revmusings

I am now down in London to continue to wait for my grandson to appear. My daughter had an appointment yesterday to have a procedure done called a sweep (no details as one blog reader is already threatening to sue as he has a weak stomach ;-) ) which is supposed to stimulate labour but has thus far failed!

Having spent several months telling her they would induce her early as he is really big, they have now decided to let her go 10 days overdue - another NHS mystery!

I am currently preparing a sermon on Mark 5:1-20 Jesus' healing The Gerasene Demoniac for when I return from seeing my new grandson born. In this sorty Jesus heals and restores a man who has, in effect, been dehumanised- shunned by wider society and his family he lives like a wild animal amongst the tombs and self-harms. Jesus gives him back is humanity, his life and he is able to return to family and society.

In my mind as I read thois story is the wonderful picture of David Cameron holding his severely disabled son Ivan in his arms as he looks at him with undiluted love. No-one cannot be moved by Ivan's death yesterday and the devastating loss to his parents and siblings. His face and name was plastered all over the papers and television and Parliament was suspended in his honour. Ivan was treated as fully human, loved and cared for like his able bodied siblngs and happily taken out in public.

What a change form years ago when a child like Ivan would have either been allowed to die or shut away from public view in a home and his parents told to go home and forget about him.

I do wonder though who our society still dehumanises : maybe the mentally ill who cannot control their lives and actions who we would rather not see. Or the dying - what ever you may feel about how Jade Goody has run her life, why should she go off and die quietly and let us pretend its all not happening, that people don't die young and tragically.

What does being made in God's image mean? Sometimes its seems that we believe that only perfection reflects the image yet Jesus' face was marred, his hands pierced and still bear the scars in eternity.

1. Spend 3 hours in A&E with your husband, referred by GP, only to get a plaster! (he has an infected sebaceous cyst which apparently I now have to squeeze to get the gunge out!)

2. Answer the door 5 or 6 times to people expecting a health clinic which moved 2 months ago but they didn't tell any of the clients (I used to have a notice but it blew away and I don't have details anymore)

3. Waiting for trains from London that have been late everytime I have been on them in last few weeks because either the train has lost power or the train in front has lost power

3. Waiting for new grandson to decide he wants to make an appearence! ( I am going down to them tomorrow to await his arrival!) This is a an exciting time though!

One denomination has a strong 'Basis of Union' statement which incudes seeking visible unity with other denominations - so why when one its churches finds itself ministerless, and only entitled to 23% of one anyway, does it turn not to the LEP(lose one of three churches) to which it is committed but to other churches of its own denomination, further away, to form a partnership.

They still only get a small share of a minister either way but at least they would all be committed to the very difficult area that they are all in in the LEP rather than three disperate churches whose communities are like chalk and cheese.

God, forgive us.

Went into Clintons on Monday to buy a number of birthday cards. There was a long queue to pay and one very stressed lady trying to serve as fast as she could. Meanwhile 6 other members of staff were putting cards on shelves and often just standing talking!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! The manger should have noticed and redeployed staff, but no, they all just stood and looked at the queue - hubbie had had enough, dumped the cards on the till and left. Anoher shop got our custom and will again.

Nipped down to London yesterday for my grand-daughter's birthday. It meant I spent about an hour on my own in the high street of my childhood. As i wlaked down the road I realised there were still four shops that I went into as a child: two toys shops, the bike shop, and a jewellers. Of course most of the actual buildings are still there but with different shops in them. The cinema is still there but instead of one huge screen it now has six, taking over the whole building from the dance school I used to attend which used part of ithe building then.

It's good to see thimgs develop and change but it was also good to see some continuity from the old days! I guess that's what life is all about the tension bewteen old and new, stability and change - if only some churches could live with that!

God who is the same yesterday, today and forever and yet tells us: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Is 43)

Words of hope sopken in a desperate situation, words to us here and now.

Today brought me back to earth in the form of fire training! I now have a Co2 extinguisher in my study and have been trained to use all the ones in the church.(great fun letting them off and feeling how different they are) I have discovered our exit signs are out of date, we need emergency lighting all through the church, we need to check extinguishers each week and record that in the health and safety folder - help!

This added to a the fact that the manse roof needs replacing, the electrics have been condemned, the toilets and hall at church need urgent repair and decoration - all adds up to many thousands of pounds and so much work- not to mention the risk assessemenst which none of us are trained to do

I agree with safety regulations but sometimes for a small church with mainly older folk it feels like a huge mountain of legislation to work through and money and personnel to find.

My brain seems to be vaguely functioning today - which is good as I have two services! Ysterday the triedness hit its height and I was barely functioning.

The couse was awesome even though I am sufferig from information overload! As I think I have reflected already it should be compulsory for all church leaders mnisters and deacons included!

The way it made you see conflict as normal, acceptable and creative was a complete about turn for all of us. our pictures of conflict that we drew at the beginning were violent, destructive and hugely damaging to relationships - the new pictures we drew at the end were of journeys, of acceptance, of healed relationships.

A tall order - yes! Not least for the leaders trying to keep their own emotions and characters under control but well worth the effort. Easier to mediate with people unknown to you but at many levels useful to the local leader

We learnt all kinds of skills: high fives, samoan circles, dots, lines which all all really useful.

I found the style cards really useful, partly for myself and understanding how I shift in storm conditions and my complete lack of organisational and analytical skills (which will come as no surprise to anyone hwo knows me well): so my card was full of yellow and red, a bit of green and no blue! (you need to do the course to understand). I do wish everyone I knew had one because how to handle people would be a little easier and their understanding of me might help as well!

The most important thing was that there are different levels of agreement/disagreement to any proposals - I found that really creative- a way of really hearing where people are yet allowing them to go with a proposal even if they have reservations.

All the skills require time, patience and a willingness from everyone to go through a process but if it works - wow!- it would really transform church meetings!

I am immensely grateful to those who suggested the course, encouraged me to go on it, and contributed finacially to it - its not cheap but it is worth it.

I am sure the course will continue to challange me over coming weeks and years but that's all for now.

For more information on the course and other like it see here

Too tired to remember what number I am on! Anyway last day today!

Yesterday was spent learning informal mediation which I was more comfortable with as it is very smiliar to the 'listening' skills I already have (bar the note-taking - yes here, no previously!)

We then looked at what a culture of poor attitudes to conflict looked like and what a one with good attitudes looked like - we then looked at how to change one to the other - easy on paper, harder in real life. But as with all things let it begin with me is the key!

Today is family systems which I have done and some more role play.

Its been a tiring but great week and last night down the pub was great as I can truely say I like everyone on the course and there appears to have been no conflict between any of us! Must have been a good course- final reflections over the weekend


PS Glen- we did end one decision making process with a straight vote!

I think one major thing I will take away from this course is an understanding of their being, and us allowing, different degrees of agreement/disagreement in the decision making process. In the scheme we are using there are 5 levels and only one is a really negative, 'I won't budge, indeed I may block the whole thing' position.

The yes/no vote polarises people and I suspect sometimes makes people vote 'no' or abstain (which is really a no) when these 5 levels might allow them to get alongside a decision that is not quite the way they want it. I hope a very powerful tool to obtain 'consensus; whilst allowing real struggles to be heard and recognised. My question is would all church members in churches actually understand the process!