Yesterday a remembrance day service was held on Twitter at 10.15am (UK time). The service will be repeated tomorrow at the same time. It was the brainchild of James Thomas, a Methodist from Cardiff who got together with the Rev Joanne Cox (who I had the pleasure of meeting at Greenbelt this year) to make it happen.

Lots of people look at me with bemusement when I enthuse about Twitter. Even more so when I enthuse about Twitter’s application and uses in Church-based activities. So I thought this Remembrance service would make a good ‘case study’ of how powerful Twitter can be. The way it worked was that a Twitter account was set up for the service: @poppy_tweet. Then at 10.15, the tweets (140 character-long messages – like texts) started. I think the majority of these tweets were written before the event and carefully ordered – just in the way one would plan a service of worship in the normal way. Anyone could choose to view the tweets from @poppy_tweet, the tweets came in a measured way, giving the ‘viewer’ enough time to read, reflect and pray. The whole service took about one hour. You will see that there were three main people tweeting as part of the service: @poppy_tweet, @revjoannecox (who tweeted the sermon) and @jhoncooper who shared a meditation on peace. Other people took part by tweeting with different ‘hashtags’ – the main ones being #weremember and #wewillrememberthem – these hashtags work as links on Twitter – if you click on one on Twitter you will see all the tweets containing that hashtag – it’s a way of tracking topics on Twitter.

Order of service

I reproduce the main tweets of the service below. This doesn’t completely give you an idea of how it works but hopefully you can see how well put together the service was, I have put in the videos that were referred to in the service at the appropriate points:

The service continued with people tweeting the names (and sometimes rank) of those they wanted to remember as part of this online act of remembrance. It was very moving seeing all the tweets being shared about grandparents, parents and more recent soldiers who have died in service of their country.

I applaud the people who put this together and made it happen – in my opinion, a brilliant way to engage people in an old act of worship in a new way.

Press Coverage

Here are some of the major press articles written so far about the Twitter Remembrance service:

BBC News:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15684260

Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/nov/10/twitter-remembrance-day-service

Ekklesia:

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/15697

Christian Today:

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/methodist.youth.take.to.twitter.for.remembrance.services/28877.htm

Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/11/11/twitter-remembrance-service_n_1087730.html?1321006061&ref=uk-tech&ref=uk

My thanks to all the Twitter saints who shared their favourite saints and funny comments with me today!

Here is my Twitter hagiography

My favourite saint: St Blandina (or Blandine) of Lyon

@rev_gareth: St Elvis

 ” As with any visit in this part of Europe, shoes were removed at the door and before long the strong scent of thick black coffee was filling the tiny room. That’s when it happened. Out came the coffees, four cups, and then out came a plate with one cereal bar, broken in two for my friend and I to share. There was nothing for our hosts, just this precious item from the cupboard for their guests. Having left behind their homes and livelihoods, they had very little money – but their spirits were so generous. Who’d have thought a simple cereal bar could mean so much?”

@firdaus21: St Teresa of Avila

“Let nothing disturb you,
Let nothing frighten you,
All things pass away:
God never changes.
Patience obtains all things.
He who has God
Finds he lacks nothing;
God alone suffices.”

@MendipNomad: St Thomas

@cyteen02: St Cedd

“Cedd (c. 620 – 26 October 664) was an Anglo-Saxon monk and bishop from Northumbria. He was an evangelist of the Middle Angles andEast Saxons in England and a significant participant in the Synod of Whitby, a meeting which resolved important differences within the Church in England.”

@mrsfurmanator: St Catherine of Siena

“Saint Catherine of Siena, T.O.S.D, (25 March 1347 in Siena – 29 April 1380 in Rome) was a tertiary of the Dominican Order, and aScholasticphilosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the papacy of Gregory XI back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. She was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1970. She is one of the two patron saintsof Italy, together with St. Francis of Assisi.”

@revpamsmith: St Anthony

I have to quote Pam’s tweet here (which spawned a very silly Twitter conversation about lost socks and other items of clothing including a cassock alb and a gym kit):

“St Anthony, finder of lost objects. Top saint, does a tough job without moaning about it “

@emptybelly: St John Chrysostom

“Chrysostomos, “golden-mouthed” so called on account of his eloquence.

