this is the article I have written for my Church's bimonthly magazine.
Trying something new.
This week, I tried to do something I have never tried before. I blogged.
What? (I hear you ask) does this mean? Is it contagious? Will she ever recover?
I published a web log - shortened to blog – an online diary of my musings for all the world to see. This is potentially even more dangerous than sending them to the local newspaper. Why? Had I suddenly become an exhibitionist? No, I have been participating in a course at College which required me to leave my comfortable understandings of communication and reach out beyond myself. For me, my blog is a symbol that challenges me, exposes me, and helps make me a life-long learner.
It sometimes frightens me where our world is heading at break-neck pace, and occasionally, I want to wind back the clock to an easier, slower time. But all we have is now, and only now. Younger people spend hours on the internet, for information, entertainment and even spirituality. Can we learn this language, so that we can connect with them, meet them where they are, instead of insisting that they change to ‘fit in’ with where we are? It also gives us a chance to encourage them to be counter-cultural – to challenge if where they now are is where they really want to be.
When the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens, that great Greek cultural centre, he began speaking about Jesus by complimenting them on all their statues and temples – I see you Greeks are religious people – and then proceeded to tell them about the unknown God. When we respect where others are, they then can have a chance to respect us and our message. Every person is a unique and necessary wonder, hand crafted by God.
I can now blog, and that makes me a blogger – a new word for a new age. The same message in a new package – a new language for a new time. I have found it empowering. Anne
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Personal Statement
Blog 1000 words
I heard a memorable sermon some years ago which reminded everyone listening that we already know about Jesus, the world, and our mission and what we need is not more knowledge, but to put a plan into action. We know what we should do, and our worship/reflection time is to jog our memories, constantly reminding us of what we tend to forget – who we are, how much God loves, why we are here. When we remember, the ahas begin, the connectedness increases, we become more fully human.
This week has been similar for me. My memory has been jogged – reminding me of some things I knew long ago, but have tended to let lapse through years of being the practitioner in minister-dependent worship. Worship should be an experience, sometimes confronting, sometimes comforting, but always alive. I enjoy the discipline of the Lectionary – but cannot bring myself to preach the same sermon twice – even I get bored with that. I have produced too many “meat and three veg” services, when a varied diet of soufflé one week, stroganoff the next, straight to dessert the next, would have been better.
I have remembered again that if those who walk in to Church off the street do not understand what is happening, it is only polite to explain. If the children, or childlike adults, in our midst are ignored in our planning and presentation – that is just not good enough. The chart explaining passive/active and absorbed/immersed, and how each is worthy of consideration in each worship service so that all the children of God have an opportunity to really worship was helpful to me.
I have remembered again the value of a good story – one that speaks to all our being, and really connects with our humanity in search of God. I know that stories are worth telling in their own right, not just to illustrate a point. I have remembered again the art of a good story as something to be cherished.
But there were also things I never knew – what clearly constitutes new learning. Smells! –wow! How did I miss that one! I have people who complain about fresh flowers and scented candles! Imagine the fuss with manure in the aisles, or rubbish dump stench when we pray for our feeding program for the children of the dumps in the Philippines. Many years ago I shared a Good Friday service on a regular basis with a local Baptist minister – and one year he was sorely tempted to slit a lamb’s throat in the service. Horror of horrors – but no one would have forgotten that day! The smell of the blood, all the mess, so outrageous in our sanitised culture. Part of me is glad we didn’t arrange it, but another part feels sad, as a significant part of my ministry focuses on the avoidance of offense to a minority which often means blandness for the majority. Smelly experiences in Church – a whole new world opens up!
And then there was the whole world of touch and play – something that has been regularly forgotten in my worship – the removal of all earthly things so that we can contemplate the world clearly doesn’t work. When I scrunched up a beautiful scarf, I felt the potential of Mary’s life, and then I needed to reflect what in me is scrunched – yet to be revealed. Then that of course leads into God’s purposes still to be revealed, ever unfolding and contorting to new beauty and wonder.
