tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56810615613297272172024-03-03T16:25:48.525-08:00Two steps forward..Things about being part of the church and living lifeRachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-22645777163414014702024-02-19T14:56:00.001-08:002024-02-19T14:56:34.208-08:00Back to Synod - February 2024Today my Churchwarden observed that Synod has come around again in the blink of an eye - and indeed it has. Not aided by the extra and unusual November session of course. I'm not sure what I thought it would be like, serving on Synod, when I stood for election. Perhaps just that it would, like most ministry, be rather hard work, while the world makes a gag about you working one day a week..... again..... There's some important stuff on the agenda for these sessions and being nominated to write the report for Diocesan Synod guarantees high concentration levels (which usually just rely on a sense of duty and a twinge of guilt). There are three items that relate to bad behaviour which I think will bring out some horror stories and I hope some much needed debate. We're going to be talking about bullying by lay officers, a code of conduct for PCCs, and a code of conduct for members of General Synod. It's a shame that such discussions are needed, that there is no consensus on what civility, mutual respect and respectful debate look like in our parishes and synods. It has often been said though that while people point out the brokenness of the church, we actually reflect the brokenness of the world we serve. Perhaps we can take steps towards a more civil church, a more loving church, and reflect some hope back into a world where civility is often lacking too. Synod can be listened to or watched live via the C of E website. I don't live tweet as much as I used to - but will try and reflect here regularly. Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-38115588159569572392023-11-13T09:40:00.000-08:002023-11-13T09:40:00.158-08:00Tell me a story...Last week my parish, my church were fortunate to host the most astonishing theatre production. It was marvellous. It was original and ancient (a new adaptation of Beowulf by 5 Yorkshire poets). It was full of fear and hope, courage and compassion. It was creative storytelling at it's best. <div> A church is many things. It is an idea about what it means to be human. It is a community of faith. It is a place, a building, sometimes full of beauty, echoing the faith of generations. At each of these levels our church - our people, our space and its ancient stones collaborated with the talented and committed cast and crew of Proper Job Theatre. </div><div>The wonderful architectural hotch potch that is Huddersfield Parish Church (stones that wouldn't look out of place on a Dales' barn, an Elizabethan font, Georgian galleries, all like a jigsaw taken appart and put back together in the 1820s) became the mead hall of a Viking lord. A long ship sailed down the nave, bearing a hero who would save a community. She (yes, delightfully, she) would later reflect on life and death, victors' guilt and the trauma of the vanquished, compassion and the just wielding of power. </div><div>Light danced across our vaulted ceiling, bringing the warmth of sunshine, prosperity and peaceful blue skies. Shaddows and curdling screams took us as close as any of us would every like to be to desperate carnage, devestation and primordial fear as the dragon passed over our heads. As our dead hero was carried in state through the audience and the pall bearers sang "will we remember?" it didn't pass me by that we literally would. <span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">And we did - about 14 hours later, in the same space, although by that time it would appear very different. </span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.2px;">We remembered courage and sacrifice. We remembered the dilemas we face when we attempt to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly - while needing to defend the right of all humanity to do the same. We remembered the carnage that comes from the sky for people in all the places our world fights and sheds blood today, and prayed for those whose every moment is still domonated by equal fear. </span></div><div>As I mentioned - it was wonderful. It was wonderful because such story telling belongs in churches - places that understand storytelling is not just reportage or clickbait. It's not just that something happened, and it's certainly not that anyone has anything to sell (though we may ask you to follow and subscribe!) </div><div>Storytelling is learning how to live, acknowledging shared humanity. It is turning our faces towards the possible or impossible truth of how good and how bad we can be. Our capacity for gore and for glory. And the story is richest and most revealing when it is told together. We know that more is revealed when we are together, when we each bring our skills and gifts to the process. </div><div>In telling our story, and God's story which is our own, we glimpse our own possibliities. I would say that when we tell our story together (in word, in music, in dance, in bread broken together) we become greater than the sum of our parts. Something is made that we could not have made alone and is greater than each of our individual contributions. Transcendence.</div><div> For me, proof of our Creator's limitless love. Both that God gives us this spark of creativity so we might know ourselves, one another and God - but also this transcendence is a sign that God is with us now. </div><div><br></div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-23463995345604916372023-07-07T12:24:00.001-07:002023-07-07T12:24:22.290-07:00General Synod 2023Today I am back at General Synod. The first Synod of my elected term was November 2021 and it feels slightly odd to be coming to the end of my second year on Synod still feeling in many ways like a 'newbie' (amongst the 60% of Synod who were also new for this Synod term). It is a very particular experience. The procedures take some getting used to. As does developing the discermnent to know when it's a good idea to speak and not to. (Has it already been said? Is the way you're going to say it speak to a different constituency? Does what you're saying move the conversation on, open it up, or indeed provide a concise and clear conclusion?)<div><br><div>Can you feel I'm going to say something sunshine-y now? </div><div><br></div><div>This Synod has been notable for providing 'induction' for us newbies. This has extended to zoom sessions as well as on-site stuff - and has been well received and much appreciated. Please note - the Business Committee didn't have to wait for someone to whinge about the provision they hadn't made and how difficult it was to acclimatise. There was thoughtful and on occassion inspired provision. Thank you. </div><div><br></div><div>This afternoon we have passed a motion to enable more young people to be part of Synod. With our eyes wide open we have acknowledged that to be a younger church and a younger Synod of that church people will have to step back and let others have a go. This might seem a no brainer. In one way it is. But as a 50 yeard old who has spend her life in the Anglican church, and has spent much of the last 15 years of ordained ministry being reminded she is "young", and is still now sometimes told that she's not old enough for some things....... there is culatural complexity to be overcome. </div><div><br></div><div>We wait and wait until it is our turn to speak - only to suddenly be told that if we were smart, or interesting or competent we would not have waited - and not it is too late.</div><div><br></div><div>I have also been part of several conversation with very varied groups about the 'tone' of Synod. General consensus from people of many different perspectives seems to be that Synod has got nastier in the last 5 years. This is interesting because I think it points to a broader cultural movement. The current Synod, elected in 2021, is undoubtedly loaded with folks who are here because of LLF (Living in Love and Faith) - from either side of the debate. You might quite rightly expect things to be feisty. But anecdote says this predates the present Synod.</div><div><br></div><div>My feeling is that this is not a unique Church phenomena - but goes back to something I heard the sociologist Grace Davie say in the early days of my ordained ministry. She argued that despite increased secularisation and decreases in church attendance - the Church of England - those who worship in it and engage in it's ministry and leadership - are not uniquely different from the culture surrounding us. When people accuse the church of being exclusive, patriarchal, homophobic, racist, ablist, classist and the rest - they are not wrong - and it is not OK. Davie's argument was that even in our smaller, less central position, we are not an enclave for these problems amid a fair, just and inclusive wider culture. Instead she suggests we reflect the continuing presence of these problems in our wider culture and society. </div><div><br></div><div>Add to this the polarisation of our culture in the last 10 years - the impact of populism and post-truth - the resulting difficulty in engaging in respectful, nuanced and open minded debate - debate that holds the possibility of compromise or changed minds.</div><div><br></div><div>The question for me is how to function well here in service of God and God's people now - despite and through all this. How to encourage and enable the young people we spoke of and others whose voices are still not represented, into a Synod culture which reflects not mereley the fractures of the world, but the wholeness we find in Christ's counter-cultural Good News. I feel that some of this is about disengaging with unhelpful dialogue, as much as it is about discerning the places where good progress, good dialogue, good debate can be modeled. </div><div><br></div><div>This is not a manifesto - or even a complete thought. It is thinking out loud. No doubt not the last blog from this Synod. </div><div><br></div></div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-2629544948281895542023-04-01T11:44:00.000-07:002023-04-01T11:44:13.109-07:00Singing <p> It is well known and intermittently discussed that singing is good for us. It good for our mental health. It helps folks with dementia. It's good for your social life if you join a choir (or become a regular at the local karaoke night). </p><p>Singing is physically good for us too - all that huffing and puffing. I remember quite some years ago having my joining assessment at a local gym. The trainer insisted on checking my lung capacity 3 times. I was quite obviously unfit - but my lung capacity reflected the goodness singing did for me despite this. </p><p>Tonight I'm listening to a local ladies choir and just wanted to share the impirical evidence of this goodness. They're not a huge choir but they make a good sound together and they are literally glowing. The joy of making music is shining from this diverse group of women. I wasn't looking forward to this evening but it's lovely and I am always up for some joy. </p><p>This week I hope to get some singing in as my church observes Holy Week. The making and sharing of music, in harmony with our liturgy, scripture and sacrament. Together they will take us through the joy of Jesus arrival in Jerusalem, hailed as King, bringer of longed for liberty. They will take us to an upper room and the familial intimacy of a meal shared, to a garden charged with tension, intense prayer and treachery. </p><p>We will sing of the sacred head surrounded with torturous thorns, and of the drop drop of our slow tears as we weep for Jesus pain, betrayal and suffering. </p><p>And when Easter Day comes I hope as I sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died and rose again for me,every note is embued with the deep human joy which I have witnessed shining in the faces of tonight's singers. </p><p>He came down that we might have joy - alleluia for evermore. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-66991877745382325502023-01-16T06:15:00.001-08:002023-01-16T06:15:14.290-08:00Rock Mass 2023<p>Last night I was delighted and moved to be the guest president and preacher for the relaunch of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheRockMass" target="_blank">Rock Mass</a>. Is it a fresh expression? Is it a youth thing? No (well maybe/could be/yes-ish). But mostly it's a rock mass. Ronseal all the way. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Dj8mX4va-t33UHcG0faziqdwzBWgmc7-i89zyGIKtVCtdwkXI39dsmb3mFrZeKiOltKnhaxoeFZZRof-PZBMnlGElDO2nEWNRNqgA2uooGfg2Likgfc-c6Mp7WmOd-ZfKoSnO77bmAmSVuM6clK0keeIToiSL1bmaF4qOYx3P1DDC8XgPxGrDFu7/s600/rock1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Dj8mX4va-t33UHcG0faziqdwzBWgmc7-i89zyGIKtVCtdwkXI39dsmb3mFrZeKiOltKnhaxoeFZZRof-PZBMnlGElDO2nEWNRNqgA2uooGfg2Likgfc-c6Mp7WmOd-ZfKoSnO77bmAmSVuM6clK0keeIToiSL1bmaF4qOYx3P1DDC8XgPxGrDFu7/s320/rock1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>There was prayer and incense and God's invitation to all to come to God's banquet. And rock. Lots and lots of rock. If you like rock, and prayer, and incense, and sacramental worship, and rock - it happens once a month and they have interesting guest preachers ;-) <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6OJkrEHc3npRFc1rL01ZuizIiYhzNGUkXKXBZbP6GacQ6O7w5tlcI952Mdf-1I7kDivjxNHvNhNko33OQUIx3t7kwWBWC_JBIqlxXVio4Q00C0XD-nbc0AuGGJ5-G6gDYo8swf3JZtldlvmOaXv4jcIvsaP9I9Hs1uY_2u1wJcv4M65BNpPixmTC/s600/rock2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6OJkrEHc3npRFc1rL01ZuizIiYhzNGUkXKXBZbP6GacQ6O7w5tlcI952Mdf-1I7kDivjxNHvNhNko33OQUIx3t7kwWBWC_JBIqlxXVio4Q00C0XD-nbc0AuGGJ5-G6gDYo8swf3JZtldlvmOaXv4jcIvsaP9I9Hs1uY_2u1wJcv4M65BNpPixmTC/s320/rock2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>For those of you who were there and have been kind enough to ask for a copy of my sermon - here it is. I'm less funny on paper - you don't get the terrible Les Dawson impressions - but glad to be asked and glad to share. If you want to read the sermon - please click the link and read the scripture reading first - it will make more sense.<p></p><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGee4S_obhDw_KjWJVWX0qPfDF8CvaNrpQCI8N5UMAcP53fRuw81bdgP4IoWEh3nQXXd0oEM8MQo2TEOaACCN8fBV77sB05-P4Jr5vaxsp8KeBTLVI3KxhN06_VLTChbwUF6IwEI0aMPm6acyVOGfdYAyn9DJpm2DLM5CRwRsoVCmFALxIrE7SSNl/s900/rock3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSGee4S_obhDw_KjWJVWX0qPfDF8CvaNrpQCI8N5UMAcP53fRuw81bdgP4IoWEh3nQXXd0oEM8MQo2TEOaACCN8fBV77sB05-P4Jr5vaxsp8KeBTLVI3KxhN06_VLTChbwUF6IwEI0aMPm6acyVOGfdYAyn9DJpm2DLM5CRwRsoVCmFALxIrE7SSNl/s320/rock3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=540877286" target="_blank">Matthew 22.1-14 Rock Mass</a> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Abundance is offered – co-operation is
needed. The Kingdom is like……..</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">So we’re back – Rock Mass is back –
the thing that was happening – or one of the things that was happening <i>(whispers 'pandemic') </i>– is
mostly over and we are getting forward to the Kingdom. Or up to the
Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t decided yet – I like
forward –<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but I absolutely love the idea
that our life with God is something we are getting up to together.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Whatever we’re doing – we’re not
getting back to normal.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">For two reasons.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal;"> One </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 107%;">because there’s no such thing as normal and
there never was – and this really shouldn’t come as a surprise to followers of
Jesus. Sometimes I think the whole purpose of Jesus ministry was to combat the
delusion of normal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fantasy that
there is some place where all our defensive, closing down, restrictive, safety
seeking, excluding, scarcity focussed human instincts put us in the right
place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think Jesus showed us a way of
being where with our trust in him, creator, saviour and spirit, we might just
dare to breathe in and out and know that we are not the same as we were before
we took that breath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That change is the
only constant and we do not need to be afraid for God is with us.</span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span> </span>The
second reason we’re not going back to the thing that doesn’t exist? </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">The trajectory of the planet the good God sent spinning into space is unidirectional – by which I mean it’s going one way – only one way, and
that’s forward.</span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">There is no going back –
just ask Don Henley and the Boys of Summer. <i>(80s reference).</i></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">So what we’re doing, as a community,
as Christians, as the church here in Mixenden and Illingworth, as the church
wherever each of you happens to be the savoury flavour or the head torch of
truth – as the body of Christ - what we’re doing is getting forward<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- re-orientating ourselves to Christ’s way. We're checking to see how the ground beneath our feet feels –
and what we’re getting forward to – or maybe getting up to – what we’re getting up to is the Kingdom. The Kingdom that wasn’t what
people thought was normal when Jesus first told this parable – and the Kingdom
that doesn’t feel like what the world around us now calls normal. The Kingdom
that is breaking through.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I think we’re spending this year
hearing from lots of lovely guest preachers like me about what the Kingdom we
pray is coming might be like – and there are so many places this reading could
have taken us tonight – but I’d like us to focus on three things – adulting <i>(sorry!)</i> - invitation
and abundance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">So this isn’t a parable for the faint
hearted – it does not say that whatever you do everything is going to be
absolutely fine cos God’s just lovely. It’s more like God is lovely AND just.
This life is more than a game.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a
parent of teenagers – and the bit of info I keep trying to crowbar into my kids
heads – is that our actions have consequences – and we have to deal with those
consequences. It’s not so much that you make your bed and you have to lie in
it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More that once you’ve made it, you
might have to unmake it, repent of it, respond to your invitation, and try again. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">You can choose to ignore your
invitation. You can even turn up and then change your mind and walk away. But
you can’t really blame God for that decision. We have been given the freedom to
make the choice, a huge risk that our God takes out of love for us -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and we have to take responsibility – we are
not playing good daddy bad daddy games with God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Wisdom has set her table. The God of
all time and space has sent us gold-plated invitations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to adult on up there to the banquet
and join in with what God is doing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">And let’s think about that gold plated
invitation. I think this has a particular kick for us post-pandemic. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know this parable is telling us a story
about God and God’s people through history – that those to whom Jesus was sent
would not recognise him – the people you might have expected to be the a-list
invitations would not come to the party table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But it feels, as parable so often do, that it’s telling us a story of
now too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are invited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The challenges of the last three years have
left us I think desperately needing to respond to God’s invitation, needing in
faith to step out and offer God’s invitation in turn to others, but feeling
like we want to curl up in a corner and sleep too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">But we’re the ones who know God is
good, we’re the ones who have come to baptism, who have chosen to be here, who
have glimpsed the coming kingdom in our friendship, in what we can do for the
communities around us, in the goodness that flows from being together like the
father, son and holy spirit are together.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">God has sent you a gold plated
invitation to come to the banquet and join in with what God is doing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Has God done that Rachel?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> - you might well ask - really? </span>I don’t remember getting that invitation, you
might be thinking. But you’re standing in it, next to it, listening to it,
dancing to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your gold-plated
invitation tonight is played by a rock band and crafted with love to help you
connect with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Your gold plated invitation is at the
lunch club, at the community pantry, at the scouts, in the creating, making and
being real community which exists here and is growing. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your gold-plated invitation is people being
who they are, throwing their gifts and skills into the pot together to do
things God’s way. An invitation to be just like you, the best, transformed in
Christ’s image you, <b>being</b> in God’s service.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Come, all you vagabonds,<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Come all you
‘don’t belongs’<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Winners and
losers,<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Come, people like
me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Come all you
travellers<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Tired from the
journey,<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Come wait a
while, stay a while,<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Welcomed you’ll
be.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[1]</span></b></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: large;">And what you are welcomed to is
abundance.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Rather marvellously the idea
of abundance came up in the midweek zoom bible study at my church this week –
we were reading the Isaiah reading from the Feast of Epiphany which says</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 107%;"><b>the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,</b></span><span style="line-height: 107%;"><b><br />
<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"> the
wealth of the nations shall come to you.</span><br />
</b><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;"><b>A multitude
of camels shall cover you,</b><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 107%;"><b>[2]</b></span></span></span></span></a></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">I know – weird right? We got briefly
caught up in the weird – but then realised that when those bible guys tried to
communicate what God was saying about abundance, they had to use ideas that our
imaginations could reach for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wealth,
seafood, camels, - exotic, unfamiliar, next level. The wedding banquet –
probably the most sumptuous, delicious, wonderful feast anyone would experience
in a lifetime – and even then not that often.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Wisdom has set her table, she has
poured her wine<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftn3" name="_ftnref3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>,
and we are invited to the banquet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We have to choose whether to go. God
will not force us, we are not playing games here – we are given the choice
whether to respond and we are given fair warning that our choices have
consequences that we must take responsibility for.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">But if we choose to go to the feast we
will find that the banquet we are invited to is beyond our imagining because
the abundance which flows from God isn’t stuff that God gives us – the
abundance <b>is</b> God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God <b>is</b> the
banquet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The things that overflow from
the baskets and bowls on the table are the things we really need to be whole in
our humanity and transformed in it too. They are the abundance of the
Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the banquet table of the
Lord overflows with justice and mercy, compassion, patience, equity, respect,
dignity, hope, wisdom, prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving – we
are invited to gorge ourselves on this goodness that is the Kingdom and brings
the Kingdom, that transforms us into Kingdom people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">O taste and see
