Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

I spent Saturday at the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral for my second quiet day on the run, last week being at Pennant Malangell.

Our day was split up into times of teaching and times of quite. Two of the quite times where meditative walks. The third walk was on my way from the Cathedral into Liverpool City Centre.

The first walk was a guided meditation round the Cathedral itself looking at some of the features and thinking how they may relate to God. There were hundreds of tourist in every nook and cranny of that large building but what struck me we the way in which all visitors are forbidden to get neat to the high altar. Now I know this is normal for most churches that are open to the public and I understand the reason why, but at that moment the image seemed to be a metaphor  for much more – it was if we were saying to people “this is as far as you are coming to God and no further.”

The day was warm and sunny and yet in the Cathedral it was cool and dark. As I looked at the towering thick walls I couldn’t help but think that what we had created was a mausoleum for God – a place where he could dwell safe from the evils of the outside, being protected by the thick, fortress-like walls.

My second walk  could not have been a bigger contrast. This time I walked in St. James’ Garden, a one time burial ground for the rich and important of Liverpool. Here the sun shone, the birds sang and the wild-flowers bloomed. People were walking about or sitting enjoying the day and suddenly I realised that this place of death was in fact a place of life. It seemed here God was near in a way that he had been missing from the inside.

The final walk was into town and on into the main shopping area. Recession of not people were scurrying here and there with shopping bags or sitting outside the multitude of bars that now grace our town. In the main pedestrian walk a solitary man stud with his placard inviting people to repent. In his hand was a bunch of tracts which nobody took.  Where as God in this situation?

The truth is God was there in all of my walks, what changed was my perception of his presence.  The question is: how how do we get others to perceive the presence of God in whatever path he may choose them to walk. 

St. Mary de Crypt, Gloucester

Last Week Gill and I decided to take a short break in Gloucestershire. On the Friday we visited Gloucester itself and, like dutiful tourists, we visited the Cathedral. Now Gloucester Cathedral is a grand mix of Norman and Gothic architecture,the burial place of kings and has its marvellous monastic cloisters still intact: they are so good they have become part of Hogwarts! However, as we so often find, it is not these grand places that tend to speak to me but those which are smaller and which we often stumble on more by accident than design. One such place was St Mary de Crypt right in the middle of  what is now the main shopping area of the City.

We were fortunate to find St Mary’s open as like many City Centre Churches it is struggling to survive. Built on a more ancient site the present church dates from the 15^th Century and is typical of many built in that period. But the Church is not just buildings – it is people and here St Mary’s has some claim to fame. It was at St Mary’s that George Whitefield  preached his first sermon after he was ordained and the pulpit he used is still in used today. Whitefield’s name along with that of John Wesley has become synonymous with  the 18^th Century Evangelical Revival which undoubtedly changed the course of English history. Whitefield, like so many great men was banned by the Church of England from preaching in its pulpits and so preached in the open air. The same year that Whitefield preached his first sermon a child was baptised at St Mary’s and later attended its Grammar School – that child was Robert Raikes.

Many people credit Raikes as being the founder of the Sunday School movement. Now when we say Sunday School we should not think of what we have today, these were much different. They were designed to give poorer children, many of whom worked long hours in factories and fields, the chance to learn the Three R’s. In an age when educations was only for those with money, this was revolutionary. – Not a bad heritage to have as a church. -but back to our short break.

On the Saturday we visited Cheltenham. Travelling in by bus from the Park and Ride we were deposited outside of some very expensive shops. As we walked along we moved from the expensive into what I would call the ‘everyday’ – shops we would find in most town centres. Further walking brought us into a word of charity and pound shops. One end of the town could not be more different from the other.

We then moved on to Cirencester. Again we entered on end of the town and a quick look in the estate agents window revealed property selling in the region of £1.8 million. At the other end of the town stood a Big Issue seller and outside of the convenience store a man sat begging. This got me thinking – here was a situation that both Whitefield and Raikes would have recognised. And the more I thought the more I realised that the similarities went far deeper.

The 18^th Century was at the end of a long decline in religious values that had begun with the fall of the Commonwealth and the restitution of the Monarchy. People threw off the shackles of Puritanism and became more an more hedonistic in outlook.

There was a rise in ‘folk’ religion and practice

The Established Church had lost direction and was failing to meet many of the Spiritual needs of ordinary people.