New questions - Could I use a wider range of tools in my worship? I was moved by the illustrations in 40- where I could see the parched lips and weary eyes of the long time in the wilderness. Seeing Jesus struggle with himself in the temptations – a passage I have preached on many times – was amazingly vibrant in a whole new way. Similarly, Rob Bell’s Resurrection was mind blowing, not only a great delivery (a little too rapid for most of my congregation) but amazing visuals. I have never seen a more glorious “he’s not here – bet you didn’t expect that”. I have always been a Christian of the Resurrection but I was enabled to see it in a whole new light – not a cheap gimmick, but theologically-sound utter joy. It made me want to find out more about this man Rob Bell, and I was quite shocked by criticism of him on the internet. He struck me as someone who has truly caught the Gospel, and cannot help but share it, a true evangelical! I have a difficulty sometimes with experimenting with ‘gimmicky’ things, which I suppose reflects my fear of being seen as offering only cheapness instead of richness. I want to connect with the richness, and stop worrying about any misunderstandings that may occur. I need to trust my people more.
I intend to take the text more seriously and more playfully, that it may live through me. My encounter with the Text all those years ago has meant more than the world to me, and I have not always been as enthusiastically faithful as I might have been. I want to be more enthusiastically faithful in interpreting the Text for new generations.
We are God’s punctuation ( all that is not in the text) – the interpretation of the Gospel needs arms and legs attached, I must embody the Good News or it will die in me.
Bible in future ministry – I have probably relaxed too much in planning for my use of the Bible. My use of Hebrew and Greek is limited, and at times I have taken the Bible stories at face value, using them to jump off into whatever it is I want to say, rather than serious exegesis and research. I do know that when I plan a first person witness to a Bible event, I do spend time thinking about the scene, feelings, textures, weather. Now I need to include smell, touch, taste and hearing. I know the noise in the market place in Jerusalem, all I have to do is convey it. The wealth that is within me is to be shared not hoarded. The question remains - How do we encourage the people in our care to ‘do their own theology’ in ways that are within their own God-given imaginations, to respond to the text at work in them. How does the ‘expert‘ within me allow room for people to discover for themselves, even if it takes them to a place where I do not want them to go?
How will I help the text to transform into new technology, not for its own sake, but that new generations will have access to the Good News of God’s Love? I do want to learn to speak this new language, so that the message fits this new mission field. I need to investigate these possibilities.
Thanks, friends, for giving me some room to grow.
I heard a memorable sermon some years ago which reminded everyone listening that we already know about Jesus, the world, and our mission and what we need is not more knowledge, but to put a plan into action. We know what we should do, and our worship/reflection time is to jog our memories, constantly reminding us of what we tend to forget – who we are, how much God loves, why we are here. When we remember, the ahas begin, the connectedness increases, we become more fully human.
This week has been similar for me. My memory has been jogged – reminding me of some things I knew long ago, but have tended to let lapse through years of being the practitioner in minister-dependent worship. Worship should be an experience, sometimes confronting, sometimes comforting, but always alive. I enjoy the discipline of the Lectionary – but cannot bring myself to preach the same sermon twice – even I get bored with that. I have produced too many “meat and three veg” services, when a varied diet of soufflé one week, stroganoff the next, straight to dessert the next, would have been better.
I have remembered again that if those who walk in to Church off the street do not understand what is happening, it is only polite to explain. If the children, or childlike adults, in our midst are ignored in our planning and presentation – that is just not good enough. The chart explaining passive/active and absorbed/immersed, and how each is worthy of consideration in each worship service so that all the children of God have an opportunity to really worship was helpful to me.
I have remembered again the value of a good story – one that speaks to all our being, and really connects with our humanity in search of God. I know that stories are worth telling in their own right, not just to illustrate a point. I have remembered again the art of a good story as something to be cherished.
