ERMC
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Work and Christianity
I read an excellent article today for our next ERMC weekend. It was about how people relate their work and their church. Some want to separate their lives between work and church, some would like to find a way to make them closer. Some see work as only a means to be able to work for the church. Others would welcome a chance to use their work skills in a church context, but find those skills pushed away. I need to think really hard about this: it's really opened some doors for me. Once I've thought harder about it, I'll post some more.Labels: christianity, ERMC, work
Monday, September 17, 2007
Tutorial
Had my first tutorial with Alan for ages today. Went well, and we got on well despite the break. He really makes me think and pulls out some great questions for me to think about.Jo had another session at pre-school today. Tried tracing her name, and did OK: she was so proud.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Back home
(backposting) At last. After a long hard week, some final discussions about worship over the week and a final Eucharist - to which we decided that Moo, Jo and Miri really couldn't make it - I drove home, had half an hour with the girls, and then took Jo to pick up Buster. It was so lovely to see everyone, and great to be home.Friday, August 24, 2007
Review
(backposting) Some work on preaching today: special occasions (funerals, weddings, baptisms) and times of year (harvest, Easter, Mothering Sunday, etc.). Useful and interesting.A very inspiring evening worship (starting with Joan Osbourne's "What if God was one of us?"), then supper, then the Review!
I ended up taking part - to varying degrees - in 5 items, and being satirised in 1. The latter was a sketch taking the piss out of me for my extravagant demands on the choir and the issue of the Methodist Worship Book issue. Apparently some people were worried that I might get offended, but I laughed throughout and was prevailed upon to take a bow at the end...
The five items I was involved with were:
- madrigals: we sang "Fair Phyllis" straight and slow, then introduced ourselves as a high culture item, then "The Silver Swan", then explained that madrigals were really popular culture, and sang "Fair Phyllis" again, fast with suggestive facial expressions... ("up and down he wandered, up and down, up and down). Lots of laughter.
- backing singer for Charles' critically acclaimed "I am the very model of a Curate Non-Stipendiary": genius
- 1st soprano (at soprano pitch, in full drag) in Rossini's Cat Duet, with Brenda as 2nd, and the marvellous and very patient Lizzie on piano
- straight man (the interviewer) for Gary's piece about twins (him and Andrew) separated at birth as part of a nature or nurture experiment, one sent to Suffolk, one to Luton
- a piece I'd written about recruiting a new Archbishop of Canterbury, with me on the phone as the recruitment consultant: "I've got some standard text here... 'The Church of England is an Equal Opportunities Employer...' You're _not_? Really? ... 'We welcome applications from ethnic minorities...' You've got one already...?" It's satire, folks. Went down well, despite my last minute concerns that it wasn't funny, and that I'd look like a complete prat.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
"A frustrated professional musician"
(backposting) A very interesting URC worship service in the morning, then more work on the music, including a discussion. It was wide-ranging, but we got quite hung up on the question of how to reconcile the desire for the highest quality music (and worship for God) with the wish to include people of varying abilities. I really struggle, these days, with singing in Christmas choirs, and decline the invitation, usually. I don't mind listening, but there are times when I want to create the very best I can. I struggle with the fact that it's difficult to explain that I feel pain when not worshipping to the best of what I can achieve, just as someone may feel pain when they feel excluded from music making. Brenda, a professional musician on the course who will give up a large part of that when she's ordained, discussed this in some depth with me, and it was she who said "you're a frustrated professional musician".I think she's right. Although I made a very conscious decision not to become a musician, and I think it was a good one, there come times in our lives when we realise how big those decisions were. I have very little opportunity for high-standard music-making at the moment, and I really miss it: particularly when I _do_ get the chance, which I have done on this course, in particular with the madrigal group. I really don't think I realised what good musicians we were at King's, and actually how good a musician I have the capability of being, thanks be to God. But it's a burden, too...
Had feedback on my service yesterday morning from Cathy, on the staff. Very helpful, and generally positive, which I'm pleased about.
A discusssion on the church in "cyberspace" (yuck), at which we talked at length about SecondLife and the Anglican Cathedral there. People raised some very good questions, quite a few of which I had no answers to.
Final rehearsals for tomorrow's Review...
Oh, and Andrew and I saw a Merlin today, which had killed and was protecting a dead blackbird. What a privilege!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
"Bring your Methodist Worship Books"
(backposting) I had, over the past few days, announced rather too often (4 times?) over meals that people should remember to bring their Methodist Worship Books to Morning Prayer, and had started to be mocked for it. This, however, didn't bother me, and when it came down to it, there were lots in evidence, so it had worked. So there.I was leading the service, and had rehearsed "Ghimel" (just the title, not the main bit) with the same group of singers for the madrigals, which we performed in the ante-chapel just before starting the service. We did well, apart from my screwing up a lead. Oh, well. I'd decided to make the service about affirming vocation, as this was half-way through the week for some of us, but only a few hours in for the new first years, and everyone was a bit shell-shocked. We had the Commissioning of Aaron and the "Holy Nation, Royal Priesthood" piece from 1 Peter, and during the intercessions, I encouraged people to pray for themselves chiefly, as we have lots of prayers for other people, but not always enough for ourselves. I asked people to stay at the end for some organ music, and hit them with the last 3 minutes of "Dieu Parmi Nous" by Messiaen, which always blows me away. Not everyone liked it, but everyone who I spoke to seemed to have engaged with it.
After breakfast, we had an excellent session on Visual Arts through the ages by a visiting speaker, Neil. I ended up next to a student with a significant visual impairment, and as pictures came up on the screen, tried to describe what I was seeing. It was fascinating thinking about how all she could see (with the exception of a few pieces of work like a couple of Rothko paintings) was what I described to her, and it really made me think about what I was seeing in a new light. She said that she learnt lots about me, which was unsurprising!
