The Blurb: April 2008

Thought for the day: Why

Tuesday 29 April 2008  3.27 pm

I move on from things quite easily, it seems.  As I went to university, I felt quite happy not leaving home, though I had originally intended to.  When I left Bath, I felt immediately at home at Lee Abbey.  When I left Lee Abbey, I never looked back.  When CWR and Riding Lights turned me down for jobs, I found myself perfectly able to accept the outcomes as God's will.

Yet sometimes I don't move on quite so readily.  Sometimes I find myself looking back rather too much and wondering what could have been.

What's the defining factor then?  What is it that decides whether I move on from something or not?  I reckon it's the "why".

When I went to the University of Bath, I knew why it was a great choice.  When I went to Lee Abbey, though I worried about the fact that I wasn't directly helping "the poor", I could see why I fitted in there.  When I left, there were good reasons why it was the right time to move on.  And both CWR and Riding Lights gave perfectly understandable justification for me not being the man for the job.

Even the great Biblical heroes of faith didn't act blindfold.

God didn't just tell Noah to build a boat.  He told Noah exactly what was coming and why (Genesis 6:13).  Noah needed great faith to believe God, but he didn't do so without reason.  By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death (Hebrews 11:17-19).  There are hundreds of other stories, and I can't think of one entirely without reason - let me know if you find one!

So the thought for the day is this (quite obvious, really): it's much easier to do something, or keep doing something, if you know why you're doing it.  And even decisions made "by faith" benefit from sound justification.
 
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God's will

Sunday 27 April 2008  9.30 am

Many who know me will know that since November I have been following up a possibility of being the next Marketing Officer for the Riding Lights Theatre Company in York.  Eagle-eyed Timble website readers will note that I went up to see them for an interview two weeks ago.

It turns out that this isn't God's will after all.  You see, although there's a lot I could offer (and might in a freelance capacity in the coming months), the areas most critical to Riding Lights at the moment are those where I have the least experience, so I can understand why I'm not the man for the job right now.

Apart from the usual nervousness at doing something challenging, I've had a lot of peace about this job.  It hasn't felt horribly wrong like many things I've had to make decisions on.  All of which throws more doubt on the notion of "peace" (or lack of it) as the sole indicator of God's guidance.

But I'm not thrown by this news into a pit of despair!  Far from it.  I'm quite happy to take it as the latest gentle nudge on the road and keep looking. :o)
 
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Friends in high places

Friday 25 April 2008  10.17 am

High in the Church of England, that is. This morning, Chris Edmondson, Warden of Lee Abbey for my whole time there, is consecrated Bishop of Bolton.

Congratulations to him!

It's all happening in a service in York Minster.  I originally decided that it was a bit silly to go up to Yorkshire twice in as many weeks, but I wish I was there now.  I'm sure it will be a fabulous occasion.

My great uncle Denis was a Bishop, but I never knew him.  I know Bishop John Perry fairly well, but I think Chris Edmondson - who has been known to us at Lee Abbey as His Most High Super-Spiritualness, Mr. L. Abbey, the Reverend Doctor Lee Abbey in Christ, and various other things - is the Bishop I Know Best.

I think he will be an excellent Bishop - one who really listens, one who really cares, but one who also isn't afraid to make the hard decisions.  I wish him all the best.
 
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God's own county

Wednesday 16 April 2008  11.30 pm

It's far north of Watford Gap, it's emphatically not Lancashire, and it humbly considers itself the best place since sliced bread.  It's "God's own county", and yet until last Thursday, I had never been there.

Where am I talking about?  Yorkshire, of course - the home of Archbishop John Sentamu, Paul Hudson the Mayor of Wetwang, and Midget Gems.

If Yorkshire is really God's own county, I guess that means he lives there somewhere.  Possibly in York Minster, the rather large and impressive church that makes St. Michael le Belfry (right) look somewhat piddly in comparison.  Or maybe I'm getting my priorities the wrong way round.

I visited Yorkshire for the first time last weekend.  And I liked it a lot.  Sampling the countryside of Wharfedale (where Clare lives), the ancient city of York, a small number of the people of these two areas, and a theatre company by the name of Riding Lights (who were the reason I was on this trip in the first place), I have come to the conclusion that the North of England really doesn't deserve all the mud thrown at it from the South.

Now if we could only convince them that the South doesn't deserve their mud either...
 
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Essence of snow

Sunday 6 April 2008  9.13 am

See that white dusting around the top of Little Solsbury Hill and on that anonymous car?

You are seeing, friends, last night's final march of a fearless band of hardy snowflakes that decided to venture away from their Arctic heartland to the warm, unfriendly South.  They were never going to survive for long, but deserve points for effort. :o)
 
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One Hope

Wednesday 2 April 2008  9.44 pm

It's the year of Hope 2008.  It's the year of One Hope.  It's the year of the church stepping out into the community and taking action.  Or maybe, like Christian Pat, a little light evangelism. (OK, so I've been getting into YouTube of late.)

[The YouTube clip has sadly been removed since this posting.]

Spring Harvest this year was all about hope.  I went with Clare's family to Skegness, a mere 36 hours after the place was dressed in white, and had a great week.

In the course of the week, an interesting thing happened.  The "Hope for Muslims" seminar had to be moved at least twice to larger venues.  Meanwhile, another seminar, "Hope for the Church", was cancelled.
 
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