Doctor of the Church, born at Antioch, c. 347; died at Commana in Pontus, 14 September, 407.”

@edwardbgreen: ‘My grandmother’

Edward shared these moving Tweets about his grandmother:

she had a quiet but stable Anglican faith, worshipping for many years in a difficult estate anglo-catholic church …

… in later life she moved, established a church herb garden and always supported me in my faith even though it was at the time …

… more charismatic. Today perhaps I have returned to where she was, centred in daily prayer and sacrament.

@clairemaxim1: St Peter

Here’s Claire’s full tweet:

St Peter (because he gets it wrong); my childhood neighbour Betty (because she got it right mostly); Twitter folk who keep trying!

@drgeorgemorley: St George

Here’s George’s tweet:

St George – who vanquished the dragon under the banner of the risen Christ. Where ‘here be dragons’ may I be so faithful today.

@hoosier1964: St Aidan

“Known as Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne, Aidan the Apostle of Northumbria (died 651), was the founder and first bishop of the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne in England. A Christianmissionary, he is credited with restoring Christianity to Northumbria. Aidan is the Anglicised form of the original Old IrishAodhán. In 2008, he was proposed as a possible patron saint of the United Kingdom.”

@willgrady: St Gregory of Nazianzus

I loved this little gem in Will’s tweet:

St Gregory of Nazianzus – was ordained & immediately headed 4 the hills b/c he was terrified!

@thederb: St Paul

And another mini sermon in a tweet:

St Paul – shows God still chooses the least of us – even if initially you stand by holding Stephen’s coat.

@karinrosner: St Mary Magdalene

“Mary Magdalene (original Greek Μαρία ἡ Μαγδαληνή) was one of Jesus’ most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus.”

@Andy_Shudall: St Francis of Assisi

And Andy’s reason:

Francis – surrendered much for Jesus, rejected establishment, built community & changed the world because he lookd to change his life

@raycrud: St Guinefort

“Saint Guinefort was a 13th-century French dog that received local veneration as a saint after miracles were reported at his grave.

His story is a variation on the well-travelled “faithful hound” motif, similar to the Welsh story of the dog Gelert. Guinefort the greyhoundbelonged to a knight who lived in a castle near Lyon. One day, the knight went hunting, leaving his infant son in the care of Guinefort. When he returned, he found the nursery in chaos – the cot was overturned, the child was nowhere to be seen and Guinefort greeted his master with bloody jaws. Believing Guinefort to have devoured his son, the knight slew the dog. He then heard a child crying; he turned over the cot and found his son lying there, safe and sound, along with the body of a viper. Guinefort had killed the snake and saved the child. On realizing the mistake the family dropped the dog down a well, covered it with stones and planted trees around it, setting up a shrine for Guinefort. Guinefort became recognised by locals as a saint for the protection of infants.”

Jesus has quite a lot to say about worry and anxiety. It’s amazing that we don’t focus on this teaching very much. This morning I heard the story of Martha and Mary on the Pray as you go Podcast. I was encouraged to think about what it was that Martha got wrong that Jesus seems to ‘rebuke’ her for. I thought and realised that the essence of it is that Jesus is telling her “don’t worry”:

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41, 42 NIV)

The passage also mentions that Martha is ‘distracted’.

When our gaze is distracted from Jesus we get stressed and worried!

So it’s right that Jesus seems so harsh with Martha – he’s trying to hammer home the point about how destructive worry is – he loves her too much not to challenge her.

How often do we really hear these words of Jesus?

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25, 27, 34 NIV)

Our society and our lives are missing out on stories. The art of storytelling is dying and yet we all know how uplifting it can be to hear a good story.

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve really noticed this. Firstly, I read this excellent interview with Justin Lee where he said:

I think we Christians should be more in the habit of asking the people we encounter in our lives: “Tell me your story.”

Why was the woman at the well so impressed with Jesus? It was because he knew her story. That alone made her eager to listen to him and bring others to do the same.

Our God is a personal God, and as the Body of Christ, we have an obligation to represent God by taking an interest in people’s lives and stories.