how gracious the Lord is – blessed is the one that trusts in the Lord.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftn4" name="_ftnref4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">[4]</span></b></span></span></span></a></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">We thank God tonight for our
gold-plated invitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope we will
commit ourselves to try to respond and take responsibility for that choice as
best we can in this coming year - and I hope too we will remind ourselves often
that the abundance we need is not of this world, but can be found at a
banqueting table overflowing with all that shows the Kingdom breaking into our
community of faith and our world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;">Amen.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="mso-element: footnote-list;">
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="ftn1" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Vagabonds by Stewart Townend<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn2" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn2;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Isa 60.1-6<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn3" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn3;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Proverbs
9.2<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="ftn4" style="mso-element: footnote;">
<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Matthew%2022.1-14%20Rock%20Mass%20Jan%202023.docx#_ftnref4" name="_ftn4" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn4;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Psalm 34<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-7668304097391970892022-12-15T03:39:00.000-08:002022-12-15T03:39:40.478-08:00Why don't people speak out more?<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5681061561329727217/766830409739197089" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">"Scathing
report condemns UK police for 'victim blaming' in rape cases".</span></i></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/documentary-channel-4-sexual-harassment-b2243664.html"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Undercover journalist pretending to be
drunk followed to hotel by man</span></i></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="background: white; color: #141414; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><a href="https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/northern-ireland-equality-commission-case-25748662" target="_blank"><i><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">A woman has been awarded a £90,000
pay-out after a manager slapped her backside with a ruler at a workplace slated
for its “toxic laddish culture”.</span></i></a></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">This morning I am raging and devastated. It is the first link
above that left me sat at my kitchen table in tears at 7.30am. When I told my
husband why I was upset he said "but did you see....(link 2)", and as
we were talking the third story came up on the radio news. And that's
just a random Thursday in December. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I consider myself to be a feminist. I always have
done. Because feminists were the ones who were speaking out for equality
- and equality makes things better for everyone. It always seemed to me that
equality was a significant part of the Gospel I was baptised into as a child,
and educated in by people who have always lived with kindness, generosity and
respect for others. I don't know when and how I noticed the world I lived in
was unequal for men and women, I just always knew - and the priest who prepared
me for confirmation at age 11 was highly amused by my take on the creation
story in Genesis as a result. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I am also a middle aged priest who might be said to be 'doing
alright' for herself. I have been affirmed, encouraged and supported by
senior staff in the 14.5 years since my ordination. I am particularly grateful
to a wonderful Archdeacon, an Area Bishop who listened to her, and a Diocesan
Bishop who makes time to be fully present and fully engaged, encouraging my
ministry and encouraging me to grasp the challenges it brings. I have a
positive portfolio of roles which sit alongside my parish ministry. I could
be on the poster for the belief we have equality in church and world (or this
corner of it), that gender is no longer an issue when it comes to male and
female, that there is no bias, there are no barriers and it's meritocracy all
the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">But this morning I want to ask all the well meaning, equality
purporting folks out there - if we have equality, if our church, our society
and our culture respects our equal humanity - why?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why are men being released from prison who have a record of
violence against women as long as your arm, only to reoffend within days?
Women did not make this happen - but women pay the price with their lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why can't a woman walk down a street, looking drunk or otherwise,
without some predator thinking their luck is in? Women did not make this happen
- but women pay the price with their bodies, minds and lives for this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why do women who advocate for issues and challenges that face
women still get told, often <u>by their allies</u> not to speak too
loud, not to be a one trick pony, not to 'bang the drum' too loud? Why
have I heard the words "well it's obviously not impacting on you, Rachel,
so I don't really get your point?" - when all around the treatment of
women gets worse - visibly, clearly, uncomfortably, painfully, devastatingly worse. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Why am I pleading, arguing, persuading, as though it is both my
job to convince you that women shouldn't be treated like this, and my job to
communicate this in such a way as you wont feel offended or threatened? Perhaps
because the imaginary you in my head is male, and the arbiter of what is and
isn't acceptable in our society, and has the right to dismiss my concerns if
not expressed in a way acceptable to you. This is why we call it the
patriarchy - because we are trapped in the system - the game not of our making
- and women need men to put their egos down and see what we are so clearly
seeing if this is to change.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">I think people in my daily sphere have found it easier to see that
there are systems that need dismantling when we talk about race. If our
systems and social structures have been built by white culture for the benefit
of white people, then inviting people of different racial and cultural
identities to be part of those intrinsically white systems and structures isn't
what equality looks like. We clearly need to create systems and structures
together, for everyone, that reflect everyone involved. But I find myself
asking if we are ever going to take the real work this endeavour needs
seriously when our attempts to move to an equal society for women and men have
failed us so deeply. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Equality isn't just "letting" women do the things that
up until relatively recently only men have done.(And there I am framing the
male as normative and decision maker again, aren't I?) In my sphere women
can now wear the pointy hats. And sit at the tables. And follow the same
shocking example of terrible work life balance that we are told is the only
real model of leadership possible. We are told that because there are women at
the table now, women's voice is represented. Then the women at the table will
be told that they are there not tokenistically to represent women, but because
of their wider skills and role. However sincerely any of this is meant - we
have a seat at the table only to be told that we do not have permission to talk
about the continuing challenges women face. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">And why are we still asking permission? Because in a church which
has enshrined the right to believe women priests to be delusional fantasists in
law - our presence can feel highly contingent, even when many of us are
affirmed, embraced and welcomed. We’re still
being welcomed to someone else’s party, not welcomed home. We are operating in
a system and structure which was not of our making and does not reflect us, and
asks us to bend ourselves to be something else. Perhaps that is why our
leaders are sometimes disappointed that we are not more dynamic, inspired and
creative? "We're going to wrap you up in the same chains we carry
and then accuse you of not being able to fly." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Because power, because patriarchy. People don't speak out more
because it is not rewarded or appreciated. It is labelled, avoided, shunned,
blamed, managed. Put in the corner with its pony and its drum and its
role that can't do any harm (by which I mean, actually influence change for the
better). I am genuinely sorry that this sounds so accusatory. I accuse myself of not doing more as I listen
to these news stories. I am sorry for every
time I have swallowed the “you only get to join in if you don’t talk about that
stuff” line. I am sorry for every time I have colluded with things that are wrong because I
imagined if I did one day I would be given permission to help put things right.
<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Between my feed, my radio choices and my family - I came across
these three stories within half an hour this morning. I am glad that these
stories are being heard - but I'm reminded of the work of <a href="https://twitter.com/CountDeadWomen" target="_blank">@CountingDeadWomen </a> -
and of the words of Desmond Tutu about pulling people out of the river.
To paraphrase - there comes a point where we need to stop counting dead women
and do something about why they are being killed. There comes a point where we
have to accept that a rise in violence against women, a rise in inequality in
workplaces and homes, the persistent silencing of women's voices, an internet
full of misogyny, does not reflect a society that has cheerfully achieved a
holistic human equality in which our systems and practices respect all human
beings in their God-made integrity. We have got something terribly wrong and it
will take something more intentional than a faith in meritocracy and the
assumption that equality is letting the girls play with the boys' toys to put
it right. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p><br /></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-74106080599516459562022-11-23T06:41:00.006-08:002022-11-23T06:43:34.940-08:00Advent Update - God rest ye merry Advent wreath<p><span style="font-family: arial;">I've just been updating this. I've tweaked it so it's more obvious how it scans to the tune (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen). I've also updated the Christmas Day bit to reflect a little something of what the Christ-light might mean. It works if you're doing patriarchs/prophets/John/Mary in your themes. I even popped in a little peace/joy/hope/love in the final verse if those are going to be your themes. I'll try something jolly for death/judgement/heaven/hell another year.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">As always if this would help your church please use it, but please do credit where it comes from.</span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><a name="_Hlk120105597"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Advent 1: <o:p></o:p></span></a></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We
light an Advent candle now to show us all the way<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">to
find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
mothers and the fathers of our faith all point the way.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Refrain: <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>O glory to God in heav’n and peace, <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>peace on earth, O
glory to God in heav’n.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Advent 2: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We
light an Advent candle now to show us all the way<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">to
find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
prophets foretold long ago that bright and glorious day<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Refrain: <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>O glory to God in heav’n and peace, <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>peace on earth, O
glory to God in heav’n.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Advent 3: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We
