After about three weeks of waiting, in the post this morning I received the letter that officially appoints me as an Envoy. From 1st September 2007 I am appointed to be leader of Godalming Corps in the Southern Division of the UK Territory.
I am so excited about this appointment as it is the start of a new chapter of my ministry. I know next to nothing about the place or the appointment at the moment, but have been through the town many times as a child in the back of my parents’ car. However, what is very clear is that this is God’s will and I already feel a burden to pray for the corps, its people and the people of Godalming.
So the timetable is that we leave Latvia on 6th August and then head off for about 3 weeks around England before heading south to Godalming.
Two quotes have struck me in recent weeks about Postmodernism. The first by a colleague was that:
Postmodernism is awful, its the worst thing that has ever happened for the church.
The second I read yesterday at David Fitch’s blog:
Postmodernity allows for a critique of the way modernism has captured the church. In essence it frees the church to be the church. We are free from the attractional model of church - producing goods and services for people shopping for services - to embrace a missional paradigm - that we are participating in the mission of God.
I understand the fear of the first view. Indeed when we look at its deconstructionalist nature, postmodernity is indeed a dangerous thing for the church. However, I refuse to accept that a worldview can have power over the commission we have from Jesus himself. Now it is quite possible that understanding the postmodern mindset will have fundamental consequences for the way the Church carries our its mission. Certainly it can be no worse for the church than modernity was as we embraced the mindset in order to fight the scientific absolutism it produced.
My natural inclination is towards the second view. That in order to carry out God’s mission here on earth we need to use postmodern lenses to look at what the church has become and then re-evaluate what is important. Anything that detracts from our mission can afford to be put aside!
Today is Pentecost and I’m off over to preach at Riga 2 Corps this morning. As far as I can remember this is the first time I’ve ever preached at Pentecost and having known for a few weeks I’d be preaching, I had really been wondering what it was I should be saying. Then earlier in the week I was re-reading the Pentecost story and something I’d never realised before leapt off the page at me, and I’d found what God wanted to say.
I think the majority of sermons I’ve heard at this time of year have centred on either the receiving of the Holy Spirit itself, urging those in the congregation to experience the power that comes from the indwelling of the Spirit. This is something that is good to hear on a regular basis, but what I noticed puts the whole event into perspective. It was actually something that was missing from the text (if you can say that about the Bible without being deemed a heretic) that grabbed my attention.
And the missing words? They went outside!
The whole of Acts after the receiving of the Holy Spirit, tells us the story of what happened when the believers left the building in which they received the Spirit. Think about it for a moment. From what I understand scholars reckon there were around 120 people in the room that day, it wasn’t only the apostles. Now if you’ve ever been in a room where 120 people were talking, all at the same time, you will understand how difficult it is to try and pick out one conversation. Yet the people from all over the known world could hear the believers speaking in their own language. I just don’t think this would have been possible if the believers had stayed indoors.
And for me that is the real central message for this Pentecost. It is very easy for us to experience the Holy Spirit’s power and want to stay in the place where we receive it, to spend time in worship. We make the location a Holy place and build up either real or symbolic altars.
Yet the reason the Holy Spirit was given to us was actually so that we would be able to fulfil Jesus’ Great Commission. He commanded his followers to go and make disciples, and promised to send the one who would make this possible. It remains impossible if all we want to do is wallow in the place where we experience the Holy Spirit. If we don’t get up and get out into the world after receiving the Spirit, then what was the point of receiving that power in the first place?
So that’s my challenge today. By all means celebrate the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and seek to receive more of the Spirit’s power today, but please make sure that you take that power outside at the end of your whatever type of corporate worship you have, and use it where it was supposed to be used. Outside!
Well I’ve been tagged (by Evie) for the first time ever, so never having done this before …
You didn’t even censor him.
from the poem ‘The Prophet’ in the book by Steve Turner called ‘Up to Date’
So the rules of this are:
1. Grab the book closest to you
2. Turn to page 161
3. Print the 5th complete sentence on your blog
4. Tag 5 others
… and I tag: Martin, Kirsty, The Andersen Family, Patrik and Peter
Yesterday was Abigail’s one month check-up at The Salvation Army’s clinic here in Riga. For a few days we have not been sure whether she has been smiling a little bit at Zoe, Sian and I. Well yesterday during her check-up Abigail caught sight of me over the doctor’s shoulder and gave me two of the biggest grins you have ever seen. It is things like this that more than make up for the sleepless nights!
A few weeks ago now we were privileged to have General Eva Burrows stop in at the officer as she was passing through Riga while on holiday. It was while she was leader of The Salvation Army that the push back into Eastern Europe was made, but today was the first time she had been to Riga, and I think it meant quite a lot to her.
She said something that was of real interest to me. I can’t remember the exact words but it was along the lines of “today you are living in the past of tomorrow’s future!” This was said within the context of her talking a little about her memories of meeting some of the people who had kept the Army alive during the Soviet occupation of Latvia. It was clear that she felt that it was very important for us to remember our past as we move forward into our future, but also to remember that the things we do now will have an effect on the future of God’s Kingdom here in Latvia.
Sometimes it feels that we are too quick to turn away from the past and want to move forward into the future. It almost feels as if we feel that there is nothing of value in what has gone before. At other times its possible to get so caught up with history that we fail to move forward at all.
For me, what came out of that short phrase the General said is that we need to find the balance. We need to know that today we are building the future for those who follow us and acknowledge those in the past who have laid the ground for where we are today.
Today was Abigail’s dedication and it was a wonderful occasion! To celebrate with family, friends and the wider church family the wonderful gift that God has given us in Abigail was great. To have the opportunity to dedicate Abigail’s life back to the service of this God who means so much to us, was the most important part and made me think about what her future will hold. Sarah who did the dedication included Sian as being just as important to Abigail’s faith as Zoe & I, and it reminded me that we now have the task of leading two wonderful daughters to a living faith in Christ!
Thanks to Evie who is her godmother, and also to the godparents in abstentia, Jane & Jon Bishton, for their willingness to help us in the awesome task of educating this precious girl in the faith we all share.
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