In the afternoon, a session learning "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" with a bunch of singers of various abilities, ready to discuss the process tomorrow. Course photograph after supper, followed by a pub quiz. Our team won. Big surprise, but lots of wine as a prize. All gone within the hour...
Labels: art, ERMC, music, worship
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Music, new students
(backposting) The theme for much of today was how the Gospel and music have inter-related through Western culture over the ages. The day started with a BCP Mattins led by someone who'd never done one before, and had only participated in BCP services on ERMC weekends and summer schools: it's just not his tradition. He did a fantastic job, and I enjoyed the service very much. This rather set the tone of the day: lots of music and discussion about it which was great. We watched an excellent DVD about Bach (J.S.), with lots of excerpts, very well performed, and I really felt at home. The discussion we had later included a number of short pieces from the group, including Iain's wife, Beth, singing and playing a lovely song that she wrote herself, and which we listened through twice as we were so moved by it. It's on a CD of music performed by Westcott students, and I'd like to get a copy of it.The new students arrived today, and one of them, Celia, is ex-Cambridge, and knew a bunch of King's choral scholars who I also knew or knew of. Lots of shared history, including the Chetwynd Society (debating or drinking...?). Hmmm!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Quiet morning
(backposting) A quiet morning - in that we're not supposed to talk. Prayers and address in chapel, and then silent till an Iona Communion. I used the time to polish off all but the references of my essay on music. Apart from the usual day-to-day, fairly quiet until 1630, when we met in groups to do some more discussion of literature again, following up from yesterday. Interesting, and we got quite deeply stuck into some of the questions set.The evening session was a fascinating talk and then discussion on graphic novels, including manga, and how they're impacting telling of the Gospel - both OT and NT. I really enjoyed this, and would like to get my hands on a particular book Marked by Steve Ross. Not quite sure how I feel about it, but I'd like more time to reflect on it and my reaction.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Sunday, the day of rest
(backposting) Not if you're on an ERMC summer school, it's not! A Methodist communion - wow, all those little cups of non-wine! - at 0730 (ow!), then breakfast, then more discussion on films. After that, another Ian and Richard double-act, this time discussing post-Christendom. Have to admit that I had a bit of a dose through some of this, as the historical stuff wasn't new to me.Free time in the afternoon - again, laughable, because there was more choir rehearsal. Much, much better, the Tye, and ready for performing at this evening's worship.
In the afternoon, a session on literature, which focused rather oddly on A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, which I'm afraid I hadn't got round to reading (I wasn't alone). Lots of education on post-structuralist and deconstructionist theory, which should be a good underpinning for the rest of the week.
At one point, one of the students, who's firmly from a more evangelical tradition than me, said, "As a Christian theologian, we accept the authority of the Bible...", and I took it up with him later on. I absolutely can't make a blanket statement like that. I have to look at any such acceptance, _particularly_ of the Bible, critically, and when it comes down to it, I find that it's my faith that is the bedrock of my Christianity, shored up by the Bible, and not really the other way round. This isn't a new thing for me, and it's an issue that I grapple with, but it's one that I'm very happy that I _do_ grapple with. It's one of the concerns I used to have about how many scientists at university took to evangelical Christianity: when they're so used to probing and questioning in their own lines of work, how can they be so uncritical in just accepting the Bible (and a rather narrow set of interpretations thereof)? An _uncritical_ sola scriptura just doesn't hold it for me.
The Tye went well, despite a missed alto entry, which we salvaged quickly, and no-one was the wiser. I was very pleased, and lots of people said how much they'd enjoyed it: both choir and congregation.
Labels: bible, ERMC, music, worship
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Postmodernity
(backposting) A large part of the week's work is to be engaging with issues of postmodernity in its various flavours, so Ian and Richard started us off with general descriptions of the (alleged, in Richard's case) state of postmodernity. Richard is very eloquent, and refuses to believe that there's any such thing, despite taking many intellectual positions which are hard to imagine being possible in a non-postmodern world. It doesn't help that he tends to argue against what he sees as postmodernity: as a completely pluralist, non-critical academic movement, which believes in a clean break between the modern (then) and postmodern (now), despite this being almost the exact opposite of how most people with a postmodern bent would describe it. Heigh-ho. I refused to get too drawn in...In the afternoon, another Ian, this time for the Moot community, gave us a very interesting talk on Fresh Expressions of church, and how they relate to our current (overwhelmingly consumerist) society. He made the point that we should really be talking more, and preaching more, about the dangers of consumerism as a creed, which I have to say resonated with me strongly. In the afternoon, Cathy led us in a discussion of high and popular culture. Although it didn't grip me, we came up with some important points, and it's to be a theme of the rest of the week.
The evening held clips (one clip from the body of the film, then crucifixion and lead-up) from three films about Jesus - or not. They were:
- The Gospel according to St Matthew (English title), by Pasolini
- Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ
- Monty Python's Life of Brian
We started singing today: a piece of Christopher Tye, which went pretty well for a first off, though the tuning was shocking. That'll fix itself as people get more happy with the notes, I think. We had a good mix of singers, including some new faces to the group, which was excellent.
Also started singing some madrigals - hope to do them at the Review.
Labels: ERMC, films, music, postmodernity, singing
Friday, August 17, 2007
Arrival at Summer School
(backposting) ERMC Summer School started today at Ditchingham. I always leave in a bit of a fluster, but then arrive too early, and today was no exception. After some sherry (most of us are CofE, after all), we had supper and started off on the work for the week, which is "Gospel and Western Culture". Unluckily one of the staff, Helen, is away, and she was down to do lots of the teaching, but her workload has been shared around, including to a visiting academic called Natalie. I spent quite a lot of time in the bar with her after we'd finished the first worship (in our groups), particularly as Helen had suggested that I talk to her about Christianity on the Internet, and my experiences in SecondLife in particular.Good to see lots of mates. Plans are already hatching for various items for the revue at the end of the week.
