Snoring unimproved
Fell of bike en route to the staff meeting. Went over a level crossing in the wet, at speed, and learnt a valuable lesson. The derailleur was bent. My ministerial colleague picked me up in his car. It’s at times like this you discover what supporting each other means -and how isolated we can become in the absence of the Church. My wife was more worried about me than the bike. I had a few scrapes and bruises, but my pride was intact. Got back on the bike two days later. All OK.
Holiday went well. Am catching up on leave at the moment, which is a bit frustrating because of course the work does not stop, but I am reminding myself, as I do with our staff, that we cannot call others to balance work, rest and play unless we model it ourselves.
Had my viva (oral exam) for my doctorate the other day. Passed with minor corrections! The corrections have to be done within three months but I think it will take me about one. I don’t think that there were that many. They will write to me. All I know is that from the minute the examiner said, ‘we are delighted to tell you that’, I was holding back six years of blood, sweat and tears. The whole process was like Dragons Den with two examiners whose role is to look at your work, look for the weaknesses, pull it apart before your very eyes, question why you did this or that, or think this or that, and find ‘the limits of your knowledge.’ You want it to be hard because you want to know for yourself that you know your stuff. On the other hand, it is a bit like wanting to have your teeth inspected as the dentist prods around, finds a hole, asks whether it is sore and then recommends a filling or two, a scale and a polish! The whole experience has been hugely rewarding. I started on the course because I wanted to be a better minister. To do a good job you need to know how the Church works; what you can do, what you can’t do, and you also need to be aware of the lessons of the past. My research was on the fundamental question of what helps churches grow, and how the Methodist Church can nurture its new congregations. One short answer is that we need to remember the reason why the Methodist Church was formed, and why still exists today. We are called to declare, in word and action, the good news about Jesus Christ. Jesus promises life in all its fullness. Through Jesus Christ, God, our Father in heaven, forgives our sin. We are released from the guilt and burden we feel. Through the Holy Spirit God does a work in us, as He shapes us into the people he calls us to be.
I think that secretly, some of us are nervous about that message. We don’t preach it enough. We assume that everyone knows it. We are wary of declaring it, of being proud of it, because other people believe other things, and because we don’t want to cause offence. But God is not asking us to force the message on people who don’t want to hear it. Or disrespect people who disagree with us. God asks us to share the message and to invite people to join us. God calls us to love.
What all this adds up to is that whilst churches can enrich communities in an innumerable number of ways, unless we share the gospel with them, in conversation or through small groups that explore the issue of faith, we are doing them a disservice. The Church is about faith. Not just fellowship. Not just tea and cakes. For example, the scones at Elton’s Strawberry tea were amazing. I don’t usually like scones but I did not want anything too sweet. I don’t usually like scones – but I was converted to these. But our job is to convert people to more than cakes. The cakes, as I have said before, are a step in the right direction though!