theConnexion.net weblog: My Archives: February 2002

This is just to apologise to myself for not adding anything worthwhile today, well, yesterday really. But now its bedtime.

I've just heard from my old pal Andy Bratt - he caught up with me through the Friends Reunited website. Technology can be marvellous.

Richard (not me, another one) a man rarely seen without a guitar in his hands giving a quick burst of 'Smoke on the Water' in the University Chaplaincy today. (Truthfully, it could have been 'the Boxer' - the 2 came in quick succession). I wish I could claim that he really looks like this, but the fuzziness is because my digital camera is not very good, rather than any fuzziness inherrent to Richard. Maybe that's just as well.

Ron was a wonderful man. He always had a smile - even on the night before he died, when he could hardly get a breath, he was telling me how lucky he felt he was. He was so sure of God's presence in his life. It gave him great hope and confidence. He also had a deep commitment both to his church and his community. Add to that a real sense of adventure and a willingness to change and you have a man both inspired and inspiring. Many of us will miss him.

I love teaching Sunday School. Introducing children to the love of Jesus and the riches of the Bible - sounds terribly pious but is very rewarding (and fun!). But I've just come in from the worst class ever, shouting, refusing to listen, mucking about - I felt more like a riot policeman than a minister. How do teachers do it full time?? And can I take riot shields and tear gas next week?

Wish me luck - I'm about to descend into the madness that is a child's first bithday party...

I spoke 'out of turn' - the party was great fun. Matthew's first birthday was properly celebrated, and the children had almost as good a time as the grown ups!

Today I've had two conversations with Ivan, the minister I'll be exchanging with this summer. He sounds like a great bloke, and in some ways it seems a pity to be exchanging rather than working with him. The 'upshot' is that everything is falling into place for our trip to the US this summer. I don't wan to seem like a kiddy but... I'm going to Florida, na, na, nana, na!
Sorry about that. Don't know what came over me. The second of our conversations proved the worth of the chatroom. We were in there for more than an hour without a hitch, and I'll admit to a certain smugness that it worked so well.
As a great man once said, "We don't blow our own trumpet - but there's no harm in letting on that you've got a trumpet."

I've just come in from taking Megan's funeral. She was a very special Christian lady - wonderfully humourous, very strong character and a deep faith in God. I'll miss her.

My friend Howard (aka Wood) has a bizarre website that I won't attempt to describe but would encourage you to visit here. There's a fair chance you won't understand what it's about - if you do, you should probably increase the dose! Howard is a thoroughly fine fellow, who knows more about obscure saints and the writings of the early church than is strictly good for you.

A man fell into a pit and he couldn't get out.
BUDDHA said: "Your pit is only a state of mind."
A HINDU said: "This pit is for purging you and making you more
perfect."
CONFUCIUS said: "If you would have listened to me, you would
never have fallen into that pit."
A NEW AGER said: "Maybe you should network with some other pit
dwellers."
A SELF-PITYING PERSON said: "You haven't seen anything until
you've seen my pit."
A JOURNALIST said: "Could I have the exclusive story on your
pit?"
A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL said: "Have you paid your taxes on that
pit?"
A PLANNING INSPECTOR said: "Do you have a permit for that pit?"
A REALIST said: "That's a pit."
An IDEALIST said: "The world shouldn't have pits."
An OPTIMIST said: "Things could be worse."
A PESSIMIST said: "Things will get worse."
BUT JESUS, SEEING THE MAN, TOOK HIM BY THE HAND AND LIFTED HIM
OUT OF THE PIT.

It's Sunday night and the end of a long day. Last night I visited Ron in hospital. Although he was struggling to breath he still managed to tell me how lucky he was. He died early this morning - surely gone to his reward. Ron had a deep faith, a tremendous commitment to his community and an unfailing love fo Jesus. Many of us will miss him, but any sadness I feel is for those closest to him who will miss him the most - for Ron, death is a new beginning.

You wouldn't think that getting a new fridge-freezer would be such a trial. First it fitted the space we had prepared for it so exactly that the door wouldn't open. Fix that by shifting the hinge. Only if you get the top spindle undone, but it's secured by a small inaccessible nut and appears to have been tightened by someone who's overdone the steroids. Some unministerial language and a phonecall to a friend later, the door is rehung. Discover the following day that the door does not now seal properly and must be taken off again. The top spindle is now bent. More unministerial language and another phonecall to a (different) friend. All now seems well, except that the temperature in the fridge refuses to go below 6 Celsius and Jayne (wife) is beginning to panic. I write my blog to take my mind off it...

I'm just on my way out to conduct a marriage service. It's a beautiful, sunny St Valentine's Day and all is well with the world - at least, this little bit of it is doing OK for now.

My friend David Monkton will be adding a daily "Lenten thought" to his website. Read them at Prayer12.

Do you like the portrait of me in the sidebar? My daughter Ruth (aged 5) was very pleased with it.

LET earth and heaven agree,
Angels and men be joined,
To celebrate with me
The Saviour of mankind;
To adore the all-atoning Lamb,
And bless the sound of Jesu's name.