light an Advent candle now to show us all the way<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">to
find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">“The
Kingdom now is close” said John, “Believe, repent today!”<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Refrain: <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>O glory to God in heav’n and peace, <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>peace on earth, O
glory to God in heav’n.<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Advent 4: <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">We
light an Advent candle now to show us all the way<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">to
find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay;<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">For
Mary mother of our Lord her “yes” to God did say<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="mso-bookmark: _Hlk120105597;"></span>
</span><p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Refrain:
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>O glory to God in heav’n and peace, <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 3;"> </span>peace
on earth, O glory to God in heav’n.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Christmas Day:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We light our Christ-light
candle now <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">to show us all the way<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And we have found the Christ
child <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">in a manger on the hay;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And now we raise our voices <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">with the angel host to say<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">O glory to God in heav’n and
peace, peace on earth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">O glory to God in heav’n.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We carry now the Christ
light <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">for this day and every day.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In homes and hearts we
celebrate <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">the Christ who is our Way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In peace, in joy, in hope,
in love<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Christ help us always stay<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">O glory to God in heav’n and
peace, peace on earth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoBodyText" style="line-height: 115%;"><span face=""Calibri",sans-serif" lang="EN-US" style="font-family: arial; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">O glory to God in heav’n.<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-10920794451017903712022-11-01T04:51:00.001-07:002022-11-01T04:51:37.355-07:00"That sounds like a you problem"I am at present a mother of teens. I am also a lover of language - and the kind of person who picks up words, phrases and accents like a magpie picks up shiney things. (Fortunately the accent thing usually wears off with the end of the phone call to the call centre in South Wales or Newcastle). Being a middle aged woman using teen slang can only be out-cringed by being a middle aged vicar doing it. But a couple of key and oft repeated phrases in our household are buzzing in my head at the moment and I wanted to take time to relfect on them. These thoughts will undoubtedly in some format be appearing in a sermon near you in the near future. My parish pubishes the text of all our sermons at www.huddersfieldparishchurch.org and you can find the spoken versions by fast forwarding through our services which are livestreamed on YouTube. Just search for Huddersfield Parish Church, like and subscibe, as the kids say.<div><br></div><div>Family Language - it's not just bro - it's cuz aand cuzzy too. After the billionth time of saying "I'm not your XXX I'm your mother" - I thought of the brother and sisterhood of humanity - and how good it is to say often, and even perhaps to take for granted, the family-ness of everyone we encounter.</div><div><br></div><div>"That sounds like a you thing". In a world where it feels sometimes like everyone wants to blame eveything and anything that goes wrong on someone else (one of the side effects of communal trauma as it may be) the need to leave things where they belong is important. We need to not allow others to project problems onto us that are not ours, we need not to project onto others that which is our own to deal with. I find this really helpful in parish life where as clergy we are at the centre of community - often the only paid person working for the church amongst volunteers - and juggling our freedom to manage our own time as office holders with a job that has changed immesurably in my lifetime. We have a tendency to take onto our own shoulders problems that are not ours, and to ignore at great personal cost the things that are ours. Asking myself if something is a 'me' thing or a 'you' thing can only be a healthy question. The flip side of course is that we might be encouraged to think that the only things that matter are the things that directly impact us - our bubble - and that way lies catastrophe. That's definitley a good conversation for another day. </div><div><br></div><div>"Word". I have never been a person who could say "Word" without sounding daft. Apart from in John 1 obvs. But when I say something that is true, and good and right, and my teen agrees with me, responding "Word" I feel amazing. Because Jesus Christ is the Word who became flesh - embodied like you and me and all that is true and good and right. It's often simple things that I've said - and when they say "word" they do sound cool (must be their dad's genes). The truth who is God is affirmed in the everyday, as presence, as ground of beging, as foundation. It reminds me that simple and profound are powerful companions in the lives of those who follow Christ's Way. </div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-59886362664875509152022-09-08T23:42:00.000-07:002022-09-08T23:42:18.846-07:00On the death of the Queen - a much loved monarch.<div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In my role as Vicar of Huddersfield there is much to be done in the coming days to help my Parish community to grieve the death of Her Majesty the Queen, and to support their service to the diverse communities of Huddersfield as we share that grief.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I wanted to say something for me and something for the not-very-interested-in-royal out there.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">She had character. Not weird, eccentric, "tik-toc that" character. The things I was taught character meant. Dignity, grace, elegance, seriousness, wisdom, humour and a hope we can all aspire to.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her Majesty was the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. So - not the boss-boss - but still in a very real way, my boss. I asked myself when I was ordained if I could in all conscience make a vow of loyalty to a monarch. It's not a system I would choose if we started with a clean slate. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I found that I could - not out of blind loyalty to an archaic hierarchy - but out of true loyalty and respect for her courage and sense of duty and her deep faith. She knew God comes first. It honestly felt like this vow, this expression of loyalty to her, was an expression of God always being greater than the coincidental structures of state. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I said there was something for the uninterested - congratulations if you've hung in this far. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's been a terrible few years. Our nation has in recent years been fractious, self-critical and self-righteous. We have been wounded, grieving, scared and scarred. We have lost loved ones without the chance for the common decencies of grief, ritual, support and celebration. We have lost confidence in our democracy to guarantee what we thought we had that went without saying; good health care; good education; safe homes; light, heat, food and a shared understanding of the common good.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have forgotten how to be together - how to let go of the things that divide us.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We should take this chance to cry, rage and mourn for all that seems lost. For the things we took for granted - as we took her stability, consistency and reliability for granted. We should take this chance to weep for ourselves and our nation. To acknowledge all the hurt we have pushed down. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">But we should take this chance too to commit ourselves to serving one another to make things better - as she, our Queen, committed herself. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Whatever your "big picture" view of monarchy - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has lived a life of service to the common good. She has lived a life of integrity, sacrifice and service that is an example to us all of how to move forward and shape our nation for the better.</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I cry for her tonight, even as I rejoice that she is safe in God's loving care. And I cry for myself. I will truly deeply miss all that she was and all she represented (yes, even the weird hereditary stuff - God knows you can mourn weird stuff that you might not agree with).</div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">I will try not to be afraid that we will never see such commitment to serve again. I will, as she did, found my hope in God's strength and promises. I hope I will challenge myself and others to aspire to such service (just a fraction would be amazing). </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is more to life than what is convenient, easy or profitable. We have too often followed the example of those who have been driven by selfishness, greed, profit and individualism. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">When the scripture adjures us to choose life, it is a life of compassion, morality, abundance, hospitality, attention, neighbourliness, service..... It is a life of love which is bigger than even our closest relationship - a life that is as big as the all-giving love of the God who made us, loves us, and will welcome us all home. </div><div dir="auto" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the astonishing breath of love in which my Supreme Governor, Elizabeth, put her faith. Even as I weep tonight I put my own faith and hope in that same breadth of love, the love that Jesus gave for her and for me and for you.</div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-64087900203040142872022-02-09T23:54:00.002-08:002022-02-12T21:58:09.303-08:00General Synod <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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</div><div><br /></div><div>So this week I am again at Synod. I have been live-tweeting a lot from the chamber. This helps me with processing and distilling the work of the Synod for myself. I hope it also contributes to the transparency which encourages engagement and participation.</div><div>This blog is about how it feels as a human to be here, and about balance in all things.</div><div>The first time I came to Synod last November I booked myself for all the things. We started early (or you're moving in and out of hotel rooms luggage wrangling) - the programme was full and th learning curve steep. I went to additional evening meetings, and left them exhausted. It was brilliant, obviously, but required a little management. </div><div>So this time I came ready to get out for some exercise first thing, decided evening fringe events could manage without me, but to be present in the chamber as much as possible. So what's the upshot of trying to manage my mental and physical energy as best I can for this?</div><div>1. A jog round Westminster at dawn, even a very slow one, should be on everyone's bucket list. Take good headphones. Play your montage music 🙂</div><div>2. Being present in the chamber is really important, for the stuff that seems dull as well as the contentious/exciting stuff. Because boilers affect mission. Because the great ideas we lay on our clergy and laity can hinder more than help. It's what the imperfect privilege of being here is about. Be in the room where it happens.