Labels: ERMC
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Busy, busy
Stayed up till after midnight last night and then did some work on the essay this morning, and we're getting there. Unluckily I'm not going to manage to finish it today, which means that I'll probably have to do it at Summer School. Annoying, but at least I know where it's going.In London for a useful meeting during the afternoon, back in time for Jo's bath and bedtime. Tired.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Essay writing
I'm about 2000 words (excluding quotations, references, etc.) into a 6000 word essay I'm writing on the question "What insights can the Orthodox tradition give us on music as a response to God?" for Helen at ERMC. It's going OK, and I think I'm about at the right point for where I've got to in the examination. I've tackled one hard bit - rather poorly for now, but I hope to improve it - and the really difficult bit is coming next. I'm being helped by listening to Cloudburst and other choral works by Eric Whiteacre. Very uplifting, very stirring, very calming in about equal measure. A must to listen to on a regular basis for me.I'm going to have a quick read over my notes for the next section of the essay before heading down to be with Moo. I hope (and suspect) that having a night to think things over and mull quietly will bring things into more focus.
Timing not great in that I've got a new computer (in bits) arriving tomorrow, and you just _know_ which task will win out...
Labels: ERMC, essay, Moo, music
Friday, August 10, 2007
Funeral visit
I went on a funeral visit with Ian today: the first one that I've attended. The family had very kindly allowed me to come along, and it was very interesting. Difficult, at time, but Ian has a very light touch. This is one of those occasions when I absolutely can't discuss what we talked about, but he allowed the family to talk, led them through the service and was calm but empathetic at the same time. I was very impressed, and learned a lot.Discovered that it was a real pain not having a main machine, and after trying to use the server, I discovered that it was struggling. so, I've ordered a new one. Or pieces therefore to build one. Moo loves it when I do these sorts of things.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
The Eden Project
(backposting) It's a great place. We arrived at around 0930, and didn't leave till 1630, which is an enormously long time to spend anywhere with Jo. She slept for an hour in the middle of the day, and had ice-cream twice before noon, but that's really not bad for a two and a half year old with chicken pox. As yesterday, she found the end of the day a little hard, but that's understandable. A nightmare getting her to bed, though.One of the striking things about the project is that all of the employees really seem to get it. From the waiters to the ticket office people, from the ground staff to the live drummers (as opposed to dead drummers?), they really seem to believe in the place. I've been to institutions - mainly in the US - where employees believe, but in a pretty big UK institution, it's a first for me, I think. I talked to someone there about it as we were buying some things from the shop, and she agreed.
I'm trying to get my head round the assignment on music and liturgy that I'm supposed to be doing, but by the end of the evening, when we've got Jo down and have a couple of hours before we have to wake Miri up for a feed and Jo wakes up again and insists on going in with Moo, other things seem to be more important. Even if it's just finishing off this blog and watching a pretty poor Sandra Bullokc and Hugh Grant film (Two Weeks' Notice).
The big deal we closed recently got delivered and accepted today: the last day of the quarter. I'm really pleased with the dev. team: one guy in particular needs lots of plaudits, and I'll work on that when I'm back at work.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Misc. post
(backposting) Bits and pieces:- we're starting to look at the legal issues around holding services in SecondLife. Maybe it's because the Anglican church is a little bureaucratic, but there are some really interesting and complicated problems and issues. Personally, I'm quite happy that there are questions to be asked and answered, and not worried about the bureaucratic side: if we can be safe and know we're coming from, we'll be stronger in the future.
- my Wii age was back up to 37, but as I turn 37 next month, I'm less worried about it. Had a nightmare on the bowling tests, as it happens.
- I've been looking at the ERMC summer school programme, which looks interesting. I'm down to take part in a service for only the second occasion in my time on the course. And it's leading a Methodist service. Should be interesting.
- Miri had a nightmare evening last night. Teeth or stomach: we don't know, but she cried almost incessantly for around 3 hours. We ate in front of the TV (in shifts) and then watched Harry Potter DVDs with subtitles on.
- Jo slept all the way through the night without coming in to us, so got 2 stickers on her chart, and 2 for her top. Very pleased (as were we).
- is there something wrong with the freezer in the cat kitchen?
Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, miscellaneous, secondlife
Monday, July 23, 2007
Sleep, again - and supervision
We're having to juggle sleep. Jo and Miri are both waking up at ridiculous times in the night, and Jo wants to come in and sleep with one of us. This isn't very good.Had a supervision with Helen today on a piece of work (6000 words) that I'm doing on music, liturgy and life. We agree that I've got enough thoughts down to be doing something useful, but it's time to focus (too many thoughts, in fact). She very meanly made me do an essay plan. Yeuch! Trying to think when I was last made to do that in real time. Anyway, I'm now in a good position to get things going, I think.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Assignment finished!
Several months late (though I had an extension), I've finally handed in my second Life and Service module assignment: an analysis of my local church. Rather thought-provoking, actually, and harder than I thought it was going to be.I've also started on the next piece of work: something on music and liturgy - in the broadest sense, so including pastoral work, and how we use, and could use, music. I'm really liking the Orthodox views here, which I'll expand on at some point. It's giving me a great excuse to list - and listen to - some of my favourite music. Downloaded a recording I didn't have of New College under Higginbottom singing Byrd 4-part and the Tallis Lams. Fantastic.