Then, this week I went along to the amazing Bring the Happy performance by an art group called Invisible Flock and the band Hope & Social (read my review here). At the core of the project was the question ‘what’s your happiest memory?’ The artists shared all their findings and something that struck me was that in asking this question, you really touch on who a person is and where they come from. Although the question was about happiest memories it often brought out sadness and grief as well. It goes to the heart of what it is to be human.

What’s your happiest memory?

How does it make you feel recalling it? How would you answer this question? What does it reveal about you?

We need more testimony I think in our conversations. So much of our conversation is banal and meaningless. When do we touch on the deeper things of life? When I say testimony what I mean is the sharing of our stories – either what has happened to us in the past or what is going on right now, and for Christians, we can share how God is or has been present in that.

I went to Wednesday eucharist this week at our church and got talking afterwards to one of the old ladies. We were talking about being scared of spiders. She went on to tell me an incredibly moving story of how her husband had always dealt with spiders in the house as she was terrified of them. Then one day he said to her, “you know, Lily, I’m terrified of spiders too”, and she slowly plucked up the courage to learn how to get rid of them herself. She shared that she realised that he’d told her he was scared of them too so that she would be able to deal with them when he had gone.

I was really struck by this. What a moving story and just over a cup of tea after a church service!

Hearing all the memories shared at the Bring the happy event was like being drenched in these beautiful poignant moments of people’s lives. The undercurrent of sadness, though, was what brought us together. There was a strong sense of ‘fellowship’ in the room as these stories were shared of love lost, opportunities missed and funny childhood incidents.

Thinking in terms of evangelism (what a dirty word!) – or as I like to put it, sharing one’s faith – I think we could do worse than to ask people ‘what’s your story?’ and maybe tell ours as well, whether a sad story or a happy one. Those of us who are Christians can see how God has been present in our lives and it is most often in those darkest moments that we have felt God’s presence most keenly. Just as in the performance I attended, it was in the sad stories that the atmosphere shifted and we felt a solidarity with one another.

So next time you meet up with a friend or start talking to someone after church, why not be daring and ask them what their happiest memory is, or where their favourite place is and why? Let’s start connecting with each other on a deeper level and see what it shows us about life, the universe and everything.

“Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” – Colossians 4:6

Postscript

Following on from  some of the comments on this post I would encourage you, if you are a Christian, to watch and use this video as a springboard for talking about evangelism in your church community and with your friends:

Find out more on the website tell.show.be.

Last night I had the privilege to attend the Bring the Happy performance by a group of artists called Invisible Flock supported by the band Hope & Social.

Here’s a description of the project from the BBC website:

Thousands of people’s best memories of Leeds have been captured in a giant “happy map”.

Three artists began a project last year to record memories of people from the city to create the interactive piece.

A glass cylinder marks a spot on the map where something good, great or life-changing happened. The higher the tube, the happier the memory.

One memory reads: “As the clock struck midnight on Millennium Square, 2010, it started to snow.”

Bring the Happy is the brain child of a group of Leeds-based artists called Invisible Flock.

The performance at Northern Ballet last night was a beautiful journey through the thousands of memories gathered by the artists from people from all walks of life in Leeds. It was one of the most profound experiences I have had outside of church!

Ultimately, it was a collection of people’s stories, people’s lives. In focusing on people’s happiest memories it also threw into relief people’s grief and sadness as well. And I think it was in the undercurrent of melancholy that a sense of solidarity and beauty pervaded the atmosphere of the room we were in. The whole gamut of human experience was shared.

I took a few pictures which hardly show how beautiful this evening was.

We were all sitting around tables decorated with balloons and were given an ‘order of service’ with song words in, written by Hope & Social – and being a Hope & Social performance there was plenty of communal singing!

It looked like a wedding reception and at many times it felt like one – lots of laughs and tears shared by the attendees all united in this experience of sharing life stories.

One of the collected memories was:

A kiss I’d wished for for weeks coming true

This was turned into a chorus which we and the band sang while the artists read memories of first love from their collection.