</div><div>3. I am a tribeless extrovert in a place full of people, many of whom I know (but not that well) and everyone is dashing about being very busy and on their way to the next thing. Combine this with long days and the disappointment of realising there are valuable points of view not being heard in the chamber* because there's just so much being squashed in, and yes, that's this vicar giving herself an early night and a good talking to. </div><div>Our next Synod is in York and we will be on a campus together. I am told this feels much more collegial, and I look forward to it. But I also have a plan. Next time I'm in London for Synod (and might still do it in York), one evening there will be a tribeless place. A sanctuary in a bar somewhere with no pressure, for folks who don't have to dash and might just want to talk through the day. A decompression zone. You won't need a special invite and noone will be canvassing for your vote. </div><div>If it turns out this already happens but noone told me.....🙄</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>*yesterday there was more than one maiden speech prepared (and request to speak submitted in advance) for the Clergy Remuneration debate, who did not get called. These were really important points about part time working, about women clergy (disproportionately) being pushed into SSM and essentially serving the church funded by a partners income and more. </div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-73221692384097351252021-12-24T14:43:00.005-08:002021-12-24T14:46:18.750-08:00Christmas 2021 - Christmas Sermon <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSm29pmaKYF7og7NdYw8-w-7hsLMX2hnrJOQ6Q6u--JTRfahpJ6rMkjoz-4DgpwU8U7VsuhCCtBm0FFWGFauUqN_lCHiGmStJ25INRYaQkKUyUG-JUIK6n30YbLkgCMwzs6-YlsBr1fbE6IBgc3B0VP8mM1vSgLBprk_F3KQ4Ulaa34dcdCpZi4EHv=s4032" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="451" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiSm29pmaKYF7og7NdYw8-w-7hsLMX2hnrJOQ6Q6u--JTRfahpJ6rMkjoz-4DgpwU8U7VsuhCCtBm0FFWGFauUqN_lCHiGmStJ25INRYaQkKUyUG-JUIK6n30YbLkgCMwzs6-YlsBr1fbE6IBgc3B0VP8mM1vSgLBprk_F3KQ4Ulaa34dcdCpZi4EHv=w601-h451" width="601" /></a></div><br />This is my Christmas sermon from the Carol Service on December 19th at Huddersfield Parish Church.<p></p><p>I would have posted the text - but it loses something in the writing down. </p><p><a href="https://fb.watch/a61BM7zeMQ/">Do you hear what I hear? Christmas Sermon 2022</a></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-78227076498934589352021-12-24T01:44:00.000-08:002021-12-24T01:44:32.755-08:00Faithful North<p>During the autumn term I had rather a lovely time with David and Richard from our <a href="https://www.leeds.anglican.org/" target="_blank">Diocese of Leeds</a> Comms Team chatting to people from across our amazing and diverse area. The subjects vary from our response as Christians to the climate crisis, two episodes about vocation, estates ministry and last but not least, "What is a Diocesan Secretary and what do they actually do?"</p><p>It sounds very churchy. Well yes. Yes it is. But it's very approachable too. We were trying to have some of the conversations that you might have if you found yourself stuck in a lift with an ordinand, a vicar off an estate, a parish volunteer doing some training, or, indeed a Diocesan Secretary. And all this without you having to get stuck in a lift, eh?</p><p>There are some lovely people living in and working out their callings in our Diocese. These chats were fun to have and I hope fun and informative to listen to. I hope if you listen you will find connections too. I think it's wonderful when the folks who are the body of Christ can connect with eachother both by recognising our similarities and by enjoying our differences. </p><p>Check out the podcasts here <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5CIMI9BdX2Pr5hFinqyIlP">Faithful North | Podcast on Spotify</a> or search Faithful North on your usual podcast app. </p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-47911076440033362482021-12-04T12:24:00.000-08:002021-12-04T12:24:00.593-08:00God's Promises - Advent 2<p>This is my sermon for Advent 2 - preached at 8.30am BCP Communion and 10am Sung Eucharist on Sunday December 5th 2021</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGvskmiEab5TmfwJPCS0cKpoEso4Iwmd7GS8U0P5owhRSKwPOJ3E0e9OEsGWC7OD1PR2hJjWr8cybUdF7yiYh6Jmrx-t5BHKO2Xiful4u0kbdlp8nlRAc34V-c7fn0YfGXEkbp9kzh7g/s600/Both.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="398" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyGvskmiEab5TmfwJPCS0cKpoEso4Iwmd7GS8U0P5owhRSKwPOJ3E0e9OEsGWC7OD1PR2hJjWr8cybUdF7yiYh6Jmrx-t5BHKO2Xiful4u0kbdlp8nlRAc34V-c7fn0YfGXEkbp9kzh7g/w597-h398/Both.gif" width="597" /></a></div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Last week we heard God’s messenger come
to Mary to speak of God’s mission for her, God’s blessing, God’s promise, the
double edged sword that would pierce her own heart too – and we heard about Hagar,
the slave of Abraham and Sarah.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">This week we again begin with Genesis
– and this time we hear God repeat the promises made to Hagar for her son
Ishmael – this time speaking to Abraham of the son Sarah will bear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These aren’t new promises.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These are the promises which God has already
made being reiterated, emphasised.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Just as Abram’s name was changed to
Abraham by God – now we hear Sarai’s name changed to Sarah. The change of name
a sign both of God’s authority in their lives, and of the new mission indicated
by the name. Sarah means woman of high rank.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Remember we are at a place in our story
when there is as yet no ‘people of Israel’ – the 12 tribes born of Jacob are
not yet a twinkle in anyone’s eye, and the Commandments for God’s people have
not yet been shared on Sinai. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Abraham
and Sarah are wandering around with God – not ‘on a journey’ like a Strictly
contestant- but literally wandering from place to place, nomadic, outside the
structures of any town, culture or tribe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">God does not give Sarah a new name, a
new designation, relative to how the world sees things, relative to her place
in human society – this is not a promise that other people will give Sarah
honour - God’s renaming, God’s acknowledgement of Sarah is about where she
stands with God.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Despite her cruelty, despite her
bitterness – God is working through her. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Is this a relief to us, I wonder,
that God can still work with honour and bless such unlikely people?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Then in Abraham’s conversation with
God we see something else illustrated that I think I have always thought of as
being something modern, but which scripture reveals is ancient.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">People think they have to choose
between competing good things.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">God shows that with his blessings ALL
may thrive.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">It is Abraham that thinks in his
heart that there must be a choice to be made between his son with a slave - Ishmael
- and the son God tells him his wife will have, to be named Isaac.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is Abraham who thinks that if there is to
be blessing for Isaac then there can be no blessing for Ishmael.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">We have already heard this is not
true, God has already spoken to Hagar of all that will be done through Ishmael.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">It is not God who preferences one
child over the other – it is not God who even suggests that such a thing is
necessary or desirable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is Abraham’s
assumption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder if it is our
assumption too?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Do we always think for someone to have
something good someone else has to go without?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Do we think that blessings are scarce and are we tempted to hold tight
to goodness in case there isn’t enough for everyone?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">This might seem a little left field
to you but bear with me.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Why, when we hear of refugees
desperate to reach the UK – refugees wherever they come from, driven by nothing
more than the desperate desire to at least have a chance of a good life, and give
their children a good and safe home – why are we vulnerable to voices that
suggest that for those children to have a good and safe home, for those
refugees to have a chance of a better life, our lives, our children and grandchildren
must somehow therefore be disadvantaged?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Like Abraham, we think that if one is to be blessed then there can’t be
enough blessing for everyone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">You may say – that’s not what I think
Rachel – OK – but we allow our mainstream media to speak in these terms and we’re
not all rushing to correct them. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">God does not say because one person
has good things another must have less.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God
shows us, time and again that with God all people can be blessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With God there is abundance of goodness, not
a scarcity to be fought over, hoarded and hidden from others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With God Ishmael AND Isaac will live and thrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God does not create the competition – but neither
is God absent from the world where we think there is competition for resources,
for goodness, for a fair and happy life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">God is alongside the people who
default to thinking the good things can’t happen. God is alongside those for
whom such generosity, such mutual flourishing seems so counter intuitive, so
against their experience – that they laugh in the face of God at the
suggestion.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Again I wonder if it is a relief to
us, that God can still bring blessing, through and with and in the company of,
people who think mutual good so unlikely that they laugh at it.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">Then we move to our Gospel – this part
of the story known as the Visitation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- the
beginning of the encounter between cousins, Mary and Elizabeth – and again that
word mutuality springs to mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We see
in this encounter that there cannot be too much blessing, too much joy, that
joy for ourselves and for one another can overflow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">God is with them both, they know the
power of the holy spirit moving in them – I’m sure in some spiritual and
mysterious way which the text cannot convey – but also in very physical, earthy
ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The baby leaps inside
Elizabeth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">We begin to sense, I think, under our
own skin, just how life changing it will be that the one we wait for this
Advent will dwell in the same bone and sinew, blood and vein that we
inhabit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">There can be no separation of time or
space, we are not made of different stuff, no us and them, no either or – there
is only both/and.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The blessing is for
all. It will inhabit our own skin and will not be othered or separated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">It will not be Isaac or Ishmael,
Sarah or Hagar. All will be blessed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
deserving or undeserving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deserving and
undeserving – and good luck guessing which one any of us might be.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 120%; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 120%;">It will not be us or the desperate
and vulnerable on blow up boats in the channel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>All are offered blessing through the one who is coming to walk each
step, bear each hurt, know each humiliation and share every joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We might even be the instruments through which
God’s blessing is shown – and if we are I have no doubt that the blessings that
will come back to us will be more than we can imagine.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Maranatha.