Jesus, transporting sound!
The joy of earth and heaven;
No other help is found,
No other name is given,
By which we can salvation have;
But Jesus came the world to save.

Jesus, harmonious name!
It charms the hosts above;
They evermore proclaim
And wonder at his love;
'Tis all their happiness to gaze,
'Tis heaven to see our Jesu's face.

His name the sinner hears,
And is from sin set free;
'Tis music in his ears,
'Tis life and victory;
New songs do now his lips employ,
And dances his glad heart for joy.

Stung by the scorpion sin,
My poor expiring soul
The balmy sound drinks in,
And is at once made whole:
See there my Lord upon the tree!
I hear, I feel, he died for me.

O unexampled love!
O all-redeeming grace!
How swiftly didst thou move
To save a fallen race!
What shall I do to make it known
What thou for all mankind hast done?

O for a trumpet voice,
On all the world to call!
To bid their hearts rejoice
In him who died for all;
For all my Lord was crucified,
For all, for all my Saviour died!

The death of Princess Margaret is a sombre reminder, if any were needed, that position, privilege and wealth are no guarantee of happiness. Although all the commentators that I have heard and read in the last 24 hours are doing their best to be kindly - quite right, too - it is hard to escape the conclusion that she never really found fulfillment or peace. "The princess who was born into a fairy tale and sw it turn into a soap opera" was how one journalist put it this morning. But it's too easy to be smug. Privilege and responsibility, social duty and individual freedom are always difficult to balance.

Nothing much to report today. I have a cold - which is a downer. Services for tomorrow are (more or less) ready. I'm taking the Transfiguration as the theme in the morning, sticking to the lectionary as per usual. Sunday afternoon is Sunday School in Penlan. The lessons are based on the parable of the Prodigal Son. In the evening I'm leading an 'alternative worship' session, a reflective pre-Lent service using 'Forgiven not forgotten' as a springboard. Study still isn't tidy. Life...

It's Friday. My day off. Unfortunately, the weather outside is very gloomy. Swansea seems to be specialising in wet & windy, though we haven't had the floods that some parts of Wales have seen. Never mind the weather though - what do I do with a day off? You might think I'd indulge myself with some serious r&r, a lie in perhaps, a long walk (despite the rain), a leisurely luncheon in some friendly inn or cheerful tea room. But no. Today I tidy my study, a task I have brought on myself by descending to previously unknown depths of office chaos. But it won't happen again. Honest.

Friendship is a wonderful thing - empowering, supportive and life-giving. Being part of a close-knit group of friends is a tremendous experience; the mutuality and care of friends are often a lifeline when things get grim for us. But the true test of friendship comes not in how the friends treat themselves but in how they treat the stranger. Friendship, properly understood, is always welcoming and open. The line between close friendship and 'cliqueiness' is often difficult to define with any clarity - it only becomes obvious once it's been crossed. Jesus said to his disciples "I do not call you servants any longer, instead I call you friends." It is that friendship which should be the model on which we base all our friendships, networks of compassion and care that empower not only those on the inside but which look to the needs of the stranger and outcast as well.

This is not strictly today's news, because of known of it (and shared with some others) for a little while, but I have to record it here sometime - why not today?
Being a methodist minister is not a job replete with perks, and I've no regrets about that, but I have been offered a humungous opportunity which I am looking forward to no end. This summer I'll be giving up my manse here in Swansea for a few weeks and going with Jayne and our two daughters to live in a parsonage in Florida for 6 weeks. Is that cool, or what?! Whilst I'm there my Floridan (Floridian? Floridese?) colleague will come here, living in our manse and sharing the life of the church in the Swansea and Gower Circuit. Quite apart from the prospect of 6 weeks in Florida (which is pretty exciting in itself) there is also the opportunity to see the church from a completely different perspective and, hopefully, learn some stuff. I hope that people will pray for me as I make the preparations for this exchange.

Kim Fabricius preached in the college chapel today from Matthew 5: "Blessed are the meek" Here are a couple of quotable quotes:

"Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less - and so thinking of other people more"

"C S Lewis put it like this in his brilliant Screwtape Letters: 'God wants to bring us to a state of mind in which we could design the most magnificent cathedral in the world, and know it to be the most magnificent cathedral in the world, and rejoice in the fact, without being any more (or less) glad at having done it than we would be if it had been done by someone else. God's whole effort is to get our minds of the subject of our own value altogether.'

Do you ever get the feeling you're being "got at?" One of last Sundays readings was 1 Corinthians 1: 18-31 "God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong..." Then a message on the Forum (http://www.theconnexion.net/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?5/65) asks about targets and strategies for church growth. I realise how much store I set by success and become aware of how great is the temptation to compare myself and my church to others nearby ("Am I doing better or worse than them?") But this is wrong. If I'm called to be a minister then it is to serve the kingdom, not just one congregation. And if things seem to be going well in my church I shouldn't be taking credit but giving glory to God.

Today I decided that I have to press on with theConnexion. I've toyed with the idea of "throwing in the towel", but I somehow feel it would be wrong to give up now. Setting aside the time to update the site, reply to emails and add enties to this little journal will be a strain but, I hope, worth it. Let me know what you think.