Many of the memories the artists collected were about intoxication. 90s rave music played, we waved glow sticks and were given shots of vodka as memories of being out on the lash in Leeds were read out. I smiled as one of them I share – dancing at Move on Up on Wednesday nights at the Underground.

There were also lots of memories of the old dance halls of Leeds – many mentioning dancing the gay gordon at Mecca in the 50s. The band played a waltz and we all went onto the dancefloor, reliving these borrowed memories together:

We sang a hymn to Hyde Park and waved sparklers as memories of Hyde Park were shared – again, these resonated with me as I have my own memories of Hyde Park from my student days:

A moving story was told of two young scally lads who shared memories of ‘Nana’ who had died. A New Orleans style jazz song played as a funeral march was played in memory of ‘Nana’:

These are just tiny glimpses of what was an incredible evening. The performance closed with the Ballad of Leeds – written by Hope & Social and based on the memories of Leeds people – the first line is ‘I was born in Quarry Hill’ – the same spot where we were sitting that had once been a social housing project in the 60s and 70s and later demolished to make way for all the arts buildings there now.

I captured this on my iphone – the recording is slightly distorted because we were sitting near the band!

This experience will stay with me for a long time, in fact, it could be added to the ‘happiness map’. 10/10!

On Saturday morning we went to have a go at ‘traversing’. When I was a Guide and Ranger I had a very adventurous spirit and would try anything, relish the challenge and I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie. Now, 15 odd years later I have lost some of that daredevil attitude, I have become scared of heights and a lot less confident and that saddens me. So on Saturday morning I resolved to give this ‘traversing’ a go – not really knowing what it was.

We got there and I was given one of those horrible harnesses to wear along with a helmet and sat next to the 11 year old Guides as we awaited instruction. I watched a number of the girls go first along the course and the more I watched, the more I thought ‘I don’t think I can do this!’ I resolved, however, to give it a go, in the back of my mind thinking I’d probably give up after the first step – the walk along the pole. Here I’ve drawn on a photograph the route that we had to take. This is a picture from the other side of the rig (on the other side of the telegraph poles were big staples that you could climb up).

It finally came to my turn and I realised, after watching everyone else climb up, that what was important was my attitude. Physically I definitely could do it, it was mentally that I needed to convince myself. Up I went and the first part wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared, so I continued. I nearly gave up at the end of the second crossing but then decided that I should push myself further. The final traverse was a real challenge and took me a long time. Swapping the ropes was really difficult, as was letting go at each step. Finally though, I got to jump off and was gently winched down to the ground. I felt really elated. So delighted that I had done it and that I’d overcome my fears.

How often are our lives like this? Often we imagine things are going to be much worse than they are. Often we are held back by what we think might happen rather than the reality. We rarely regret taking risks – so why not take more of them?

Here endeth the lesson! I’m writing this more to remind myself than anything else!

Very unflattering photographic evidence! This is me just before I finished the course!

]]> http://vahva.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/its-all-in-the-mind/feed/ 0 vahva Traversing course at Belchamps Traversing route 308390_10150293626595756_544665755_8294562_1408226941_n http://vahva.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/my-first-sermon-on-ezekiel-34/ http://vahva.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/my-first-sermon-on-ezekiel-34/#comments Mon, 19 Sep 2011 18:25:20 +0000 vahva http://vahva.wordpress.com/?p=374 ]]> I ummed and ahhed about sharing this here as a sermon written down isn’t the same as one preached in a service. However, lots of my friends couldn’t come along to the service and also I like to be a ‘reflective practitioner’ – meaning that I reflect on what I do and one of the ways I do that is through blogging so that I can get feedback from others and grow and learn.

So I have decided to post it here along with some of the visuals I used as well. Feel free to comment and feed back any thoughts. God Bless you.

The readings were:

Ezekiel 33: 23, 30 – 34:1-10

(Mark 9: 33-37)

Please do read these passages in your bible or by clicking on the links above before reading on!

Do any of you know what these are (at this point I held up some 3D specs)? They’re actually a pair of 3D cinema specs – the modern kind, not like the old green and red ones. I don’t know if any of you have been to see a modern 3D film? I remember Paul and I going to a matinee of the cartoon Monsters vs Aliens in 3D. It was really funny because the auditorium was full of small children with these big specs on – it looked like a special outing for gifted and talented children!