Amen. Come Lord Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>The Visitation, by Malcolm Guite</b></span></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Here is a
meeting made of hidden joys</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Of lightenings cloistered in a narrow place</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">From quiet hearts the sudden flame of praise</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">And in the womb the quickening kick of grace.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Two women on the very edge of things</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Unnoticed and unknown to men of power</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">But in their flesh the hidden Spirit sings</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">And in their lives the buds of blessing flower.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">And Mary stands with all we call ‘too young’,</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Elizabeth with all called ‘past their prime’</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">They sing today for all the great unsung</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Women who turned eternity to time</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Favoured of heaven, outcast on the earth</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: white; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; margin-bottom: 11.25pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; outline: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-thickness: initial; vertical-align: baseline; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">Prophets who bring the best in us to birth.<a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Advent%202%20Genesis%2017%20Luke%201%202021.docx#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 18.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="https://d.docs.live.net/b5b65e13b4c95c1d/Documents/Sermons/Advent%202%20Genesis%2017%20Luke%201%202021.docx#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" style="mso-footnote-id: ftn1;" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <a href="https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/tag/sonnets/">Sonnets | Malcolm Guite
(wordpress.com)</a> <o:p></o:p></p>
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</div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-44610560081122880112021-11-28T11:20:00.007-08:002021-11-28T11:20:58.288-08:00General Synod - first the tweets<p>It's now 10 days since I was at General Synod for the first time and I continue to ruminate on the experience and on how I can best contribute in the coming years. If you are one of the electorate who gave me your vote - and if I haven't said it before - I'm very grateful (was also a little shocked!) I will try my best to make your vote count. </p><p>First things first - tweets on a long journey home after the last day of my first General Synod.</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUlb0p5BY_hbF2wtshosUiuuhkOlpcsw1WEp_bqF9SPyo_2KDE-CUj0nhIxYYHdWvjBWpkbrR-R3zOW29ALc-czRbu0yAda52YEyh9nQWuSVbTGGrTOGPOLZ55SGuScowPYRETIej8OM/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="340" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLUlb0p5BY_hbF2wtshosUiuuhkOlpcsw1WEp_bqF9SPyo_2KDE-CUj0nhIxYYHdWvjBWpkbrR-R3zOW29ALc-czRbu0yAda52YEyh9nQWuSVbTGGrTOGPOLZ55SGuScowPYRETIej8OM/w392-h415/image.png" width="392" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGF0o7Rh24fDczzOrrSNmU2qtvmVKzBYTu1_ARxFeFQonnMI7Tz2YBHt8bro8VCrJSh4PAR0tE5yTzBMF52npWo767vcVn_HNIDTBZuUPQxkkUI0I-nMH05jQZvRLNFhi-ZAT085Z0r0/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="379" data-original-width="352" height="475" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmGF0o7Rh24fDczzOrrSNmU2qtvmVKzBYTu1_ARxFeFQonnMI7Tz2YBHt8bro8VCrJSh4PAR0tE5yTzBMF52npWo767vcVn_HNIDTBZuUPQxkkUI0I-nMH05jQZvRLNFhi-ZAT085Z0r0/w461-h475/image.png" width="461" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHo8Oln5Hk-TADDoDs14yKIRiZ-JKzHErQpWLjz0b5tf9RObrenmZH0Vr8TonCp0Xu2fGmYHZOdxrI58rN83Rt5rj1irfHhsJLQhYfvL7qXa3iX4eAUvajiDmuv4hJyETQY70n_Ri3jOA/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="351" height="623" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHo8Oln5Hk-TADDoDs14yKIRiZ-JKzHErQpWLjz0b5tf9RObrenmZH0Vr8TonCp0Xu2fGmYHZOdxrI58rN83Rt5rj1irfHhsJLQhYfvL7qXa3iX4eAUvajiDmuv4hJyETQY70n_Ri3jOA/w472-h623/image.png" width="472" /></a></div><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-47615144261703481962021-11-28T10:54:00.005-08:002021-11-28T11:24:18.693-08:00God's Promises - Advent 1<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgle_7S5aL-2dh1G5upRrvXifnJZ0_x4ZhmuPgU7z5XYE7Cs0Nt7wcMZxPuWo5ASQFsgVan1tfhkxaWeZWd1Ll78SQD07-30pziMbWS7JW5HBrltMJNgjNmGYUPszwlmrMW4w_IHu0F9tw/s900/Blue-Peter-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="636" data-original-width="900" height="415" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgle_7S5aL-2dh1G5upRrvXifnJZ0_x4ZhmuPgU7z5XYE7Cs0Nt7wcMZxPuWo5ASQFsgVan1tfhkxaWeZWd1Ll78SQD07-30pziMbWS7JW5HBrltMJNgjNmGYUPszwlmrMW4w_IHu0F9tw/w587-h415/Blue-Peter-10.jpg" width="587" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="pybr56ya dati1w0a hv4rvrfc n851cfcs btwxx1t3 j83agx80 ll8tlv6m" style="align-items: flex-start; display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 12px; padding-left: 16px; padding-right: 16px; padding-top: 12px;"><div class="buofh1pr" style="flex-grow: 1;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw m9osqain hzawbc8m" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" face="var(--font-family-segoe)" style="display: block; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><h2 class="gmql0nx0 l94mrbxd p1ri9a11 lzcic4wl aahdfvyu hzawbc8m" id="jsc_c_27d" style="color: inherit; font-size: inherit; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;">This isn't generally a 'day job' blog - but I am ashamed to say that 18 months in to life as Vicar of Huddersfield - I don't know how to post to the Church website! (www.huddersfieldparishchurch.org) So here is my sermon from today and info about what's going on in the parish during Advent.</h2><h2 class="gmql0nx0 l94mrbxd p1ri9a11 lzcic4wl aahdfvyu hzawbc8m" id="jsc_c_27d" style="color: inherit; font-size: inherit; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></h2><h2 class="gmql0nx0 l94mrbxd p1ri9a11 lzcic4wl aahdfvyu hzawbc8m" id="jsc_c_27d" style="color: inherit; font-size: inherit; margin: 4px 0px 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">During Advent will be spending more time with our Sunday readings, meeting for Bible study on Monday evenings (on Zoom at 7pm) to reflect together, and focusing on the Hebrew Bible readings at our Wednesday lunchtime Eucharist and bible study group. This week our readings explore Hagar’s encounter with God and the Annunciation. </span></h2></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div dir="auto"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc ihqw7lf3 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_27f" style="padding: 4px 16px 16px;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" face="var(--font-family-segoe)" style="display: block; font-size: 0.9375rem; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;"><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">This week’s readings are Genesis 16.7-13**</div><div dir="auto"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl py34i1dx gpro0wi8" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbible.oremus.org%2F%3Fql%3D505040538%26fbclid%3DIwAR28CkF0IE4hnWJDToTdqdtHyzKoV3HrZzkxqHCr5I95BwcHWkRz64vKPDw&h=AT24jVAa7rGgzBXJrd5qpNpx8tguMe6dH_uHhaQzZxy7vBKwlSQ1ilVDnelr48xmo5ayigGq4Q6R_NVfTopQL2S_iRGdb3JAskm9BGvF4XhcPhpqAo_gKtrINsG7VWcaug&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT2wGHh7TUBVlF0uSwZCMfPrNRQnLlF1XF4mKQUibFsihZFgdulWFFwwJq3bboSZ5PYXY8P6nLxQ7xu-HfI288bFBi_AhPx8qx1fjztXnPKywXiJcrOHFrTmK7mP9n--U6afDyOg0aBivXWrwv313SPQVd3WEFoRTMVt2H3IRq9P1CR39cUsRXBHyqy8KSovHbFbWwM" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=505040538</a> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">and the Gospel is Luke 1.26-38**</div><div dir="auto"><a class="oajrlxb2 g5ia77u1 qu0x051f esr5mh6w e9989ue4 r7d6kgcz rq0escxv nhd2j8a9 nc684nl6 p7hjln8o kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x jb3vyjys rz4wbd8a qt6c0cv9 a8nywdso i1ao9s8h esuyzwwr f1sip0of lzcic4wl py34i1dx gpro0wi8" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fbible.oremus.org%2F%3Fql%3D505040723%26fbclid%3DIwAR28CkF0IE4hnWJDToTdqdtHyzKoV3HrZzkxqHCr5I95BwcHWkRz64vKPDw&h=AT3YJiLfdxK-Ih297ptYnI21CH_ktWnKhxm4pbWWchsUAmsYIlsC4rZeRJqPUAuwCKJYfWHicvs8VEe6yS1WaLYFrrgrzBlLVDYr4TCinUi-LxPD4DnSKsx6BjbLNqkdmg&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT2wGHh7TUBVlF0uSwZCMfPrNRQnLlF1XF4mKQUibFsihZFgdulWFFwwJq3bboSZ5PYXY8P6nLxQ7xu-HfI288bFBi_AhPx8qx1fjztXnPKywXiJcrOHFrTmK7mP9n--U6afDyOg0aBivXWrwv313SPQVd3WEFoRTMVt2H3IRq9P1CR39cUsRXBHyqy8KSovHbFbWwM" rel="nofollow" role="link" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; border-color: initial; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-align: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; touch-action: manipulation;" tabindex="0" target="_blank">https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=505040723</a> </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">To access the Zoom link for bible study please contact office@huddersfieldparishchurch.org. Below is today's sermon, preached at the 8.30am BCP Communion and the 10am Eucharist. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto"><b>God’s Promises – Advent 1 2021</b></div><div dir="auto">May I speak in the name of our living God, creator, saviour and comforter. Amen.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">I wonder what you are used to thinking of as the themes of Advent? I wonder if you were aware that the themes go deeper than something to say when we light each of the candles in an Advent wreath?</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">Not all church traditions would use a wreath like ours and light the candles together – and of those that do, some wouldn’t mention any particular theme. On some wreaths all the candles would be red – like those ones they put on the Blue Peter Advent crown. Come on, some of you remember – something simple you could make with two metal coathangers, some highly flammable tinsel and real candles? If you don’t know what I mean – please Google it when you get home. For some the themes are hope, peace, love and joy. Keeping it nice a broad.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">The tradition that I was brought up with was that during Advent we reflect on the promised messiah that is to come through the experiences and expectations of Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptist and Mary. And no, the pink candle isn’t for Mary because she’s a girl. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">Our readings this Advent, which are also the subject of our Monday evening bible study, and on which we will focus at our mid-week Eucharist and bible study too, are pretty true to this tradition – but they put a slightly different spin on it. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">This year we are tweaking the focus on our Advent lense, to encourage us – as the clergy always long to do, to see the same season, the same process, the same journey – the same four weeks of trying to connect to a peaceful penitential season while cultural Christmas already rages around us - through fresh eyes. Together we are seeing how God’s promises and blessings have impacted on people we never hear about in the standard Sunday lectionary – but who are nevertheless key to our understanding of ourselves and our communities in relation to God’s promises and blessings – who they are for, how they come, and how they are shared.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">This morning we hear not of patriarchs, but of matriarchs. Of Hagar and Mary. Both experiencing the most direct communication with God. Both hearing God’s promises. Both responding. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">I don’t know if many of you are familiar with Hagar. Hagar is an Egyptian, the abused slave of Abraham and Sarah. The word in verse 11 – "affliction" in the NRSV – means abuse. It’s the same word for how Egypt treated the Hebrew slaves and its meaning includes physical and sexual violence. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">When Sarah cannot give Abraham an heir, she instead gives him her slave to produce for him an heir. Hagar has Abraham’s child – and we are told loses respect for Sarah now she holds a more privileged position in the household. Sarah is angry – and Abraham does not protect Hagar, but tells Sarah to do what she wants. </div><div dir="auto">As the story goes on, God gives Sarah her child in the end, in her old age, and Isaac is born – leaving Sarah yet more bitter, jealous and abusive to Hagar and her son Ishmael. It was all Sarah’s idea – but that doesn’t make her kinder or more tolerant. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">This is a text that bears close wrestling with. God has already promised to Abraham that there will be a child. But the child has not yet materialised and Sarah takes things into her own hands. She loses faith in God’s promise, and much harm flows from this – to herself and others. Her relationship with Abraham is soured by her bringing another woman into his bed. The abuse in the relationships flows from jealousy, bitterness, feelings of rejection. Sarah has been dehumanised by her own trauma – we will hear next week of the times her husband has pimped her out to Kings to guard his own life - and we see her living out that damage here. But none of this is of God’s doing – rather it is what flows – what we create - when we choose to ignore God. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">But God does not forget promises – they are not lightly given.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">Hagar is not one of "God’s people". But God speaks to Hagar. Hagar is not loved or cherished, she is used and exploited. But God speaks to Hagar. This is a big deal. Hagar the foreigner, the stranger, hears God’s promises more than once – for her, for her children. In her otherness, her outsider-ness, her victimhood, God speaks to her.