Wii latest
Moo's got into it now, and all we need to do is get Miri to sleep before we play against (and it's _always_) against each other.My Wii fitness age is down from 45 to 41. _Better_, but still.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Swimming
Didn't mention it yesterday, because I was synchroblogging, but Moo and Mel took Miri and Jo swimming as usual yesterday. Miri loves swimming, and so does Jo - and she made two big steps yesterday. First, she got much more confident about jumping in from the side. Second, she suddenly got the whole swimming thing. She had floats on her back, but was apparently moving at real speed. Next step is to remove a float at a time...Currently trying to write an assignment in front of Big Brother and related programming. Not so good.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Girls back
Moo, Jo and Miri got back around lunchtime - in fact, we met at Freeport for something to eat. I'd slept through to 9am (!), and then got up and done things like get some more food for the dog, get rid of some of the more obvious thistles and brambles in the garden, get some food in, and even have time for some tea and cake at the Cafe Clare.I took Jo to pick up Buster, who was very pleased to see us. I gave him a bit of a groom, which he really needed, and he seemed to settle down OK. Did some work on an ERMC assignment, watched an Alan Partridge DVD with Moo.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
IT support, sleep, driving, deal...
Not in that order. In fact, sleep's not really in there at all. Jo had nightmares, and had to come in with me. The problem was compounded by her waking a few times, still anxious, and then migrating across the bed several times and waking me up. I didn't get much sleep.I had to drive up to the East Midlands for a meeting today: interesting, though nothing there right now. On the way up, I rang Kate and Mac (my parents-in-law) because Moo said that they had problems connecting to the Internet. This isn't _always_ their fault, but a quick call suggested that it might be something outside their capability of fixing, and as my meeting finished around 1220, I had time to go there, fix their ADSL router (which had lost some settings), have lunch, and then head home.
At home, there was a letter from ERMC. Not a positive one, and rather depressing when I was so low on sleep. I'm late on some assignments, and although I thought things were under control, they seem to have escalated rather alarmingly, and quickly. In the end, I took Miri and Buster for a walk, and settled things down. I think we're OK, in the end, and I'm going to call them tomorrow.
Last, but not least, we finally got a contract through from a customer I've been working on with a colleague today. It's a biggish one in the long term, and I'm quite proud of how we've closed it.
Labels: ERMC, family, sleep, travel, work
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Supervision
Had a supervision with Keith today. We went to the pub for lunch and had a long discussion. Although term has finished, I was surprised by how much I had to talk about. We had a good meal, and as it was his turn to pay, he did so.Or he would have done, if he'd had enough money on him. So, to his embarrassment, he had borrow a couple of quid from me. I told him I'd blog this, so I did!
Labels: ERMC
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Mooism
"Come on, then, let's go Mrs Madam." Jo talking to one of her dolls, who was supposed to be coming "shopping".I've discovered that I'm supposed to be doing my assignments a little earlier than I'd expected - for August, rather than September, but that's OK. I do need to get them going, though.
Miri's been difficult for Moo today - very restless - and I feel a bit guilty that she was very good for the hour that I took her and Buster out for a walk. At least Moo had some non-baby time, though she did have to look after a rather awkward Jo.
Lots of travel coming up. Less time with the family, more time for ERMC work. Hmm.
Labels: ERMC, Jo, miriam, Moo, walk
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
And Jo pulls one out of the bag
I'm away (in Sweden) and Moo was dreading the evening. But Jo went to sleep in around 10 minutes. What a star.Our washing machine (which is rented) will be replaced on Saturday. I understand that it had eaten quite a lot of pieces of clothing, and that was what had caused at least part of the problem.
I started doing the reading for the ERMC summer school, and it's hard work, I have to say. Good stuff, but challenging. Hmmm.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
ERMC tomorrow
My first for a few months, and the first one I'll have been well for since last year. Looking forward to seeing the usual suspects - very aware that, after this one, I'll be a 3rd year - ordination is only a year away now.D's doing well, thank God.
Labels: ERMC
Friday, June 01, 2007
A smiley, chattering monster, Sweden ... and substitutionary atonement
Miri's lots and lots of fun at the moment. She'll spent half and hour or more on my knee or on my tummy, chat, chat, chatting, smiling, looking into my eyes, being lovely, and generally posseting everywhere. It's what being a dad's about, IMHO.Being a dad is less about having to go to Sweden overnight again next week, unless you count "earning an honest crush" as being part of a dad's role, which you might, I suppose. I'm going to somewhere spelt Linköping, but pronounced "Lingchirping", as close as I can gather. It is ridiculous how foreigners can't even spell their own placenames properly sometimes. I'm not usually prone to luggage-lust (unlike Catherine) but there's a piece of Samsonite luggage which I'm very keen on which I thought I'd have loads of chances to buy before I next went away. Not to be, unluckily.
"But what about substitutionary atonement?" I hear you cry. Well, Keith and I had agreed to meet to have a chat about a piece by Tom Wright in the Church Times a couple of months ago where he rather attacked Jeffry John for being too soft on the doctrine of substitutionary atonement. This is the doctrine that says that Jesus, when he died, took all of our sins on his shoulders, and took the punishment for all of mankind, thereby redeeming us. I've simplified it, and there are different shades to interpretation, but I think that pretty much sums it up. Wright felt that a broadcast by Jeffrey John downplayed significantly the importance of the doctrine, and although I don't have real problems with that view, some of the expressions of the doctrine in Wright's defense went a little too far for me. Keith and I talked over this issue - and atonement in general - in some detail, and strayed into other areas such as spiritual warfare, "Jesus-followers" (a danger, in my view, of the "Exemplar" view of atonement), and the personification of evil. It was great for both of us to do some theology, and also to ground it in our experience, and I'm glad we took the time.
To round things off, my penultimate year report came through from ERMC. This is the very important report which goes to the DDO and the bishop and either recommends that I go through to ordination, or says that I shouldn't. I'm pleased to say that it recommends that I should, and gave what I thought was a very honest view of me, my theology, my spirituality and my personality. It identified some areas that need work, but I knew about those, and was happy to sign it off.