Well, in reading this Ezekiel passage today from the Old Testament, it’s kind of like helping us to see the New Testament in 3D. When we read the Old Testament and we learn from it, it makes the New Testament come to life even more for us – it makes certain passages really jump out of the page as if they’re in 3D. We see new depths and new colours and have an altogether deeper experience. I think this passage that we heard today does this for us.

Just before we dive into the passage it is helpful for us to understand who Ezekiel is talking to.

Who knows who this is a picture of?

Can you guess why I’ve put a picture of Boney M up here?! Well they had a hit back in the 70s – By the rivers of Babylon – which is probably the strangest psalm ever chosen for a pop song!

The song is based on Psalm 137 which reads in the first verse:

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

Ezekiel had been taken to Babylon when he was 25, he spent a lot of time preaching to the Jews there that Jerusalem would fall but no one believed him. When Jerusalem finally did fall there was a wave of refugees and exiles who had come from Jerusalem to Babylon. These were a devastated group of people. It is these people Ezekiel is speaking to. People who were grieving and far from home.

The picture that Ezekiel puts into 3D for us is something that is quite familiar – that of shepherds and sheep.

Shepherds and sheep are probably one of the first things we all encounter in church in our lives. That’s quite strange really when you think about it, especially if you live in an suburban area like we do!

We’ve all at some point in our lives worn a tea towel on our heads in a ridiculous attempt to look like a first century shepherd! At the time of Ezekiel, the idea of a leader of people being described as a shepherd was well known both in the middle east in general but especially for the Jews. There are two major leaders of Israel who were real shepherds of sheep before they became shepherds of people. The first was Moses who was looking after sheep in the desert when he first heard God’s call from the burning bush. The second was David, who was also out looking after sheep when Samuel came to choose the next king of Israel. So for the Jews of Ezekiel’s time, the shepherds of Israel were their leaders – their kings. The ‘shepherds of Israel’ that Ezekiel is talking about are the kings of Judah, the leaders of the people.

These leaders of God’s people are expected not only to be good administrative leaders but also good spiritual leaders – we tend to separate the two now in our society – David Cameron is the Prime Minister and he looks after matters of State, Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury and he looks after matters of Faith. This wasn’t the case in Ezekiel’s day. If you want to see what the Kings of Israel and Judah were like, have a look in the 2 books of Kings in the Old Testament – the judgements on them are more about whether they led the people towards God or away from Him.

So what is Ezekiel saying about these shepherds, these recent kings of Judah? What have they done wrong?

There are 3 main things Ezekiel accuses them of, using the metaphor of a shepherd: exploiting the people; not defending the weak and finally allowing the flock to scatter.

They’ve taken advantage of their position. It was normal for a shepherd to live off what the sheep provided – milk, wool and meat, but these shepherds are only taking that and not actually caring for the welfare of the sheep. They’ve got it the wrong way around, they should be caring for the sheep so that they produce good milk, wool and meat. They’ve forgotten that the sheep aren’t there for their benefit – that they’re only looking after them on behalf of God.

Secondly, the shepherds have not looked out for the weakest in their flock or healed them when they were sick. They’ve not been counting all the sheep and making sure everyone’s safe. They’ve let the sheep wander off and get lost.

Finally, they’ve ‘allowed the flock to scatter’ – here Ezekiel is referring to the number of times the Jewish people have been exiled – at different times the Jewish people have scattered away from Jerusalem to Babylon and Egypt and other surrounding countries. In the passage read last week, Ezekiel used this word ‘scattered’ again – it’s used throughout the book of Ezekiel and it refers to the scattered people of God, they’ve moved away from the tabernacle – the place of God’s presence. The way that the shepherds have led Israel means that they’ve lost most of their sheep.

We all know, even us townies, that the basic job of a shepherd is to make sure the flock stays together. Some years ago I was on a Ranger Guides trip to the Lake District and we spent some time with a shepherdess. You’ll notice when out and about that sheep you see have different coloured marks on their backs? The shepherdess showed us a book that all sheep farmers hold which has in it the ID marks of all the local farmers. This shows which farm the sheep belong to so that they can be returned if they get lost. Successive shepherds of Israel clearly didn’t have such a system! They allowed the people to leave the sanctuary in Jerusalem and be ‘scattered to other farms’.