In the 21^st Century we see ourselves in a similar position. We too are at the end of a long decline in religious values that reached their zenith in the mid Victorian period. People first reacted to the strict moral standards and prudishness of century before the coming of the First World War that swept away many certainties. Once again we have the cult of the individual and hedonistic lifestyles to rival that of our 18^th Century counterparts.

We too have seen a rise in ‘folk’ religion that is often a ‘pick and mix’ of many different beliefs. Witness the roadside shrines that are popping up everywhere.

Once again the Established Church seems to have lost direction. There is a watering down of the Gospel to fit in with what we think people want to hear. (See readings for today) In many quarters there is a lack of commitment to God and his message and a morbid fascination of trying to ‘get one over’ on those with whom we fail to agree.

18^th Century society saw a breakdown in old certainties. The Age of Reason was upon us which called into question long held belief. There was revolution in France and a real fear the Reign of Terror could spread to England, this lead to brutal oppression of any who challenged the social order.

Britain’s rise as a world power lead to a widening of the gap between rich and poor and the social divide was more and more based on personal wealth rather than class alone.

These are situations not to dissimilar to what is happening today.

Any cursory glance at Church History will show that it is not really the Church as an Institution that changes things – it is individuals, people like Whitefield and Raikes .As Christians we are called upon to bring about the Kingdom of God; often we see that calling as the building up of the Church and that is where we put our best efforts; but the Kingdom of God is not the Church. The Church has its role in the feeding and building up of those  who, with God’s aid will bring about the Kingdom but the truth is the Kingdom of God exists wherever God’s will is done.

At a meeting I recently attended we were shown pictures and asked to divide them into sacred and secular. Going to Church, attending prayer meeting were deemed spiritual but going to the pub, supermarket or chatting in the street were seen as secular. The thing is it does not work like that Jesus saw chatting round a table at a party or encountering people in the street just as important as attending the synagogue or the temple. Whitefield did his best work when he was denied access to the pulpits of the Church and started preaching outside in the places where people naturally congregated. Raikes went out of the Church and into the poorer areas to find children for his schools. Often his greatest opposition came from those inside the Church, not those outside.

There are 168 hours in a week, what percentage of them do we spend at Church? 1% – 2% and how many percent do we spend with work colleges, friends and neighbours? 30% -40% ? It is in that 30-40% that we can do our best work for the Kingdom, but we can only do it if we stop making an artificial divide between things ‘religious’ and things ’secular.’

Here is something which was emailed to me this week a little exercise that may help us

Notice the next person you see.

Are they familiar to you or a stranger?
What impression do they give?

You are looking at an image of God.

Jesus became an ordinary person, one of us. There was nothing in his appearance that made him stand out.

What if instead of a Jewish man 2000 years ago, God had decided to come as that person?

What if God does want to meet with you in that person.

What if God wants to meet them in you?

Today’s society is at one of its low points.

There is a need for the kingdom of God to be active more than ever.

God works through individuals, often outside of the Church.

God wants to use you

I’m not Whitefield or Raikes I here you say – God has not called me to great things

But God works also through the small things. I am here this morning because back in 1996 a young Jewish Girl said just six words that were to bring me up sharp and change the direction of my life. That is how the Kingdom works – in myriads of small things happening every day.

The Quakers have a saying:- All of life is a sacrament. This morning we will treat the Sacrament of the Eucharist with great respect -will we treat whatever we do 9am tomorrow the same?

George Whitetfield

Robert Raikes

This month sees the celebration of two Celtic Saints, David (our patron) on the 1^st March and Patrick on the 17^th. Both of these Saints lived in dangerous times; the old order and stability of the Roman Empire had given way to anarchy and the rise of tribal ‘War Lords’. New invaders in the form of Angles, Saxons and Jutes were arriving on the scene. Patrick, who may have been Welsh, was captured in his youth by Irish pirates who were making the most of our undefended waters. To be a Christian at that time singled you out as someone different in a world of competing pagan religions.

The Oritory at Glendalough

Despite all the danger and opposition David, Patrick and others were able to establish monastic settlements. These monasteries were nothing like those great stone ruins we visit today. The church was often small and made of wood and around it grew up all the buildings needed for community life. There was accommodation, kitchens, schools, libraries and workshops representing many different trades. In reality they had become villages, but villages with a difference, unlike the villages around they had a heart – the Church in which prayers were said regularly throughout the day.