Labels: ERMC, miriam, theology, travel
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Priesthood
An odd thing today. I took Buster for a lovely walk in the evening and as we came up over the hill in the beautiful countryside, it suddenly began to sink in that in just over year's time, I'm going to be ordained as a deacon, and everything will change. I've known this for ages, of course, but in a week and a bit's time, it's the last ERMC weekend of the year, and after that, I'll be a 3rd year, and in the final stretch. I'll take responsibility with the other 3rd years in our group for the working of the gropu sessions. People will look to me for advice: I'll be one of the people who knows what's going on, and who's on the home straight.Once you're ordained, you're never off-duty. There are responsibilities not only to God, but also to the whole body of Christ. All Christians have responsibilities, but once you've stepped up to the plate and accepted the vocation of priesthood - and the diaconate as well - you have a visibility, and have accepted that responsibility explicitly. I'm not sure how that's going to feel.
The other thing is that it looks like Anne, one of the members of group at ERMC, won't be coming back to us. It's not 100% sure yet, but she's a Methodist who's been refused further funding. The Methodist system is really hard, and we're praying very hard for her.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Supervision
While I remember, I said that I'd blog about a very nice place that we've been going to recently for coffee, brunch, lunch, etc.. If you're ever in the area, I heartily recommend Café Clare. Lovely people, lovely food, lovely atmosphere.I had a supervision today with Keith. It was to cover topics that we were down to deal with in late February:
- Eucharist in the local context;
- denominational identity;
- denominational organisation.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Placement, miaow
(backposting) I had an _excellent_ meeting with Ian, the incumbent at Long Melford, today. I got a really good idea of what he's doing, and some good ideas about what I might have the chance to do with him. I've not mentioned the possibility of doing my title post there yet (maybe Ian will read this blog...), but it's all looking great.New AP arrived - put it in bridge mode. Only works with less security than I'd like, but I'll fix that later. It'll just make me more careful than usual, which can't be a bad thing.
Something that I've been trying to avoid thinking (and therefore blogging) about is that we've not seen Meg for several weeks now - she only came back in once after being comprehensively chased by Buster. She's not _old_ old (she's nearly 12), but she's no spring chicken, either. She turned up today, out of nowhere, on a cushion at home. I had gone down to let Buster out, and there she was. I went to pick her up, unsure whether she'd still be breathing. She was just skin and bone, but breathing she was (Yoda, again). Moo took her to the vets, who decided to put her on a drip for a while. She's insured, which is good, but we're really worried about her.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Reformation
The main module focus for the coming May weekend for ERMC is the Reformation. Healing is the other main topic. I'm pretty confident about the Reformation, as I did a lot of work on it at University, and a fair amount of reading since, but I'll need to brush up on aspects of healing. I think my theology around healing is fairly well developed, but I can't pretend to have much pastoral experience (no change there, then). This is all well and good, as I'm likely to be missing the weekend at this rate, given how things are at home. The ERMC staff know about this, though, so it shouldn't present to large a problem.Labels: ERMC
Friday, March 23, 2007
Placement #1
Today I met my supervisor for my first placement: Ian. I'm going to be spending time at Holy Trinity, Long Melford, where Ian's the incumbent, and he came round to meet me and Moo, and to get a feeling for whether things will work. I think he's happy, because he's agreed to go ahead. We'll pick up after Easter, and after my paternity leave's finished.I'm really looking forward to meeting a new community and interacting with it. And to more fellowship, which, as I've mentioned before, is an area which Moo very perspicaciously (yes, I had to check the spelling, but I did have it right!) identified as one which I'm lacking in at the moment. Ian, Moo and I got on very well, and I'm pleased it's going to work out.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Supervision
Had a meeting with Keith tonight. We talked about baptism policy and sacred spaces, within the context of the module I'm currently working on. I ended up showing him around some of SecondLife, which was a bit of a revelation to him, I think - not to mention a culture shock. And that was without any interaction with other people - just showing him some of the sites.We also talked about the great Synchroblog debate (see blogs passim) - he was very supportive, keen to pray for David and all others affected, and strongly in favour of my maintaining an "honesty" policy in my blog. This is very important, as he's a pivotal person in my training for ordination. He's a great guy, and I really appreciate his help and support. If only the dog hadn't tried to eat both of the cats at various points in the proceedings...
Labels: dog, ERMC, synchroblog
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Today in SecondLife
I visited a mosque, invited a Muslim into our chaplaincy group and talked to an Orthodox Christian about ordination and working in SecondLife.Labels: ERMC, Islam, ordination
Tutorial, Ubuntu upgrade
Had a tutorial for the Life and Service module. Should have finished this module by now - or nearly - but I was too ill earlier. At least I've started.Also upgrade Ubuntu from 6.10 to 6.16: nice. Just a bunch of improvements, to be honest. Still playing.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
This month's synchroblog is on "Altered states of consciousness", and how they relate to Christianity. In my undergraduate days, I did some interesting work on women religious (that is nuns, anchorites, etc.) in the Middle Ages, and read the excellent Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women by Caroline Walker Bynum. It talked about the possible use of fasting - and anorexia - as part of their lives, and the possibility that some visions were brought on by side effects of this. If I remember correctly, it wasn't discounting the visions, just setting them in context. This, however, is pretty much all I know on the subject. So I decided to talk from personal experience a bit. This is my blog, after all.A bit of background on me first. I come from a liberal, medium-to-high church background. Hymns, and if we sing any "worship songs", we still call them hymns, organ and choir (when available, in both cases), not guitars. Nothing extravagant - for some people, passing the Peace is a step too far. That sort of thing. It doesn't mean that there's not true worship going on, or a very real spirituality, but it tends to be internalised. Now, I've always found music very moving, and maybe I'm being a little harsh on the tradition I come from, but there are limits. I'm _certainly_ not the sort of person to go in for visions, or voices, or any of that sort of thing. Oh, no.