Now, it’s always easy when reading Bible passages like this to assume that this doesn’t apply to me or to the times we’re living in. So I’d like us to have a bit of a deeper look into ourselves and our society.

(This was a cafe service with people sitting around tables in groups so there was some time for discussion).

On your tables I’d like you to discuss this question:

• What makes us (people today) feel exploited or taken advantage of?

————————————————-

It’s sadly not that difficult is it to see parallels between Ezekiel’s day and ours?

Let me read to you the next part of Ezekiel 34 which wasn’t included in today’s reading but is actually the best bit of this chapter!

¹¹ “‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.  ¹⁵ I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice….

²² I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plundered. I will judge between one sheep and another.²³ I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken.

Remember the situation that the Jews were in at this time when Ezekiel was preaching – they were alone and hopeless in a foreign land with foreign gods and no opportunity to go back home to Jerusalem. What a message of hope this must have been for them to hear!

But! What about us? How fortunate are we? We know who Ezekiel is talking about don’t we? It’s Jesus!

You can see that Jesus must have known the book of Ezekiel well as he is clearly referring to this passage when he famously says ‘I am the Good Shepherd’. Do you see what I mean about the 3D specs now?!

Jesus was also preaching a similar message to Ezekiel’s to the disciples in today’s gospel reading from Mark. The disciples were getting a little over excited about their new responsibilities that Jesus was giving them (he was basically training them up to be shepherds of the people) and Jesus has to remind them that the role of a shepherd is to seek and save the lost, to bind up the sick and above all to serve – Jesus says:

‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’

It is interesting that in verse 24 the Ezekiel passage says I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them.– the word ‘among’ is significant there. The leader is not aloof and set apart but among his people. This is what God did in sending Jesus to be Immanuel, God with us, among us.  

How is Jesus unlike these bad shepherds Ezekiel was talking about?

Firstly, he doesn’t exploit us. He does not expect or need anything from us – his love for us is unconditional. I love the quote from a famous sermon given by Archbishop Desmond Tutu where he says that Jesus says to us: ‘There is nothing you can do to make me love you more, there is nothing you can do to make me love you less’. That is what’s so amazing about grace! That was a real realisation for me in my own faith when I realised that I didn’t have to try and be this perfect person for Jesus to like me, that He accepts me as I am and whilst I was still a sinner, He still chose to die for me.

Secondly Jesus binds us up when we’re hurting and comes looking for us when we run away. I have seen people physically healed through prayer, I know that our God is a God who heals – my mum has been clear of breast cancer for some years now – Jesus came alongside and healed her. But we know that God doesn’t only heal us physically. In my own life I’ve known God’s healing more of my battered emotions and psyche. Some years ago I was really stressed out at work and I’d somehow convinced myself that God wanted me to keep on battling through to support my colleagues through a redundancy process. Very gently, Jesus sent my friend Juliet to visit me, and I believe He spoke through her when she said to me ‘Bryony, you don’t have to work there any more’. It was like a door had been unlocked! The next day I went in applied for Voluntary Severance and the weight I had been carrying had been completely lifted. The Good Shepherd really does tend our wounds – whether they’re physical or psychological.

Finally, Jesus is what unites us as Christians, he doesn’t want his sheep to scatter. On the night before he died Jesus prayed that ‘let they be one as you and I are one’ – he prayed for unity. That night all the disciples scattered but as Jesus rose again, the disciples came back together and later received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Now you might say, hang on a minute Bryony, the church isn’t united. Well in my experience, when you’re speaking to other Christians, Christians who are perhaps very different from you, you do find that what we do have in common is our love for Jesus. I found this in my time at university in the Christian Union – we were from lots of different denominations but we were united around the fact that we all knew and loved the Lord Jesus and we wanted other people to know that too. We were learning about unity in the Romans passage last week – Jesus gives us a way to live together by not judging each other and considering each others’ needs first. When we focus on Jesus, it unites us.

