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Walking the Labyrinth

9 April 2011 By Leave a Comment

Walking the Labyrinth Sally Welch (Canterbury Press – £9.99)

There can be no doubt that one of the successful modern spiritual tools is the labyrinth. Meditative walking of the pathways of labyrinths has taken off and intriguingly can be found within the modern experience of high and low church folk alike. But what to make of it?

This book is an attempt to put the labyrinth experience into words and is broadly successful. There are ideas for what to do and what to think about whilst meandering the twisting pathways of the labyrinth itself but there is much more too. There are detailed descriptions of how to construct a classic labyrinth. Practical measurements and methodologies are present alongside the more spiritual suggestions.

However, the ideas don’t end there. I particularly liked the idea of getting a team of people to collect the rubbish on a beach before making it in to a labyrinth in which to contemplate the ecological crisis and the state of the natural world.

There are labyrinth liturgies and labyrinth meditations. Labyrinth readings and labyrinth lections. The only hesitation one might have is to ask whether or not such wordiness is really in keeping with the object of the exercise. Is not labyrinth walking essentially about doing something thoughtful and meditative that is not all bound up in words? Letting go of language is for many the goal of prayer in these pathways.

Notwithstanding that one reservation, many who have encountered the labyrinth in gardens or retreat houses, in installations in church or university may want to pick up this little book and trace out their prayers in the pattern of its pages.

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New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church

8 April 2011 By 3 Comments

New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church Edited by Graham Cray, Ian Mobsby and Aaron Kennedy. (Canterbury Press – £14.99)

The truth is, you can get away with an awful lot in ecclesiastical life in Scotland by explaining away whatever mischief you are up to as being genuinely, authentically Celtic. In England, they’ve had to invent a new expression upon which people can project their wistful longings. Its called, “Fresh Expressions of Church”. There are few things that Christians can come up with in England which can’t be justified by calling them a Fresh Expression of Church. This is a book wherein those twin traditions meet with the kiss of peace. For quite a few of these Fresh Expressions of Church that the authors are promoting, they explain away as a return to Celtic tradition.

For all that, this book is an interesting and quite compelling read. The basic theme is that the values of monastic life are very much things that contemporary people are seeking. The success of programmes like The Big Silence on television recently and the yearnings that lead modern people to attempt community living suggest that these ideas are not only alive and well but may be just the thing that people are seeking.

Why can’t people be honest about what they hope for and argue for what they want without having to invent a fey Celtic fantasy from which to justify their desires though? Much of monastic life was about hierarchy and power. The Celtic experience was as much about reciting the psalms whilst up to your oxters in cold sea water as it was about the things that are represented in this book.
Notwithstanding that, I know enough people interested in forming, founding and shaping new ways of living the Christian life with others that are outside or beyond of the immediate expectations of the nuclear family that I’ve a notion that God’s spirit might be at work. This book represents some of the experience of those being called to something new. Some of them feel that the Christian mission in these islands depends entirely upon the ability of the churches to embrace different structures to those of family and congregation which have reigned hitherto.

They might be right.

Buy from Amazon: New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions of Church (Ancient Faith, Future Mission)

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Last week’s sermon

28 June 2009 By Leave a Comment

Here is last week's sermon – I've got myself behind in uploading things.

Here is the text:
The gospel reading can be read in two ways. Well, at least two ways, I dare say that there are more. I'm going to describe them to you and I want you to think about which comes most naturally to you. Once we have thought about that, we may be able to face some of the big questions, that I have just described.

This morning seems to be a morning for boating stories – so here is one of mine. I remember a June evening some ago – I was away on holiday, sailing with my friends who have a boat. And I remember hearing the forecast come on the radio. Winds force six to seven, eight for a time. And even as I stand here now, I can remember what it felt like to hear those words. Force six to seven, eight for a time. [Read more...]

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Shine on me, shine on me

26 October 2007 By Leave a Comment

Now, a wee spiritual exercise for you all – take a song and teach it to pray.

Let’s have a go at Take That’s glorious latest one, Shine. Take it and listen to it and imagine that it was written as a dialogue between the soul and God. Your job is to work out who is speaking to whom at each point.

You can find Shine on Youtube here. Lyrics are here. (If you are in Blighty, you can also hear it on all the Morrisons’ adverts).

Hey, let me know you
You’re all that matters to me
Hey, let me show you
You’re all that matters to me.

So come on, get it on
Don’t know what you’re waiting for
Your time is coming don’t be late, hey hey
So come on
See the light on your face
Let it shine
Just let it shine
Let it shine.

Quite a few of the lyrics remind me of things that I sang in Sunday School many years ago. (I’ve a feeling that Dale Carnegie was as influential on some Sunday School teachers as Jesus for we were all H. A. P. P. Y. all the time in marked contrast to reality).

Now, back to that Take That song. Off you go. Listen to the words and see what you can work out. You’ll be acting in the company of John of the Cross and countless other saints and angels who have muddled up the songs of the streets with the songs of heaven. Do it now. The idea of all of you bopping along to Take That makes me feel good and makes God want to smile, smile, smile. Those of you in the cheaper seats clap your hands – those seated on thrones can rattle your pectoral crosses.

Enjoy the video. We’ll do the spirituality of Buzby Berkeley later.

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Book Review – You’ve Got to Have a Dream

24 July 2007 By Leave a Comment

You\'ve Got to Have a Dream: The Message of the MusicalYou’ve Got To Have a Dream – the message of the musical by Ian Bradley (SCM Press £16.99)
What will we have a theology of next? Ian Bradley’s book is a theological reflection on musical theatre.

We’ll start at the very beginning. Despite cheerfully admitting that it is rather difficult to locate references to God in the Savoy Operas, the author (Hon Life President of the St Andrews University Gilbert and Sullivan Society) chooses them as the starting point on his quest through some of the most ubiquitous and dominant cultural icons of modern times.

Ian Bradley makes grand claims about the importance of musicals. In particular, he makes the suggestion that musicals have taken over from late night Sunday television drama as the primary vehicle for portraying contemporary conflict and debate in the sphere of religion. This seems a bold claim. If true, it suggests that serious debate has become more and not less the province and domain of those with ready access to metropolitan theatre.

The dominant theme in this book is of the dream motif which runs through much musical theatre. The suggestion here is that the musical has at times proposed that if you follow your dream, then all will be well and more recently, that dreams do not always come true.
In recent months, the debate about the power of musical theatre reached a new high point with the intensely moral and utterly controversial Jerry Springer the Opera. Sadly this book was completed before that debacle. Should the book run to a second edition, a further chapter about this more recent controversy would be welcome.

This book will appeal to fans of musical theatre interested in probing under the surface of their favourite shows as well as to all those interested in the relationship between religion and popular culture. It will also appeal to liturgists, who need to know what they are up against.

Click here to purchase from Amazon

Published in inspires, the magazine of the Scottish Episcopal Church

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Book Review – Disclosures: Conversations Gay and Spiritual

20 July 2007 By Leave a Comment

Disclosures: Conversations Gay and SpiritualThe issue of homosexuality continues to polarise the churches, but what are gay people themselves actually saying? Michael Ford meets gay and lesbian Christians from the US, US and Africa and documents their own voices and their own views on current events. This is an engaging and readable book which explores the dynamics of being gay and spiritual in the 20th Century.

Click here to order

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