Which makes it somewhat embarassing when it happens to me. Three times in my life, so far:
- first, when I was receiving communion a few weeks after I was confirmed (around the age of 11): I had my eyes closed, and as I received the bread, I saw Jesus giving it to me, rather than the person who was serving me. I've always interpreted this as a sign that God was likely to call me to the priesthood at some point
- second, three Easters ago when I attended a communion service, and felt that I was hardly there at all: God was speaking to me very directly. I came out of that service realising that I was being called to a vocation, and that the time was now. This led, in time, to a realisation that the earlier call was being taken up, and that it was time to investigate ordination
- third, while I was listening to some music and reading in the library at Ditchingham, on an ERMC residential: I suddenly felt the hand of God upon me, and really felt that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me". I wrote this up in my blog last August, and rather than going into the details again, I include the link: God be thanked. This was an affirming and strengthening for the time ahead.
I would describe all of these as taking place within an altered state of consciousness, as a realisation of God's grace (not always easy - the second experience was challenging and unsettling, for instance) fell upon me. I sometimes use meditation techniques to aid my prayer-life, too. What I think I'm trying to say is that you don't have to go all "weirdy-beardy", or "charismatic" or "happy-clappy" to experience God's grace through your life. You may feel touched without any of that, and if your consciousness is altered, it's because God's changed how you think, feel, and relate to the world. The immediate feeling may wear off - for me, that's true - but hopefully the experience will act as a touchstone, and the changes that God wrought in you will be reflected in your life.
I'd just like to say that I'm not condemning in any way the "charimatic", "happy clappy", or even the "weirdy-beardy" (!), but trying to make it clear that you shouldn't reject a call or an experience just because it doesn't hit you as you expect. Nor should you be worried. Engage, analyse, if you wish, be fearful of what the experience means. But the experience can come even to "staid", "safe" - dare I say it? - "boring" Christians like me.
Synchroblog
Today is a "synchroblog" on the subject of spiritual warfare. If you've liked what you read here, or, more particularly, if you didn't, and you'd like to read some other opinions, please visit one of the other participating blogs:- Shamanic Vision and Apocalyptic Scripture at Phil Wyman's Square No More
- Can prayer be an example of Alternate Conciousness? at Eternal Echoes
- Better Than I Was [at times], Not Better Than You Are by Mike of Earthsea
- emotionalism vs rationalism at Adam Gonnerman's Igneous Quill
- Consciousness of the absurd and the absurdity of consciousness at Steve's Notes from the Underground
- The Unconscious Christian by Matt Stone
- Hypnochristians at Jamie's More Than Stone
- The extreme consciousness of the Spirit by Les Chatwin
- The Spirit of the Lord is upon me at Mike's Musings
- The Truth About Reality by David Fisher at Be the Revolution
- Trying to play along here at Cindy's Tracking the Edge
- Entranced Prayer at Journeys In Between
Labels: ERMC, spirituality, vocation
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Seminar
On placements. A bit scary. I'm wondering whether I should see if I can do one in SecondLife. Hmm.Labels: ERMC, secondlife
Saturday, March 03, 2007
Africa and mission
(backposting) I really thought I wouldn't find this topic very interesting, but, on the contrary, it was fascinating. We had someone called Emma come to talk to us, and she had lots to share (as did Richard, one of the tutors on the course). The last session was on what we can learn from modern African churches, and we had some interesting discussions on dialogue, and when we should challenge - and not just "counter-challenge" for its own sake. I argued strongly that we should stand up and disagree when we find ourselves at odds with theology such as the "Prosperity Gospel" or that which Archbishop Akinola tends to espouse on homosexuality. There was some disagreement, but I think less when I explained that "challenge" meant, for me, dialogue, and not just expounding a difference of opinion.Had discussions with Holger (afternoon) on where I am in the course, illness, etc., with Edward (late afternoon) on placements - he agrees that a hospice seems a good idea - and Helen (in the bar in the evening) on the piece of work I'm doing on music. I'm planning to meet Helen the week after next to spend some more time on this.
I've spent the time here wearing a rainbow badge and a rainbow wristband, to show LBGT (Lesbian-Bisexual-Gay-Transgender) solidarity. Several people asked about it, a couple of people asked for one (I'd brought some spares) who I wouldn't have expected to, and a couple of people I'd not have expected to be "pro-" turned out to be. I feel pleased to have stood up to be counted, and intend to continue to do so at the residentials.
As I'd had a bit of a sleep in the afternoon, I decided that I'd stay up a little later, and left the bar at 2300 or so, having watched a good deal of the lunar eclipse. Below, you'll see two pictures of ERMC students and staff (including the principal) worshipping observing the moon during her eclipse.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Off to ERMC
(backposting) I had a meeting with Keith this morning, at which we discussed my personal assessment (some interesting insights from Keith) and the placements. It's looking more and more like I'm going to end up at a hospice, rather than a funeral directors (one plan) or in a mental health institution (the original plan). Just re-read that sentence. Hmm.Lots of work, and then off to ERMC at Ditchingham. We had an interesting discussion on death and dying in our group D, which I enjoyed. Noone had got round to creating any liturgy for evening prayer (there'd been a mix-up), so we had a quick prayer and said the Grace, led by Clive, which was really refreshing, actually.
I was very good, and left the bar at 2230, after only one drink. As instructed by Moo.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Vet assessment
(backposting) There really should be a comma in the title, but it seemed like too much good luck to miss. I took both cats to the vet this morning - at the same time. This means that I managed to:- remember to get the cat travel boxes out
- remember to block off the catflap after they came in for breakfast
- not let them out when people came in and out of the back door
- track them both down
- get them both into their respective boxes (unscathed - both me and them)
- get them into the car
- overlook the plaintive mewling as I drove there
- get each of them out of the cat box they were in
- get each of them back in the cat box they were in
- get them home.