So Ezekiel paints a picture for us of our way and God’s way. It reminds me of one of my favourite bible verses, Isaiah 55:8:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.

God never behaves in the way we would – and thank God that he doesn’t!

So if you’re feeling like you’re not good enough for God, know that what he does is come and choose you. Jesus is not like the bad shepherds, only paying attention to the strong and healthy. Jesus leaves the strong and healthy to come and look for those who are weak and tired and have nothing left in them to give and he chooses us and loves us just as we are – not as what we should be. It’s Back to Church Sunday next week and on the invitations it says ‘come as you are’. That is Jesus’ invitation to you. You don’t have to be anything other than yourself to be welcome in his kingdom.

You might be need of physical healing or feeling far from God or trapped. Jesus the good shepherd won’t ever let you get lost – he will come and find you. Pray that Jesus would come and free you from your illness or free you from the situation you’re in. As Peter says in one of his letters ‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you’.

And what unites us? That Jesus died for us all and rose again. We will be celebrating this shortly in communion – acting out the truth that Jesus doesn’t let his sheep scatter but unites us all around one table.

"You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, and I am your God" - Ezekiel 34:31

Amen.

Nadia Bolz-Weber – Preacher Girl

After her blistering sermon on Sunday I had to go and hear what Nadia had to say about the art of preaching. This was very timely for me as I am preaching my first sermon in a couple of weeks’ time (eek!) She took us through a week in the life of her preparing a sermon recently, preached the sermon she wrote and then took questions. There was a lot for me to take home. I asked her to elaborate on a comment she made about the difference between teaching and preaching. She said that she wouldn’t want people to walk away from her sermons saying ‘I learnt something’ – that’s kind of like a ‘so what?’ thing. I think she has a point although we do learn from sermons what you really need is for your heart to change. She also said that having deep knowledge of scripture and the historical context etc is a bit like pastors’ underwear – you want to know that they’re wearing it but you don’t want to see it! Her talk can be purchased here and if you’re interested in preaching I’d heartily recommend it.

Grill the twitterati

I was privileged to have been invited to be ‘grilled’ on a panel in the G Source tent on Monday afternoon. We had a really interesting discussion and debate about faith and social media and we were delighted that twitter was used throughout the talk showing what can happen.

You can just see me sitting next to Vicky Beeching!

I also really enjoyed taking part in the Social Media Surgeries at Greenbelt helping people to get to grips with Twitter and blogging!

Operation Greenfield

I went to see this play in the big top in the afternoon. I was very tired having gone to bed very late the night before so I think I might have enjoyed it more had I been more awake! It was quite an odd play and sometimes felt a bit like a student project rather than a professional production. It had some interesting insights into adolescence.

Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples of the Staples Singers headlined on Monday night. She is such a legend – her family have been in the music business for 61 years! It was very moving hearing her speak about the songs written by her father that were sung at the civil rights marches in the 60s. Here’s a little extract I recorded from her final song ‘I’ll take you there’ – listen to her mimicking the bass line – so cool!

Sunday morning at Greenbelt is always the time set aside for communion. In previous years it has often been cringy and in trying to please everyone, pleased no-one. This year was a total exception!

The service was ‘warmed up’ by IDMC Gospel Choir who got everyone on their feet – I think a gospel choir is the best kind of worship group for a crowd as large as the one in front of the mainstage at Greenbelt. After some opening prayers we were then told we were going to have some ‘dirty gospel’ and to the shock of all of us a guy called Rev Vincent Anderson began the songs with a James Brown-like screech – a grin spread over all our faces as the funky music struck up! Here’s a clip from the Wild Goose festival (the American equivalent of Greenbelt) that gives a bit of a flavour!

The preacher was Nadia Bolz-Weber, a heavily tattooed lutheran pastor from Denver. She preached the best sermon I have heard all year and I was delighted to be able to hear her speak on the art of preaching on the Monday at Greenbelt. Everyone got something from her message from John chapter one on the incarnation. One part I loved was that she reminded us that God chose to have sweat-glands and get the hiccups!

