Author: slg1

learning enthusiast, Christian, researcher and sheep breeder
liturgy1 Comment

Leading matins

slg1

If people want Matins, why does Matins vary? The experience of leading matins can easily become more about whether the people were pleased with the kind of Matins you led than what the BCP had to offer. We have a number of adaptations to Matins and we seem to have to follow them – why? There is a great responsibility when using these wonderful words, a sense of continued history and worship linking us through time back to Cranmer. So how can we fiddle with it? I love Common Worship too, and creating Services of the Word with a reasonable amount of … Continue reading Leading matins

working together with other churchesLeave a comment

Freedom for what?

slg1

“Christian freedom as St Paul spells it out is always freedom from isolation – from the isolation of sin, separating us from God, and the isolation of competing self-interest that divides us from each other. To be free is to be free for relation; free to contribute what is given to us into the life of the neighbour, for the sake of their formation in Christ’s likeness, with the Holy Spirit carrying that gift from heart to heart and life to life. Fullness of freedom for each of us is in contributing to the sanctification of the neighbour.” An extract … Continue reading Freedom for what?

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the meaning of parish

slg1

More and more talk of getting churches working together – today the news of Methodists and Anglicans healing a rift – a slow moving together process. Of course there should only be one Christian church. But we are many people and have our habits and our preferences when it comes to things spiritual and religious. Should a broad consensus of need to move together be held up by a small group of parishioners? I guess the answer may be – only when they can put forward a good theological argument for their perspective. Not if the argument is simply based … Continue reading the meaning of parish

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Preparing for lay ministry: serious but not solemn

slg1

getting closer to preparing a ministry specification for lay ministry. We went through the details at a study day today. Serious stuff – how much time can I really put into ministry? How do I commit totally to God and how He chooses to use me yet remain committed to my role as teacher and trainer and developer of people? Lay ministry involves a lay perspective – if I overdo the church work, then I begin to lose a lay perspective and if God wants me to work for him through my jobs, I am shooting myself in the foot. … Continue reading Preparing for lay ministry: serious but not solemn

reflecting on faith, spiritualityLeave a comment

Spirituality -what’s that?

slg1

Lately I have been trying to work out the distinction between spirituality and emotional experience. Maybe I don’t need to and maybe there is little difference, but I think there should be. When we talk of emotions we envisage sensory feelings – tears, joy, depression, excitement, outrage and so many more expressions of emotional experience. But they seem to be linked to what we feel and those feelings have both internal or mental, and physical expression in body language and sensation. When we talk of spirituality, there is something else going on.  Emotions are definitely involved, but there is more. … Continue reading Spirituality -what’s that?