Tag Archive for 'My Pilgrimage'

It’s getting busy

Published
by
Graeme
on November 21, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 0 Comments

Well I’m now officially into the essay season here at the college. Each Friday for the next 5 weeks the members of the session have to hand in an essay. The first deadline is tomorrow and we are submitting our Doctrine Seen Test, which is sat next to the computer with the cover sheet all prepared!

It’s on occasions like this that I wonder why I’m doing this, but I’m reminded about the things we did and heard yesterday during our Spiritual Formation morning. The reality is that all I am doing is being obedient to the call. Submitting 5 essays in 5 weeks is simply part of the discipline that is required while we are here! That it is part of studying more about God and getting to know Him better in the process is the really important thing, not getting hung up on deadlines.

Reflections

Published
by
Graeme
on November 13, 2008
in Community and My Pilgrimage
. 1 Comment

The last week has been spent on our Social Placement at Faith House. It has been a great week and has left me with a lot to think about over the coming days. The challenge for the future is particularly strong and trying to put it fully into perspective is not going to be that easy.

Having said that it has certainly brought a few things to mind as I wrote my reflections in my journal. One of the main things is how poorly we tend to reflect Jesus’ way of doing things. I suppose I’ve always felt that many churches did not embrace those on the margins of our society, but having been immersed in just a fraction of their lives this last week that sense is really strong at the moment. How many churches do you know that would unhesitatingly embrace a drug-addicted prostitute into their fellowship? What about the dishevelled homeless guy?

Mahatma Gandhi is reputed to have said, “The best test of a civilised society is the way in which in treats its most vulnerable and weakest members.” For some reason I’ve never really thought too hard about those words; I’ve simply accepted them as being valid. This week though I’ve been forced into reconsidering their focus. Maybe it’s me but too often I think we see the society of which he was talking as being the society of our country, headed by the government. But I think the real society that we need to consider is much more basic than that. It’s about us and our place in society. So the phrase could be seen as being, “The way we, as the individuals who make up our society, treat the most vulnerable and weakest members of that society is the best test of our society.”

So how do we treat people? Do we go out of our way to include everyone in our corps, or do we still enjoy our little cliques that prevent the weak and vulnerable from being part of it? I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t gone out of my way that often, but this week has challenged me to think differently.

Placements

Published
by
Graeme
on October 16, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 3 Comments

One of the things that happens during these two years we’re spending in college is that occasionally we are let out onto the unsuspecting public. In our first year we get 3 placements, 2 in local corps and one in a social service centre. In the last couple of weeks we’ve received information about the first two of these.

The first will be in a little over 2 weeks when we go to a Social Service centre for a week. Because of the girls we are staying in London and are heading off to the King’s Cross area to Faith House which has an outreach to the homeless, drug addicts, and into the sex worker community in that area. I’m feeling really excited and totally terrified all at the same time as it is exactly where I wanted to go, but will be totally out of my/our comfort zones!

The second placement is where we will spend 7 Sundays between February and May! For this we are heading off to North London, in fact Camden, to go to Chalk Farm Corps. I don’t know much about the corps other than like many it is smaller than it used to be when I lived not so far away. It’s also very traditional in its worship but has some interesting activities during the week.

So that’s what we’re up to, along with the various subjects we’re studying in the classroom!

I’m a Cadet

Published
by
Graeme
on September 16, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 0 Comments

As this morning saw the start of the Prayer Warrior session at the William Booth College here in London, I am now officially a Cadet.

It feels both totally right and slightly surreal at the same time to think that I’m finally in college. I’m really looking forward to the coming two years and intend to learn as much as I can to make me as good an officer as I possibly can be. At the same time I don’t want to lose track of being the person I believe God has moulded me into over the last few years.

We’ve actually been at the college now for almost 2 1/2 weeks and have already found a corps that we want to be involved with when we’re not away leading meetings. It’s a small corps which is very much in transition and importantly both the girls seem to be really comfortable there. Watch out for more information over the coming months!

Finally, we had our Candidates’ Farewell last Saturday and travelled down to Southampton for that. Unfortunately, with the exception of the band, songsters and drama group, it wasn’t very well attended and the average age of the congregation was probably too high to be really moved to offer for full-time service. Our Divisional Commander spoke about risk-taking in faith and challenged everyone to take a few for the Kingdom’s sake.

Obviously as part of that all 3 of the candidates had to share their testimony about how we got to that place. I had really struggled to get mine down on paper, but in the end I concentrated on the fact that it was because of my willingness to obey God’s will for my life. That’s the real key in all things, that we not only seek out God’s will but also that we listen and obey when we discern what it is.