One of the most beautiful parts of the service was the use of coloured ribbons to represent the incarnation. These ribbons parted down the middle just before communion to represent the tearing of the curtain in the temple in two. Here’s a snap that I took and to see much better photos have a look here on Flickr.

So communion this year was a real highlight for me.

Phyllis Tickle

I went to hear Phyllis Tickle speaking on what she terms the ‘great emergence’. It was a quick run through her ideas on how the church is changing. She is clearly an incredibly erudite woman and I think some of her talk was a bit too academic for the crowd that was there – lots of theological language was used with no explanation. It was stimulating, however.

Hope & Social

You know I love Yorkshire based band Hope & Social! They did two performances and I was only able to get to the one in the Performance Cafe (without the horn section) because I was doing a panel discussion at the same time as their Monday gig. They did a lovely intimate set in the big marquee and because I’d had a pint of Crazy Goat cider (6.8%vol!) I did the actions to their song Red Red Rose – on my own. Here’s a clip including Gary Stewart doing his Paul Simon bit:

Rob Bell

With all this in mind it was a great decision to put Rob Bell on the mainstage instead of in the Centaur venue. Rob Bell gave a good talk but it wasn’t really on any particular theme. I was hoping he’d speak about his book, Love Wins but he didn’t. It was a simple message and one that really he could have got across in 30 minutes rather than an hour. When I heard him speak 2 years ago at Greenbelt he really blew me away – it was a message I really needed to hear at the time and will probably go down as one of the most significant sermons I have ever heard. So my expectations were quite high meaning that I was actually very underwhelmed.

I think it will have been good for a lot of people to hear the message but for me it didn’t do that much.

Paula Gooder Faisal Islam

The only thing that went wrong this weekend was the iPhone app for Greenbelt. Many of the talk times and venues weren’t accurate and it didn’t seem to include every event. We went along to hear Paula Gooder speak about the resurrection and sat down in the venue advertised on the app. Unfortunately it was a talk on the economic crash by Faisal Islam which for me wasn’t particularly interesting. I lost all confidence in the app which meant I had to keep referring to friends’ paper programmes. I really hope the Greenbelt organisers get this problem fixed next year – it’s great that they’ve got an app but at £3.99 it should be accurate.

Ben Moor – Coelacanth

My friend Dick Bonham who’s involved in organising the performing arts stuff at Greenbelt recommended this play to me. It was my favourite performance of Greenbelt this year. A one man show it was a beautiful love story about tree climbing, life, the universe and everything. This was in the new Playhouse venue – a big top with good seating. The only downside was that it was near a tent where some loud music was being played which was a bit distracting. This was a wonderful uplifting show – I hear Ben‘s playing at the Carriageworks Theatre later in the year – do see if you can go and catch the show!

Here’s an extract from the script:

Here’s how the story starts. . .

You could say this story starts more than a hundred years ago.
In the 19th century as the maps of the planet were being finalised, the world’s great forests passed on to the English their secrets kindly and discreetly like grandparents pass on sweets. Explorers boomeranged home from being flung far with cuttings and seeds, leaves and nuts, and welcomed them to our strange and magical island. For tree-growing and the appreciation of trees has always been a silent passion of ours. From these experiments, hybrids of Redwood and Oak, of Baobab and Yew, of Cypress and Sycamore were designed, planted and encouraged to grow to wonderful heights and girths. Hundreds of feet high, dozens around. Designed to be used for a sport only to be played long into the future. Designed to be climbed.

Picture then, Eight Great Trees of England ­ planted during the main course of the Victorian feast, only to reach their mighty heights towards the end of the 20th century long after the deaths of their planters.
There are more than eight of course ­ every county has its revered tree, and how proud we all are of them. But there are eight truly important ones, dotted around the island like treats during a Summer.
Now picture a young woman as she ascends one such great tree. She climbs to music and enthrals a stadium audience of hundreds with her graceful leaps and acrobatic pulls. If you had to describe it you might say it is a mixture of figure skating and mountaineering, a vertical ballet, an arboreal gymnastic. It is the expression of our national soul. It is the writing on the sand that tells a passing world we are here.
But you don’t have to describe it, you just have to see it.
Can you see the tree? Can you picture the girl?