Pilgrim Soldier

We hold on to what is comfortable and familiar to us.

This was a comment that I read recently elsewhere and it suggested that this should be seen as a positive thing so that we would be unique whilst other denominations/congregations kept copying each other, with little success. I also heard something similar today!

Now I know that change is uncomfortable and that many people might actually like the idea, but I couldn’t help thinking about it in the context of Jesus’ disciples! What would have happened in the early church had held onto ‘what is comfortable and familiar’ to them?

If nothing new is ever considered, if nothing ever changes, then where will we be in 20, 30, 50 years time? If everything must stay the same then how are we ever going to reach out to a rapidly changing world?

Now I’m not naive enough to expect everything to change, but what is sacrosanct and what is up for grabs? I’m coming to the conclusion that very little of what we actually get upset about when things change is what really matters, because in fact a lot of that is cultural. It is though a way of protecting ourselves from change in other areas. But then what does that say about our reliance on God? Surely it is the never-changing God who really protects us, not the never-changing ‘Army’!

So what am I holding onto that needs to change? Probably more than I’d like to admit, but please Lord don’t let me hold onto it just because it offers me comfort. Instead I want to throw off everything that hinders for the sake of God’s Kingdom!

At the recommendation of Gordon Cotterill I’ve been reading Alan Jamieson’s Chrysalis, which is about those times in our Christian walk that St John of the Cross called the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’. It’s an excellent little book, only 112 pages long, which gives some valuable insight what can be a very difficult period in a person’s faith journey.

One of the things that jumped up of the page at me was a definition of what faith is. Jamieson writes:

…faith is far more than a set of beliefs, a creed or a set of doctrines. The faith that Jesus modelled involves our whole intellect, our passions, our convictions and our willpower. It is an intrinsically relational endeavour. It is not something we could ever do, or could ever sustain, alone.

…Christian faith is also far more than just making meaning; it is living fully within the meaning we make.”

I think this is one of the things that I have been challenged most about during my time at the college. If my faith was simply a set of beliefs then quite simply my time here would have torn it apart because my ‘belief system’ has been challenged. However, the reality is that my faith is not only a set of creeds and doctrines, instead it is a living reality that makes an ever increasing difference to the way I live my life.

There’s a news article over at the website for the men’s magazine Sorted that says:

“Men who go to church regularly prefer “proper macho songs” and feel uncomfortable with hugging and sitting in circles discussing their feelings…”

The whole area of why men don’t go to church is one that I’m increasingly concerned about so I did a search to see what some of the other blog writers around are saying about it. I found only a handful of articles most of which seemed to fall into two categories: those who seemed to complain about women in ministry within the church, and those who got caught up on the ‘happy-clappy’ vs ‘traditional’ forms of worship, plus one who focussed on the fact that men do things other than blatant evangelism to bond! In each case it seems the same theme runs through many of the posts on those sites!

My question though is why people can’t see that men are in the minority in the majority of our congregations in the Western world? Why does it have to come down our personal agenda all the time when issues like this crop up instead of trying to work out what to really do about it? Maybe the solution is not necessarily in the things we value but in really change to something that isn’t necessarily comfortable for us!

Looks like Zoe & I will be missing a fair bit of college over the next few days as Abigail appears to have finally succumbed to the Chicken Pox outbreak that has been going around College! Not the best time for it to happen, although better than if it was in a few more weeks time and hit us around the commissioning of the Witnesses for Christ!

You never know I might even get sometime to finish the several post I’ve got sat in my Drafts folder!

Yesterday, Bank Holiday Monday, I went on to Strangers into Citizens service and rally, which was something of a first for me. Despite having been involved politically with a number of projects over the years this was the first real chance I had to actually go on a march.

Strangers into Citizens march

For those that don’t know anything it about the campaign pay a visit to their site (link above) and read a little about it. Basically though its about giving an opportunity for those undocumented migrants who want to contribute to UK society, who want to work and live here, a chance to do so. I’ve heard quite a bit of negative feedback, people saying that it won’t make any sort of significant difference to the problem of at least 750,000 people in this country, but it’ll make a difference to those who take up the opportunity if the government were to give it too them. Jesus said that we will be judged according to how we respond to people including the stranger, so if you’re in the UK why not write to your MP to see if they support the campaign!?

As you can see from the picture The Salvation Army were represented on the march and in the Free Church service before it. There were around 80 people connected to The Salvation Army marching amongst the marchers and several people spoke to those around me saying how good it was to see the Army supporting them in this campaign. This is, of course, part of our heritage that we’ve forgotten so it’s great to see the Army out there where it really matters supporting some of the most marginalised people in our society! Let’s hope we keep it up and if anything increase our support for this and other campaigns that are about lifting the mantle of oppression from the lives of individuals and communities.

Below is also a link to the YouTube campaign video if you want to find out more!

It’s been over 2 months since I last wrote and it seems that this college lark is curtailing the time I get to spend on blogging and even commenting!

One of the things that I love about the Army is the diversity that there is here in the UK. So far we’ve been involved in 3 different corps since arriving in London, all of which are very different.

Deptford, where we soldier at when we’re not on placements, is small and unique and we simply love being there as its a real home for us and the girls!

Chalk Farm, where we’ve now led 5 meetings since January, is a wonderful corps with a traditional style of worship and is full of lovely caring Christian people who clearly have a genuine love for each other and those cooming into the building.

Forestdale, where we spent a week on placement last month has a more contemporary feel and a sense of vibrancy about the worship, but faces very real challenges in reaching out to the community around it!

Whilst I miss being involved in one fellowship all the time, I love the experience of seeing what else is out there and spending time worshipping with some real Godly people.

The next few weeks hold more of these experiences as we are spending Easter at Poplar corps in the East End of London and then will spend the summer at Thornton Heath in South London.

In his book ‘Life Together’ Deitrich Bonhoeffer writes about the real privilege it is to be part of a worshipping community of God’s people. I hope that the experiences I’m having here at college will help me to never lose sight of that, even when things might not be going so well!

Well we woke up this morning to see that the snow that had been falling last night had continued, as promised, to fall and life here at the college has descended into a series of snowball fights!

It’s really strange to have quite so much snow as it’s the first major fall we’ve seen since getting back from Latvia almost 18 months ago! Of course, unlike Latvia the roads are virtually empty, the schools are shut and people are slipping and sliding all over the place! It’s great to see it all though and it’s made me feel more than a little homesick for Riga!