Talking with many people I sense that many people today believe that we are living in dangerous times. I’m not sure how true that may be but there is certainly taking place a breakdown in structures that for many years have underpinned our society. Saying you are a Christian is more and more placing yourself in a minority. A worker with British Airways was suspended for wearing a cross, a long serving nurse was suspended for offering to pray with patient. We have more an more people listening to  the ravings of the likes or Richard Dawkins who has a pathological hatred of  Christians. We have the National Secular Society which would like to see all religion confined behind the door of Churches, Mosques, Synagogues and the like. True, in this country are not yet in fear of their lives but in certain circumstances life can be made difficult for anyone professing their faith.

I started by saying we are celebrating two Celtic Saints this month, but there is one more celebration; this month St. David’s is 70 years old. In 1940, one of the darkest periods of the Second World War, the church opened its doors for the first time to the people of the parish and has been ministering ever since.

The Church at the centre of the Celtic Monastery offered stability and comfort to the people. It was here prayers were said not just for themselves but the whole of the community and the surrounding countryside. That’s how I see St. David’s – at the centre of our community offering stability in a word that has changed much since its doors were first opened those seventy years ago. It is a place where prayers are said each week for all of the parish and its inhabitants.

Hopefully, like those Churches established by David and Patrick we are at the heart of our community. Their Churches were not the domain of a few monks but were open for all the people, men and women, boys and girls, Christian and Pagan. I would like to think we are the same, open to all, whether you are a person of faith or none.

One last character of Celtic Monasteries is their ability to grow whilst maintaining the stability the people desired and that is our challenge at St. David’s as we face the next few years. It is not something we can do alone, we need God, but we need the whole of the community and ultimately that means you.

Liverpool Cathedral Labyrinth

Liverpool Cathedral is inviting people to follow a journey around a labyrinth to reflect on the past year and to look towards the future.

The attraction is a modern version of the 12th century ritual featured in medieval cathedrals. Unlike a maze a labyrinth has only one path leading to a central point. The path is followed slowly whilst contemplating life, the planet and God.

The free attraction will be open from 28 December to 2 January 2010.

Canon Richard White, the Cathedral’s Canon for mission and evangelism said, “Our contemporary labyrinth is designed for all ages and reshapes the 12th century ritual for the 21st century with a mixture of music, art, media and activities or rituals along the path. “These will form a journey that looks back on 2009, looks forward to 2010 and helps us to encounter God in the present moment.”

For more information on The Labyrinth visit the Liverpool Cathedral website.

Politically Correct Nativity

Like me, some of your will be preparing for your Church or School Nativity Play. It’s a time for excited children and proud parents. Sometimes it is hard to find enough characters for those wanting to talk part. One school I know introduced Personal Assistants for the wise men. Still short each PA had a secretary.  Traditionally it is the time for tea towels to come out of the cupboard, along with dressing gowns, fluffy stuffed toys and dolls.

Some would say that we should do away with such “Chocolate Box” ideas of the Nativity because the reality was so different. That may be true but here in the UK that ‘Nativity Play’ could well be the only story the children hear from the Bible all year! However, I do think that as we grow into adulthood we should come to terms with that reality – if we don’t we miss so much of the meaning of Christmas.

Jesus came to a people who were suffering, who were under the yoke of corrupt leaders and an army of occupation – I can think of  more than a few places where that is true today. Jesus too was born in the worst of conditions. My daughter recently gave birth to twins, she was in a nice warm hospital and had teams of health workers on hand as well as all the latest medical equipment. I can’t imagine what that would like in a drafty, dirty stable with none of those facilities; not even a midwife.

So Jesus identifies with the poor and the oppressed and as his disciples we need to do the same. The meaning of Christmas is God With Us in our poverty and our oppression whether that is physically or spiritually true.

One of my favourite hymns during the advent season is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. This version is slightly different but I think the mournfulness and context of the video perhaps gives a truer perspective of the meaning of this Advent season.

It  was written by Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest in the 16th century, describing his mystical development.

The modern extract below is just the first part of this poem. It narrates the journey of the soul from her bodily home to her union with God. It happens during the night, which represents the hardships and difficulties she meets in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator.

The poem was adapted by Loreena McKennet on her album The Mask and the Mirror and it is that version whose words are below.