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">There is a shocking mutuality revealed in this text. Hagar hears God’s message and she trusts that this God of others will hear her – we know this because that is what her child Ishmael’s name means "God will hear". And in the name that Hagar gives to the living God we again have this back and forth – she names God. She recognises that this is God, she sees the truth of God and knows that this is the God who sees the truth of her too. We know because that is the name she gives El-ro’i – “The God who sees me” – and we know too that while she sees and recognises God, there are still questions, it’s not all over, all understood, it’s part of the story not the whole picture. “Have I really seen God and remained alive?” </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">We then heard the much more familiar annunciation to Mary told – but these stories have so much in common. Each receive a messenger. Each respond. I used to love sharing the story of Mary’s annunciation with the infant school children in my last job – because Mary is such a fantastic role model of faith and learning in this passage (and not because of all that lowly obedience stuff). She’s a brilliant role model of faith because she doesn’t just blindly accept. There is mutuality here too. God’s messenger brings the message, but this encounter must have been so much more expansive than the time it takes us to read of it. There is time for thinking, for reflecting, for asking questions. The fact that the encounter takes place at all tells us that it’s important that Mary has the time for these things, that Mary consents and understands, as far as she can, the gift and the burden God asks her to bear. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">The angel speaks words of greeting. Mary is troubled and she pondered. Time was taken, time to adjust, time to connect, before the angel moves into the main business of the communication. And Mary has questions – and not lala land questions – deeply practical ones. We always imagine folks back then weren’t scientific – but they did know where babies came from.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">So the angel explains – and Mary says yes – Mary trusts. God asks her to be part of how God’s promises and blessings will flow not just for her, but for everyone.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">In some ways Hagar and Mary are very different – but in their responses to God, their openness to listen and speak, to see and be seen, their questioning without rejecting, they are both models to us as we seek this Advent to engage with God’s promises to us.</div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">These are the ways in which our ancestors, unnamed and named, the fertile and the barren, the mighty and the weak, the insignificant and the odd, have met and responded to God’s promises of life, of continuity, of the chance to participate in God’s story and our story. </div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto">I wonder where you might hear God’s promises for yourself and others this week?</div><div dir="auto">Amen.</div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-3054307609676023092021-10-15T23:48:00.001-07:002021-10-15T23:48:11.858-07:00Synods and things.....Tomorrow I will have the honour of being the first woman to Chair the House of Clergy at the Diocese of Leeds Diocesan Synod. <div>To be honest the "first woman" bit hadn't crossed my mind until a message of good cheer and congratulations from a kind colleague arrived earlier this evening.</div><div>I hope to fulfil this role with warmth, fairness and good humour. I hope we will be a creative and collaborative Synod. I hope we can encourage good listening, fresh thinking and courageous speaking, and be a truly safe space for those things. </div><div>And of course in the spirit of every honest person doing something for the first time, I hope I don't mess it up. </div><div>I'll hopefully be blogging more in the next 5 years as I Chair the Diocesan Synod and serve on General Synod too. All constructive and kindly spoken comments are welcome. </div><div><br></div>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-29882475471283066052020-11-05T08:40:00.000-08:002020-11-05T08:40:23.249-08:00When will it stop..... God rest ye merry Advent wreath<p>I'm going to stop doing this. No really I am. but I may spend the evening leafing through Carols for Choirs....... another Advent candle lighting song - to God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen</p><p>
</p><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">We light an Advent
candle to show us the way<br />to find the
Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.<br />The mothers and
the fathers of our faith all point the way.<br />O glory to God
in heav’n and peace on earth<br />O glory to God
in heav’n.<br /><span style="font-size: 6.0pt;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span>We light an Advent
candle to show us the way<br />to find the
Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.<br />The prophets foretold
long ago that bright and glorious day<br />O glory to God
in heav’n and peace on earth<br />O glory to God
in heav’n.<br /><span style="font-size: 6.0pt;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span>We light an Advent
candle to show us the way<br />to find the
Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.<br />“The Kingdom
now is close” said John, “Believe, repent today!”<br />O glory to God
in heav’n and peace on earth<br />O glory to God
in heav’n.<br /><span style="font-size: 6.0pt;"><o:p> <br /></o:p></span>We light an Advent
candle to show us the way<br />to find the
Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay;<br />For Mary mother
of our Lord her “yes” to God did say<br />O glory to God
in heav’n and peace on earth<br />O glory to God
in heav’n.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>We light our
Christ-light candle to show us the way<br />And we have
found the Christ child in a manger on the hay;<br />And now we
raise our voices with the angel host to say<br />O glory to God
in heav’n and peace on earth<br />O glory to God
in heav’n.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p>In case I hadn't made this obvious I'm happy for people to use these if they are of any help at all. I'd appreciate being credited if you do use any of the words on here. <p></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-32189200747573997332020-11-05T08:22:00.003-08:002020-11-05T08:22:27.500-08:00Sing Something Simple 2 - Away in a Christingle<p>Lots of Christingle songs are very long - and set to very bouncy (sometimes stompy) tunes. Now I know everyone does Christingle differently - but for the last few years I've combined it with a crib service, twice, on Christmas Eve. I don't know about you but when we've just revealed the nativity, arrived with awe and wonder at the manger - stompy and bouncy aren't the mood I'm after. We used to light our candles, turn down the lights and sing "Hope of Heaven". The grown ups didn't know it the first year we used it. I could feel the wave of disgruntlement as I played the intro on the piano and they turned to look at words they didn't know. The thing was, the children at our local Infant School had learned it. It was quite a thing as the children began to sing their hearts out. You can find that here https://shop.childrenssociety.org.uk/digital-christingle-hymns-songs.html </p><p>After a few years though the school's Christmas repertoire changed - and on the basis that I didn't want to be the only one singing the Christingle song, I couldn't find one online I liked, and I wanted to give the disgruntled some familiarity back - I wrote this to sing to Away in a Manger. </p><p><br /></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">Christingles are shining they show us the way</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">to understand all God is doing today.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">They light up our darkness and teach us to give</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">that the blessings we know can help everyone live.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">The world is the orange, creation God gave</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">for us to take care of and nurture and save.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">The fruit and the sweets all good things the earth gives</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">to share all together so everyone lives.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">The ribbon is Jesus, the life that he gave</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">He loves us so much he came back from the grave.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">His love is a challenge to care for the poor</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">to pray and act always if we can do more.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">Christingles are shining they show us the way</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">to understand all God is doing today.</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">They light up our darkness and teach us to give</div><p></p><p></p><div style="text-align: left;">that the blessings we have can help everyone live.</div><p></p></blockquote><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-68463833933434796922020-11-05T08:09:00.003-08:002020-11-05T08:10:14.215-08:00Sing Something Simple - The Advent Candles<p>Back into lockdown for the second time - and back to focussing on pre-recording worship to broadcast on YouTube and Facebook live. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDnuuwT-yGPu8EbkjpxlcWg?reload=9 </p><p>Planning our Advent liturgy I suddenly realised I needed a song for the lighting of the Advent candle that was simple, easy for folks to follow/pick up even if they aren't looking at a service sheet, and that I wouldn't feel like a complete fool singing on my own as I record the services on my own.</p><p>So there's going to be a few. This one is set to "Be still and know" which has an 888 metre. I've tried to keep it simple while making it week by week specific too (Patriarchs/Matriarchs, Prophets, John, Mary). In another context I think I'd just sing one stanza a couple of times - or encourage singing is as a round. </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><p></p><div style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><b>Advent 1<br /></b>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The fathers and
mothers of our faith<br />Declare the
Lord is on the way<br />Declare the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Advent 2<br /></b>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The prophets told
the Christ would be<br />A king of peace
for you and me<br />A king of peace
for you and me<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Advent 3<br /></b>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>Believe,
repent, the Kingdom’s near<br />Baptiser John told
what is here<br />Baptiser John told
what is here<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> </o:p><o:p><br /></o:p><b>Advent 4<br /></b>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>For Mary mother
of our Lord<br />You carried
Jesus, Saviour, Word,<br />You carried
Jesus, Saviour, Word.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>We light a
candle on this day<br />We know the
Lord is on the way<br />We know the
Lord is on the way.<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p><b>Christmas Day<br /></b>We light Christ’s
candle on this day<br />We celebrate
this Christmas Day<br />We celebrate
this Christmas Day<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>With angels now
we sing our praise<br />One with us yet
born to save<br />One with us yet
born to save<br /><o:p> <br /></o:p>The bright star
shines to show the way<br />The longed-for
Lord is here today.<br />The longed-for
Lord is here today. </div><p></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left;">
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0cm;"><o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">More to follow - as I have just found last year's Christingle song to Away in a Manger!</p>Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-74437110944768356892020-05-12T03:57:00.000-07:002020-05-12T03:57:40.191-07:00Foundation Church - First reflection In 2018 I was invited to be part of something called 'Foundation Church'. My then Lay Reader in residence, Jenna, had been on placement at the local town centre civic church, in our diverse and busy university town. She had come away reflecting that surely not every young Christian who happens to come to Huddersfield University is of a conservative evangelical persuasion (though it seems most student Christians end up in such churches - can't argue with great facilities, great music, great PR, great welcome - and you can ignore the bits of theology you don't agree with for 3 years - heck - you might not even notice them).<br />
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Now you might think that's a little cavalier of me. Maybe evangelical churches both within and outside the C of E teach their young people that church isn't just about place - your local Parish or other church as you grow up - which is why these are the young people who are seeking church when they leave home and go to Uni. I take my hat of to that solid teaching and I think other traditions have learnt something from it and are getting better at it too. <br />
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I know this reflects my own experience of leaving home - when church became something I did when I was back home - and I wouldn't in a million years have sought out another church to make home. I wouldn't go near the conservative evangelical dominated Christian Union, and back then I had no reason to believe that churches of a more central tradition were at all interested in young people - I'd never seen it. But I know that a lot has changed in the nearly 30 years since then (gulp).<br />
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I am of a liberal cathomatic persuasion and have worked in churches who have a more traditional presentation but huge hearts for welcome. My Lay Reader and I surmised over a glass of wine and a smoke that there must be students out there in our town who might be looking for something else, something both modern but rooted in inclusive liberal theology and catholic tradition.<br />