I also finished my personal assessment and sent it off to ERMC, about which I'm rather relieved.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
A tortured soul
No, not mine, I'm pleased to say. I thought I'd try to do my 10 minutes of devotional music today (as per my Lenten resolutions), and decided to listen to a little Gesualdo. He was a fascinating man - and, indeed, a tortured soul - and his music is at times heart-breaking. Just the stuff for Lent, so I'm sitting here with the Antiques Roadshow on mute in the background, typing and listening to "Ave Regina Coelorum" at the moment. I may have problems with some of the theology behind much of the Marian devotional music from the Roman Catholic church, but fewer problems than I did, and it doesn't stop the music from moving me.I had a chat with Edward from ERMC tonight, about placements. It seems that things have gone rather quiet, so he's picking up the baton. There's a problem with finding anything on the mental health side, where I'd been thinking about spending my non-ecclesial (or social) placement, and we've decided to look instead at a placement to do with death and dying - an area where I have very little experience, and which I'd already identified as needing work. We're going to see if we can find a suitable funeral directors or hospice who might take me on. I'm very happy about this, and look forward to seeing what we can sort out.
Went to church (Communion) today for the first time in weeks - I've been away, or ill, or both, and missed out, which I've not been happy about. Dad, Kate and I all went to the 0800 BCP service at Great Yeldham, which I was very pleased to have made. All in all, it's been a more theological weekend than I'd expected. Partly because my Dad, my Mum and Kate all read the draft of my personal assessement - which I'll also be discussing with Keith tomorrow, hopefully. They asked some interesting questions, and I feel that I've managed to make pretty much all the points I'd wanted to make in it. We also spent some time over supper and before discussing who we'd have on our "5 people for Lent" list (which I blogged on yesterday). This led to some interesting suggestions, including Judas (!), Luther, Pope John-Paul I (not the second), Bill Shankley, Rafa Benitez, Kevin Keegan (the last three from Mac, my father-in-law), Gerald Manley Hopkins (yeuch!), John Donne, Shakespeare and Johnny Cash. I urge you to try it with your family and friends - it was quite an interesting exercise to find out what people think that they _should_ be doing, and what they ought to saying!
Labels: death, ERMC, Lent, music
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Personal assessment - and back to work
So, get the first of these out of the way first: I went back to work today, a day before I had to, but felt much better, and it was good to be back. Had a meeting in Cambridge, and afterwards took a colleague around King's, including the chapel. Nowhere feels more like home.I was hoping to start writing my personal assessment for the year. This is an important document, as it goes to my DDO and bishop. I'm not going to do it tonight, actually, as I'm tired and we're up early tomorrow (Moo's off to Birmingham for the day). I've made some notes. I've included them (unedited), as I'm trying to use this blog as an open and honest way to reflect on my journey. The growing importance of this blog, and how I use it, along with the realisation of how central music is to my experience of the divine, give these subjects pride of place at the top of the page.
Personal assessment headings and topics
- Music and me
- Blog
- Pastoral
- Blog
- Calling on others for help
- Suggestion that I should have some counselling training
- Impact of having to provide pastoral care, keeps happening – a calling?
- Learning to listen
- Suggestion that I should have some counselling training
-
- Spiritual
- Asking for prayer, and accepting when offered
- Grounded by regular offices, particularly when tired and/or travelling
- Realisation of the importance of music to my spirituality
- Being touched by the Spirit
- Being a father and husband
- Humility, importance of the dominical commandments
- Grounded by regular offices, particularly when tired and/or travelling
-
- Academic – and grounded in reality
- Engaging with contemporary theological and sociological issues, including syncretism, sexuality and women's roles.
- How communities grow online, and what we can do to help.
-
- ERMC & parish
- Breadth of worship at ERMC
- Variety of traditions
- Lively debate
- Moving higher "up the candle" – about respect and reverence
- Variety of traditions
-
- Confidence
- Preaching – finding a voice
- Leading
-
- Difficult areas
- Holding back, reining in
- Death and dying – but actually, the pastoral comes astonishingly easily to me
-
- Placements
- Not yet arranged– mental health...
-
- After ordination
- Music
- Difficult – parish life, the day-to-day. Self-supporting: what does that mean?
- Academic involvement – but in the social (Inclusive Church & Changing Attitude?)
- Difficult – parish life, the day-to-day. Self-supporting: what does that mean?
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Recovery
I've got to get well soon. I'm not sleeping at all well, and having to sleep during the day for at least an hour during the day, and it's seriously, seriously deep. Coughing, still.It's been an up and down day. I was a bit miz this morning, having upset Moo last night. Jo's been really hard work, and neither of us has really been feeling great. I had a sleep after we got up, felt guilty about it, took Jo to Long Melford for church, which was OK, but generally involved less liturgy, and more child-minding, than I'd really like. Very welcoming, and a good service, but (as I've mentioned in blogs passim, I believe) this taking a child to church has really opened my eyes to how we can't make assumptions about the extent to which people enter into the liturgy. We went out for lunch at the Bottle Hall pub. Good food, good beer, Jo was a pain. We went back home, but the day ended very well as I took Jo swimming. She loves swimming, and it really cheered me up, too. A good evening, too, and I did the ironing. We're watching the end of the 2nd Green Wing series. It's just genius, and it's got Sally Phillips (of, among other things, the fantastic Smack the Pony, yes, she's gorgeous, though I don't usually go for blondes at all) in it, too.
Spoke to Ian, Rector of Long Melford about the possible ERMC placement, and, feeling brave, gave him not only my contact details, but also the URL of this blog. He'll get the former anyhow, but the latter has some risks attached to it, particularly given Friday's posting. But I decided that honesty's the way forward. Heigh-ho. Ian - if you're reading, hi...