Upon a darkened night
the flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house while all in quiet rest

Shrouded by the night
And by the secret stair I quickly fled
The veil concealed my eyes
while all within lay quiet as the dead

Oh night thou was my guide
of night more loving than the rising sun
Oh night that joined the lover
to the beloved one
transforming each of them into the other

Upon that misty night
in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight
Without a guide or light
than that which burned so deeply in my heart

That fire t’was led me on
and shone more bright than of the midday sun
To where he waited still
it was a place where no one else could come.

Within my pounding heart
which kept itself entirely for him
He fell into his sleep
beneath the cedars all my love I gave

From o’er the fortress walls
the wind would his hair against his brow
And with its smoothest hand
caressed my every sense it would allow

I lost myself to him
and laid my face upon my lover’s breast
And care and grief grew dim
as in the morning’s mist became the light
There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair
there they dimmed amongst the lilies fair

St Bernard of Claivaux

I’ve always had a soft spot for Bernard ever since Reading some of his writings whilst studying at University. As an evangelical I found in them a depth and Intensity that I had not come across before and they caused me to think that Medieval Christianity contained more than my fellow evangelicals were prepared to admit. His writings, along with a tour of Cistercian Abbeys in England, lead me into a love affair with Benedictine Spirituality that has stayed with me to this day. Although now a Franciscan I believe that a modified form of the Benedictine life has much to offer Christians of all denominations today. A good example of this can be found in the writing of Abbot Christopher Jamison

Like all Saints Bernard was not perfect: what for example are we to make of his preaching of the First Crusade? But there is no denying that his influence has shaped our lives. During his lifetime Cistercian Abbeys sprung up throughout the UK and became very influential. Even after the Dissolution and the Reformation Benedictine based worship still continues in the Church of England with whole chunks of Morning and Evening Prayer being taken from their Daily Office.

For the past four years I have had the privilege of working at Fountains Abbey for a few days. This year I wore the robes of a 15c

Fountains Abbey

Greyfriar and somehow I felt more ‘at home’. How many Greyfriars had stayed as guests I wonder.

Now I’m not getting all sentimental about the past, I am, however musing on the fact that what we are as Christians today is in part down to those who have gone before. Without reading Bernard my Christian life might be completely different to how it is now; I might have never taken the path that has lead me to my present vocation.

I like where I am and so here is a big thank you to Bernard and a prayer that our lives too will be lived in such a way as to influence other to good in the ages to come.

The church was built in 1906 and closed in 2005, sadly not seeing its Centenary.

St Thomas in happier times

All that is left

Thankfully, the work of God goes on. I still associate with a number of ex-members who are now scattered abroad. Interestingly, four of us now worship at my own Church, even though it is some distance away!

In 1373, when she was 30 years old, Julian had a visionary experience during a serious illness.

After she had thought about it — perhaps soon after the experience, perhaps as much as fifteen years later — she wrote a relatively brief account of the visions and what they meant to her. But in 1393, she was still meditating on her experience and perhaps had begun to write a longer, more theologically-centered analysis. By 1394 she had become an anchorite, living in a cell attached to the parish church of St. Julian in Norwich (which may be the reason for the name we know her by); she was visited there by Margery Kempe (a particular heroine of mine) in about 1413, and she was still living there in 1416.

Julian’s writing as still in print and well worth reading – this extract is one of my favourites.

Because of the great, infinite love which God has for all humankind, he makes no distinction in love between the blessed soul of Christ and the lowliest of the souls that are to be saved . . . .

We should highly rejoice that God dwells in our soul and still more highly should we rejoice that our soul dwells in God.

Our soul is made to be God’s dwelling place, and the dwelling place of our soul is God who was never made.

Time to sit down and write the sermon for Mothering Sunday; so it is a nice hot bath, some aromatherapy oil and time to think through ideas.

For some time I have been collecting information on Susanna Wesley, a woman that suffered many tragedies in her life, but one who knew her own mind in an age when the role of women was questioned. Undoubtedly, Susanna had a big influence on all her children including John and Charles. John himself acknowledges her role many times in his journal. Somehow, all of this needs working into something that will be of benefit to parents and grandparents of our congregation. That is the task for today.

Enjoying the soak, I begin to think of Mary and slowly a question forms in my mind. I have no idea of the answer and that ‘bugs’ me.  I think of giving it as an essay question to theological students, but that is not easy at the moment so, I place it here instead. 

I’m sure there is someone out there who may have thought this through or has some ideas on the matter so please feel free to comment. Here is the question:

To what extent did Mary’s upbringing of Jesus affect his future ministry and teaching?