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This is the start of a longer reflection on this for me which is to do with planting new things, trying and failing, and more.<br />
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<br />Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-72927555202675561522020-05-07T09:53:00.005-07:002020-05-07T09:53:55.980-07:00Unseasonal Update to the Carol Tune Christmas MassLooking back through the blog posts I realise that I never updated the info on the metrical mass setting for Christmas.<br />
<br />
The version I posted before - the whole Mass setting to the tune IRIS - I discovered in practice went on for blooming ever and made me want to scream. Now the wonderful <a href="https://www.metanoiauk.com/event/october-2019/" target="_blank">Metanoia people who do Rock Mass</a> all over the place (but now mainly at <a href="https://holynativity.co.uk/" target="_blank">Holy Nativity Mixenden</a>) took my little idea and added to it and turned it into a huge Christmas rock mass thing which was absolutely awesome. Even better because the genre of the music is different it doesn't get infuriating - it just builds and builds - suits it.<br />
<br />
However - for those of us in a more traditional setting - I updated it so that each element of the Mass is to a different carol tune - which means that those once a year folks who want to hear their favourite carol have got a significantly higher chance of hearing it either at Midnight Mass or on Christmas Day. It also means that if your choir aren't there for Midnight you've still got a chance of some hearty singing of the setting. So this is it. Hope some folks might find it helpful.<br />
<br />
<br />
<h6 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: small;">Gloria:</span></span></h6>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Glory be to God in
heaven!</span></b><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Peace be over all the
earth!</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Hear the song of
angels singing</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">as we celebrate
Christ’s birth.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Gloria, hosanna in
excelcis.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Gloria, hosanna in excelcis.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Glory be to God in
heaven!</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">May the warring earth
be healed.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">He who takes our sin
upon him</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">God incarnate is
revealed. </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Gloria, hosanna in
excelcis.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Gloria, hosanna in
excelcis. </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">(Angels from the Realms)</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;"></span></i></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Sanctus:</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Holy Lord, Blessed
Lord, God of power, God of might</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Earth and heaven are
full of your light</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Born this Glorious
Christmas night</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Ho-san-na in the
highest</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Ho-san-na in the
height. </span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Blessed Lord, Holy Lord, God of power, God of might</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Coming now to show the way</b></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Born this glorious Christmas day</b></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Ho-san-na in the
highest</b></span></span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Ho-san-na in the
height. </b></span></span><i> (Silent Night)</i></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><i></i><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Agnus Dei:</span></b><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Lamb of God, Holy
child, you take our sins away.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Lamb of God, Holy
Child, born to us on this day.</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Lamb of God, grant us
peace, </span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">and fill us with your
light</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">Lamb of God, grant us
peace</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">born on this holy
night. </span></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;">(Born in the night)</span></i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana",sans-serif; margin: 0px;"></span></b></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-10033441805576279062020-05-06T03:32:00.001-07:002020-05-06T03:32:21.374-07:00Years and years and years it's been. But why start a new blog when the old one is just sitting there gathering ether-dust?<br />
<br />
It's May 2020 - there's a global pandemic. I never want to hear the word 'unprecedented' again as long as I live.<br />
<br />
I started a new job one week in to the lockdown which is supposed to help us get through this pandemic as well as we can. I'm now the <a href="https://huddersfieldparishchurch.org/" target="_blank">Vicar of Huddersfield</a> (yes - I rolled all the way down the hill to the town centre). It's quite unusual to move jobs within the same Deanery but I'm absolutely certain that this move reflects God's continuing call to serve, and God's care for me and my growing family (I've become a grandma since we last spoke - and my oldest baby boy is now taller than me).<br />
<br />
I'm doing some blogging on the parish website - in particular there's some 'getting to know you' stuff on the "<a href="https://huddersfieldparishchurch.org/category/love-in-the-time-of-corona/" target="_blank">Love in the Time of Corona</a>" blog thread and some bits on their way on the "<a href="https://huddersfieldparishchurch.org/category/stories-of-song-scripture/" target="_blank">Stories of Song and Scripture</a>" thread.<br />
<br />
I think writing here might be a good idea - but I thought that the last time I was here - we'll see.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com1Huddersfield, UK53.645792 -1.785035153.5705035 -1.9463966 53.7210805 -1.6236736tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-11868131256174629122014-06-09T14:13:00.001-07:002014-06-09T14:13:43.410-07:00Now that's what I'm talking about....Quite some time ago I posted here about the merger of three Diocese into one - the creation of the Diocese of <a href="http://www.westyorkshiredales.anglican.org/" target="_blank">West Yorkshire and the Dales.</a> As you can tell by the link - back then it was a maybe - and now it's a reality. My biggest gripe was that people kept saying it was all about mission, and I couldn't see it, feel it, or understand it. Nothing I read about plans and ideas computed to the mission which was supposed to be at the heart of the decision.<br />
<br />
Tonight I fire up the blog for the first time in a fair while to say that I am starting to see it, staring to feel it, and starting to see how me, my parish, my area, are part of this.<b><i>Sometimes it is absolutely awesome to be wrong.</i></b><br />
<br />
Tonight I've been to a meeting with other clergy in my Episcopal Area of Huddersfield and I've been inspired. Inspired to share wacky ideas, inspired by the sense that there can be liberation from tired, downbeat, Eeyore church thinking. Inspired that we're going to really focus on discipleship, on Good News, on living love.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow I will go about my vicar-y business with a boing in my step. Positively tigger-ish. That's the coming of the Holy Spirit for you.Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-90690756132292540042013-12-09T03:39:00.002-08:002013-12-09T03:39:54.647-08:00Metrical Mass setting for ChristmasWow! Just realised what a long time it is since I was het up enough about something to blog! Well this isn't a het up blog - it's a sharing blog.<br />
<br />
Just put this together for Midnight Mass (and maybe Christmas day morning too). It's sung to IRIS - Angels from the Realms of Glory - and hoping that using a carol tune will make it accessible to less regular church visitors. Feel free to borrow or adapt.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Gloria</span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Glory be to God in heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Peace to all throughout the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Thanks and praise to God our
Father.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Love in action is unfurled.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Jesus Christ is born among us,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Son of God light of the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Father, Son and Holy Spirit,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Love in action is unfurled.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Here on earth Christ’s life he
gave us;<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">living, dying, ris’n on high.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">God we praise your gen’rous spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">All our needs you full supply<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Sanctus & Benedictus</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Holy, holy, Lord Almighty<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">God of power and God of might<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Heaven and earth, full of your glory<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Overflow this Christmas night<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Blessed is he who comes to greet us<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">on this glorious Christmas night<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">In God’s name a human baby<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Sing hosanna in the height.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Agnus Dei</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Lamb of God, with love you save us<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">taking all our sins away<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">look with mercy on our people<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">on this glorious Christmas day<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Lamb of God, your peace you bring us<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">full of justice, grace and light<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">look with mercy on your people<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">on this glorious Christmas night.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span></b><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 16.0pt;">Gloria in excelsis Deo x 2</span></b></div>
Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5681061561329727217.post-49584441860991440282013-03-27T11:06:00.002-07:002013-03-27T11:07:57.922-07:00The Worship Song...This is something I wrote to use in our local Infant school. After our last SIAS (Statuatory Inspection of Anglican Schools) it was found that though our collective worship was good, the kids weren't able to articulate what we were actually doing when we worship. So I wrote this, sung to the tune of <em>Sing Hosanna</em><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We gather and greet one another,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">say hello to the God who cares,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">say hello to our sisters and brothers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">when we join to share our songs and prayers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">praise and worship </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">knowing God is near.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">happy we are gathered here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We will listen to stories God‘s given<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saying thank you for God’s good word<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Open hearts, open minds, sharing vision<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We will think about what we have heard<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">praise and worship </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">knowing God is near.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">happy we are gathered here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We will pray for our world and our lives here<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Saying thank you for the all that’s good <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We will ask for God’s help with the hard things<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">God will help us live the way we should.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">praise and worship </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">knowing God is near.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">happy we are gathered here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">We go on with our teaching and learning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">thinking always of God met here,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">ekep God’s love light inside always burning<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">in this season and throughout the year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">praise and worship </span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">knowing God is near.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Praise and worship, praise and worship, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">happy we are gathered here.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Rachel Fhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02878625749181107825noreply@blogger.com0