Labels: ERMC, illness, Jo, Moo, sexuality, sleep, swimming
Sunday, January 07, 2007
Back home again
(backposting) So, only four hours of sleep, and I had to miss the first session of the day. I really needed some help with last night: Helen listened, let me cry, all the rest. I need to be honest with the blog, where possible, and the need for cry was really about powerlessness: about not being able to help and fix things.Helen has suggested that when I'm ordained - I'm too busy now - I get some counselling training. Knowing how to deal with issues when the arise, knowing what's possible and what isn't, and also how to deal with the effects on me, too: that sort of thing. Over the years, I've found myself performing this sort of role with a variety of people, and having some sort of training in it would make a lot of sense, so I welcome Helen's wisdom.
A very good service - communion, as always - then lunch and home. Back a bit before Moo and Jo - who's still very coughy. Got a nice one developing myself, actually.
Labels: counselling, ERMC, home
Saturday, January 06, 2007
Judaism and mission
(backposting) Had a very interesting couple of sessions today. We had three people - two students, one ex-student - from the Centre for Jewish-Christian Relations. It appears that I was lucky, and got the best session. We had a very interesting and wide-ranging discussion, from the state of Israel to supersessionism (the question of whether God's initial covenant with the Jews has been superseded by the new covenant - or testament - of Jesus: a very fraught question), to questions of appropriate modes of interaction (and/or mission) between Christians and Jews.Malcolm presented another session on Judaism and mission generally. He raised the question of how we, as Christians, tend to be too hung up on using proselytising for mission, and altogether too obsessed with numerical growth. He wondered whether we should look at conversion by example: how if we live right, people may follow our example. This really got me thinking: our living isn't just at the personal or cell level, but also at the corporate level. The main reason that people who I know give for not being interested in Christianity is that we - Christians - live hypocritically: "how can I take you seriously if you don't even treat women and homosexuals properly?"
A tough evening on the pastoral side: thanks to Sarah for the support.
Labels: ERMC, mission, pastoral care, theology
Friday, January 05, 2007
Back at ERMC
(backposting) Last day of holiday (not counting weekends), and I had a nice lazy day, sleeping in to 0915, which is pretty good, but less amazing when you realise that I didn't actually go to bed until around 0115 this morning, due in part to watching some of the excellent and funny The 51st State (also known, it appears as "Formula 51"), which I look forward to renting and watching in full in the future. Put the bins out, printed out my essays and the materials for the weekend, all that kind of stuff.Then off to London Colney for an ERMC weekend on "Judaism and Mission" and "Ageing". Not, you might gather, the most consistent of topics. Had a decent drive - despite some frankly disgusting weather - and arrived in plenty of time to make a rehearsal for some Taizé music that I was going to cantor. I ended up part-directing it too, and it went very well. I was even asked if I'd done any Taizé recordings, as I'd had one of the members of the course in tears (of joy: I checked). I was also surprised to discover that I apparently have the ability to glide. This will be surprising to anyone who knows me as a clumsy git [tm], but there is a particular style of walking with head "on top" (Alexander technique showing through there) and very balanced which allows for a certain amount of grace. When moving around in church, I think I adopt it subconsciously (it works very well in a cassock, thinking back to the days when I processed around a lot), and I'd done so while moving between positions this evening.
A session on ageing, and then to the bar. Sarah ended up trying to volunteer me to have a charity back wax. Then chest wax. Then leg wax. I'm not interested. Quote of the evening:
- "But what about all those poor children?"
- "If those poor children really want my leg hairs, I'll shave them myself, and they can stuff whatever duvets and pillows they want."
Labels: ERMC, films, quotes, singing, sleep
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Tired and grumpy and fed up
OK, I admit it: I'm all of the above, of have been at various times of the day. Let's look at some reasons:- for the last week or so, I've been waking up with a nasty sore throat
- we're both short of sleep
- I've only spent an entire night with Moo in bed twice (I think) over the past 3 weeks
- I had a real fight with Jo between 0300 and 0400 about whether she was going to sleep in her own bed (she won: she went in with Moo, and I went to sleep in the spare room again)
- I've got an essay to write for Friday
- money's looking like a really interesting issue for the next few months
- we've got a new baby on the way: of course it's disturbing
- there's lots of interesting stuff on at work, but it's keeping me very busy and may well have long-lasting impact on my career
- oh, and I'm trying to juggle ERMC work (forget the essay as well!).
My blog may not have looked like it over the past few days, but I'm beginning to think more theologically, if that makes sense. My personal seems more imbued with the spiritual (spiritual and theological are closely allied for me), which is probably how ti should be. I'm not sure how closely this marries with the course, but in some ways that probably doesn't matter, as long as I'm keeping things together and covering the course as prescribed.
A bit about Jo
Enough about me. Jo's great. One major change recently is the addition of the word "me" to the the vocabulary. Up until recently, she's referred to herself as "Jojo", but now it's quite often "me", as in "me do puzzle". She's also recently got the concept of being scared. Some things which she took in her stride until now are sometimes scary. She was scared of Father Christmas, and today, at the zoo, she was upset by some free-roaming sheep that were following us and making a lot of noise: "not like, a bit scared". She realises when things _might_ be scary (she's got a couple of books about scary bears, for instance), and sometimes she'll tell you that she's scared, or that you are. This tends to lead to a cuddle, which is definitely appropriate behaviour. She's also very interested in trying to understand emotions from facial expressions, though she often gets "sad" and "scared/frightened" mixed up, which is interesting. Getting an understanding of her emotions, and other people's, too, seems like a sensible thing to be doing, particularly if she knows how to deal with her fears.Labels: ERMC, Jo, sleep, spirituality, work, zoo
blogs4god
