Nigel Wright

email is back

Not a fun time - now email is fully functioning again....

What no e-mail?

A note to any one who reads this blog and has been trying to contact me by e-mail today...

My internet provider - zetnet - has had a server fail and has spent all day sorting a new one - there will then be a huge back log of mail!

In short if you have sent me an e-mail today I have not received it and may not tomorrow either - sorry!

Give me a good old fashioned telephone call...

Sacred space Bronte Style...

Over the past six months I have been spending a lot of time in the Parish Church of Haworth, having been helping out with services, weddings etc during their interregnum (time without vicar, pastor, minister).

Haworth and in particular the Parish Church is a tourist destination with some 90,000 visitors a year coming through it's doors thanks predominanlty to the Bronte connection and the Bronte Parsonage museum..

This weekend I spent a large part of Saturday afternoon planning a wedding with a couple and a part of Sunday afternoon rehearsing next Saturday's wedding with anothercouple. The following reflections are not about either of those couples or their families, I would never betray such confidences.

My reflections are of what was going on all around at the time.

It was a sixties theme weekend in Haworth and at the bottom of the church steps on the main street was a small marquee with a band playing sixties music (very well I hasten to add), with a good number of the happy throng in sixties clothing and dancing away having a good time. "Lambrettas and Parkas" were prevalent as was a party atmosphere and all the aromas that go with that setting. Lots of friendly smiles, hellos and general chit chat as I make my way to the church (although I was fairly casually dressed I was waring a clerical collar, given the duties I was undertaking). All good and enjoyable fun.

An then I enter the church...

I tend to get one of three reactions: 1, A request to help with a historical question

                  2, An avoidance of me in general (particularly eye contact)

                               3, A request of a more pastoral or prayer based need

None of which I mind and at least two out of the three allow engagement in some way.

The second provides me with a good reminder of this society of secular lives and sacred hearts (as used by Alan Billings) that predominates. People want to be in  church building  and have that "Holy" space but in an individualistic way. I have been told by people how they visit the church one, two and three times a week, never for a service, and it is their time and space!

And this weekend:

 -  a group of young females with pink flowers in their hair all sat praying in the front pew (genuinely so),

 - a man with headphones on sat for some fifteen minutes, alone and reflective, his appearance not what you might expect in a Church building;

- five people wrote in the book of remembrance while I was there - mainly connected to lost Fathers (Sunday the 21st being Fathers day in the UK)

- a decorative rope separates the high altar from the rest of the church and creates an unofficial "out of bounds", however, I had removed it so that we could practice the choreography for the wedding, as I am saying goodbye to the couple and their family I see two older people praying at the altar rail 

- at the rear of the church there is a book and card stall (unmanned) with an honesty box, numerous people purchased material of a Christian nature

- many people simply sat - did they pray, reflect, take in the beauty of the building, were they moved, challenged, hurt, happy, sad, worried, anxious?

As one constantly trying to break down the man made barriers between secular and sacred in our lives it is good to remember that their are "thin" places, special places, moving places that allow a closer encounter with the sacred!

God's Breath Given to Us

Borrowed in full from the Henri Nouwen daily reflection:

"Being the living Christ today means being filled with the same Spirit that filled Jesus. Jesus and his Father are breathing the same breath, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the intimate communion that makes Jesus and his Father one. Jesus says: "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (John 14:10) and "The Father and I are one" (John 10:30). It is this unity that Jesus wants to give us. That is the gift of his Holy Spirit.

Living a spiritual life, therefore, means living in the same communion with the Father as Jesus did, and thus making God present in the world. "

Can't argue with that...

everyday at work...

A quote to ponder on from Tony Jones’s book;

 

“The church that doesn’t challenge its members to face the core ethical issues that confront them everyday at work is the church that has abdicated its responsibility.”[1]

 

I would add to that:

 

The church that doesn’t help, assist and equip its members to face the core ethical issues that confront them everyday at work is the church that has abdicated it responsibility.

 

I’m finding quite a lot of the stuff in Jones’s book challenging (and frustrating in places), more of that later, but there is also a reassurance in a lot of what is being expounded, not least the above!

---

[1] Tony Jones, The New Christians, Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier ( USA: Jossey-Bass, 2008), P. 17.

The New Christians

" You know what I hate about those emergent people? They love everyone."

An anecdote from Tony Jones' book "The New Christians" - Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier"

It arrived on my doorstep yesterday at the same time as a postcard from the Kiwi that introduced me to Tony Jones' work a few years ago - "The Sacred Way" was the book - and I am still lending it out to people...

The book looks great - well laid out and with lots of useful and understandable pointers/definitions - looks like it could be very useful in all sorts of ways.

The postcard had an amazing picture of "The Church of the Good Shepherd under the Milky Way and Southern Cross, Lake Tekapo, New Zealand."

 

This is the picture on the postcard but appears to readily available (and well used) on the net...

Bradford Diocesan Day

The Bradford diocesan day went "without a hitch" in the words of the Bishop - I can testify to that from my perspective and was thoroughly moved by Dr Christina Baxter and Fr Timothy Radcliffe.

My Spirituality in work seminars seemed to go well with  a particularly lively and enthusiastic bunch in the morning seminar and a more quietly reflective and concentrated seminar in the afternoon. Thank you to both groups for your kind words and feedback and I hope and pray that what you took away with you is helping you today!

Setting the Pace

The Lord is my Pace setter - I shall not rush
He makes me stop for quiet intervals,
He provides me with images of stillness which
Restore my serenity,
He leads me in ways of efficiency through
Calmness of mind,
And his guidance is peace.
*
Even though I have a great many things to
Accomplish each day, I will not fret,
For his presence is here,
His timelessness, His all importance, will keep
Me in balance
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the
Midst of my activity,
By anointing my mind with His oils of tranquility,
My cup of joyous energy overflows.
*
Truly harmony and effectiveness
Shall be the fruits of my hours,
For I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord
And dwell in His House forever.
*
Psalm 23

 

Communion Big Top style

One of the most moving things that happened to me last week was the kindness and compassion shown to me by a young steward in the Spring Harvest big top.

Having settled the children down for the evening and watched the talk on the tv link I raced down to the big top, too late for communion, but in time for the last half hours worship.

The steward in question very kindly offered to get bread and wine for me so that I could join in, I duly explained that I had already shared communion in the all age celebrations with my family and many other families.

The point being that in his action was communion that exuded a genuine kindness and compassion that I hope and pray I will never forget.

Thank you.

Spring Harvest joy

The Wright family are back- fed, filled, affirmed and challenged...

The subject -  the apprentices of the great Rabbi!

Tackling the issues of mission in a postmodern world - guided by people such as Brian McLaren, Steve Chalke, Colin Sinclair and Chick Yuill...

I was paricularly pleased at the large concentration on getting rid of the secular sacred divide - the worldly versus thespiritual!

A different mode of life

Catching up on a few articles that appeared over Easter, Tom Wright's being a particularly good one, especially when published in the national press:

"...Let's be clear: the stories are not about someone coming back into the present mode of life. They are about someone going on into a new sort of existence, still emphatically bodily, if anything, more so. When St Paul speaks of a “spiritual” resurrection body, he doesn't mean “non-material”, like a ghost. “Spiritual” is the sort of Greek word that tells you,not what something is made of, but what is animating it. The risen Jesus had a physical body animated by God's life-giving Spirit. Yes, says St Paul, that same Spirit is at work in us, and will have the same effect - and in the whole world. ..."  see  here for the full article.