So, together with 30 other cadets that will be either training here or as distance learners, I’ve obeyed His will and find myself about to embark on the adventure!

Retreat

Published
by
Graeme
on April 10, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 0 Comments

Over the last 3 days (Monday to Wednesday) the centre leaders and divisional leaders in my division have been on retreat. It’s been a wonderful 3 days in which it has been possible to take a short time away from the corps and recharge the spiritual batteries.

One thing that always happens to me though, whenever I go away, is that I have a bad night the first night. I don’t know what it is but I can never sleep properly the first night in a different bed! Anyway, as I lay awake I remembered something that a fellow Army blogger wrote about being on retreat. I can’t even remember who it was now, but they didn’t like the word retreat because it symbolised going backwards (i.e. retreating from the enemy!) As I lay there thinking I started to consider what retreating meant and I suppose on one level that blogger has a point. To retreat does mean to back away from the battle, and I suppose with our emphasis on military metaphor this is the first meaning that come to mind!

To retreat actually has an alternative meaning, in fact it has several but I want to concentrate on just one right now. To go on a spiritual retreat doesn’t actually mean that we are stepping away from the battle. In fact, in some circumstances it actually can allow us to focus on the spiritual battle that often gets overlooked in the day to day work that all Christians should be involved in. This opportunity to concentrate our energies on the spiritual side of things is invaluable for anyone who is aware of the spiritual battle that is going on.

For me these 3 days spoke to me in ways that I am going to be working out in my ministry. They spoke to me of things I hadn’t considered before and they allowed me to continue to build relationships with others in the division. These days gave me an opportunity to share my thoughts and have them tested by people I respect. Above all I came back feeling refreshed but knowing that despite being on retreat, I had actually advanced in my faith by taking some quality time to worship and study God’s word.

Flawed and partial

Published
by
Graeme
on April 4, 2008
in Blog stuff and My Pilgrimage
. 4 Comments

When I sat down to start this blog I had no idea where it would take me. There was no intention to it, other than as a medium for sharing my thoughts, particularly those that I had on my journey of faith. Sometimes I’ve written stuff that I wonder whether I should have written. Other times I’ve written stuff that I’m really happy with. Most of the time, being totally honest, my writing has been rather mediocre.

There have been times when I have wondered whether I should simply stop writing and give up on blogging. This has been the case over the last few weeks as my thoughts seem to have dryed up, or rather my mind has been full of thoughts that aren’t quite my usual direction. Today though, I was encouraged as I read this:

…modesty will remind us that what we call the Fall teaches that everything we think, do and say is flawed and partial. At best we only know in part (1 Corinthians 13:9Open Link in New Window).

I started writing because I needed a conduit by which I could actually process some of the thoughts I was having. It was partly frustration, partly spiritual exercise. I continued to write partly out of habit, partly out of sheer stubbornness.

A couple of weeks ago I taught on a Sunday morning about our inability to really know the ways of God. In that sermon I said two things:

  1. In our fallen humanity, that state that developed after Adam & Eve ate of the tree, men and women, even Christian men and women, can sometimes think they have the solution for every situation.
  2. Today though it can sometimes seem that when God seeks to move in ways that are not how we expect him to move, we attempt to stifle what he wants to do.

Those Christians I know who seem to speak all the time with absolute certainty and seem to always have an answer to every situation off the top of their heads often seem to be like these two bits from the sermon. They always have an answer and are never, ever uncertain about anything, yet they also want to stifle anything, usually deeming it unchristian, that doesn’t fit in with their certainty. These people seem to see everything clearly!

However, those who I respect most, and actually are some of the most Christlike people I know, whilst certain of their salvation, openly admit that they don’t have all the answers, sometimes get things wrong and on occasions encourage people to try knew things in the power of the Spirit. Amidst the certainty of their faith, they acknowledge their flawed and partial knowledge.

So where does that leave me? I don’t have all the answers and this blog has been, and will continue to be my rather small effort in trying to work out my thoughts. My thinking may be flawed, probably more often than not, but they are an honest attempt at trying to see clearer in a world shrouded by darkness but illuminated by the light of Christ.

Tired but home!

Published
by
Graeme
on March 30, 2008
in My Pilgrimage
. 0 Comments

Well we’re home from the Assessment Conference and are completely shattered. 7 interviews (2 of which were as a couple), one essay, one piece of group work and a discussion group later, plus constant assessment outside of these things, we’ve got through the weekend and now sit at home with our two beautiful daughters!

It is possible that we will get a phone call tonight to let us know what the recommendation for our future is, but it might be tomorrow or even later.

Right now though all we both want to do is sleep! More news as we get it!