But there were also things I never knew – what clearly constitutes new learning. Smells! –wow! How did I miss that one! I have people who complain about fresh flowers and scented candles! Imagine the fuss with manure in the aisles, or rubbish dump stench when we pray for our feeding program for the children of the dumps in the Philippines. Many years ago I shared a Good Friday service on a regular basis with a local Baptist minister – and one year he was sorely tempted to slit a lamb’s throat in the service. Horror of horrors – but no one would have forgotten that day! The smell of the blood, all the mess, so outrageous in our sanitised culture. Part of me is glad we didn’t arrange it, but another part feels sad, as a significant part of my ministry focuses on the avoidance of offense to a minority which often means blandness for the majority. Smelly experiences in Church – a whole new world opens up!
And then there was the whole world of touch and play – something that has been regularly forgotten in my worship – the removal of all earthly things so that we can contemplate the world clearly doesn’t work. When I scrunched up a beautiful scarf, I felt the potential of Mary’s life, and then I needed to reflect what in me is scrunched – yet to be revealed. Then that of course leads into God’s purposes still to be revealed, ever unfolding and contorting to new beauty and wonder.
New questions - Could I use a wider range of tools in my worship? I was moved by the illustrations in 40- where I could see the parched lips and weary eyes of the long time in the wilderness. Seeing Jesus struggle with himself in the temptations – a passage I have preached on many times – was amazingly vibrant in a whole new way. Similarly, Rob Bell’s Resurrection was mind blowing, not only a great delivery (a little too rapid for most of my congregation) but amazing visuals. I have never seen a more glorious “he’s not here – bet you didn’t expect that”. I have always been a Christian of the Resurrection but I was enabled to see it in a whole new light – not a cheap gimmick, but theologically-sound utter joy. It made me want to find out more about this man Rob Bell, and I was quite shocked by criticism of him on the internet. He struck me as someone who has truly caught the Gospel, and cannot help but share it, a true evangelical! I have a difficulty sometimes with experimenting with ‘gimmicky’ things, which I suppose reflects my fear of being seen as offering only cheapness instead of richness. I want to connect with the richness, and stop worrying about any misunderstandings that may occur. I need to trust my people more.
I intend to take the text more seriously and more playfully, that it may live through me. My encounter with the Text all those years ago has meant more than the world to me, and I have not always been as enthusiastically faithful as I might have been. I want to be more enthusiastically faithful in interpreting the Text for new generations.
We are God’s punctuation ( all that is not in the text) – the interpretation of the Gospel needs arms and legs attached, I must embody the Good News or it will die in me.
Bible in future ministry – I have probably relaxed too much in planning for my use of the Bible. My use of Hebrew and Greek is limited, and at times I have taken the Bible stories at face value, using them to jump off into whatever it is I want to say, rather than serious exegesis and research. I do know that when I plan a first person witness to a Bible event, I do spend time thinking about the scene, feelings, textures, weather. Now I need to include smell, touch, taste and hearing. I know the noise in the market place in Jerusalem, all I have to do is convey it. The wealth that is within me is to be shared not hoarded. The question remains - How do we encourage the people in our care to ‘do their own theology’ in ways that are within their own God-given imaginations, to respond to the text at work in them. How does the ‘expert‘ within me allow room for people to discover for themselves, even if it takes them to a place where I do not want them to go?
How will I help the text to transform into new technology, not for its own sake, but that new generations will have access to the Good News of God’s Love? I do want to learn to speak this new language, so that the message fits this new mission field. I need to investigate these possibilities.
Thanks, friends, for giving me some room to grow.
Telling others
telling others
I wrote this piece for my Church news magazine...Trying something new.This week, I tried to do something I have never tried before. I blogged.What? (I hear you ask) does this mean? Is it contagious? Will she ever recover?I published a web log - shortened to blog – an online diary of my musings for all the world to see. This is potentially even more dangerous than sending them to the local newspaper. Why? Had I suddenly become an exhibitionist? No, I have been participating in a course at College which required me to leave my comfortable understandings of communication and reach out beyond myself. For me, my blog is a symbol that challenges me, exposes me, and helps make me a life-long learner.It sometimes frightens me where our world is heading at break-neck pace, and occasionally, I want to wind back the clock to an easier, slower time. But all we have is now, and only now. Younger people spend hours on the internet, for information, entertainment and even spirituality. Can we learn this language, so that we can connect with them, meet them where they are, instead of insisting that they change to ‘fit in’ with where we are? It also gives us a chance to encourage them to be counter-cultural – to challenge if where they now are is where they really want to be.When the Apostle Paul arrived in Athens, that great Greek cultural centre, he began speaking about Jesus by complimenting them on all their statues and temples – I see you Greeks are religious people – and then proceeded to tell them about the unknown God. When we respect where others are, they then can have a chance to respect us and our message. Every person is a unique and necessary wonder, hand crafted by God.I can now blog, and that makes me a blogger – a new word for a new age. The same message in a new package – a new language for a new time. I have found it empowering. Anne
Posted by Anne Butler and June Searle at 11:28 PM
0 comments:
Monday, July 11, 2011
Who am I?
I need to explain a little about myself. In a few days I celebrate 24 years of ordained ministry in the Uniting Church. This is one of the ways I connect to the text Luke 1:39-45, because I was six months pregnant when I was ordained. 1987 - a unique year, and I was all set to embark on two big adventures at the same time - being a minister, and being a mother. Both of these dreams had seemed unlikely. The ordination was to follow nearly ten years of theological education, with some time out for travel, the death of my father (and the pilgrimage with his ashes) and a couple of years spent nursing, and then teaching. I had come a long way from the girl with the plaits to the woman with the belly. There were some who thought I shouldn't make it, even right at the end - that I should choose only one way forward, and that God was clearly showing me the way to choose. I was truly blessed with an understanding Congregation and family support!
I became a Christian, despite of hours and hours of Sunday School, when I was 14, sitting alone in my room, reading the Bible. I had begun earlier in the year, at Genesis, determined not only to read through the Bible, but live the rules. This was costly – no more bacon sandwiches! I gave up part of the way through Numbers, but something drew me back. This time I began at Matthew, and by the time I had finished John, I knew I wanted to follow this Jesus. I understand the immense power of the written word, not as a list of rules and instructions (remember I had tried that already), but as direct access to the Person of Jesus. The gospels enabled me to stand in the presence of Jesus, to see how he interacted, to read between the lines his motivations, and his Great Love.
I am building a house in the hills, (shed goes up tomorrow!) and I live with the turmoil and peace of an aging but open congregation, a bunch of young adults that live/call in at my place, a long-suffering partner, and a chocolate laborador cross called Mousse.
I became a Christian, despite of hours and hours of Sunday School, when I was 14, sitting alone in my room, reading the Bible. I had begun earlier in the year, at Genesis, determined not only to read through the Bible, but live the rules. This was costly – no more bacon sandwiches! I gave up part of the way through Numbers, but something drew me back. This time I began at Matthew, and by the time I had finished John, I knew I wanted to follow this Jesus. I understand the immense power of the written word, not as a list of rules and instructions (remember I had tried that already), but as direct access to the Person of Jesus. The gospels enabled me to stand in the presence of Jesus, to see how he interacted, to read between the lines his motivations, and his Great Love.
I am building a house in the hills, (shed goes up tomorrow!) and I live with the turmoil and peace of an aging but open congregation, a bunch of young adults that live/call in at my place, a long-suffering partner, and a chocolate laborador cross called Mousse.
New Beginnings
This is my first blog.
I found Monday to be stimulating, thought provoking and yet still comfortable. Grappling with the speed of our society, and how we in the church might connect with the rapid pace of our world, use the media available for true communication, and then allow it to be transformed, and to transform us.
I found Monday to be stimulating, thought provoking and yet still comfortable. Grappling with the speed of our society, and how we in the church might connect with the rapid pace of our world, use the media available for true communication, and then allow it to be transformed, and to transform us.
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