mission 2

Mark and Eva have gone to Belfast. Eva is being fitted for her bridesmaid dress (flower girl dress really but for Eva's sake we tell her she is going to be a Bridesmaid) . I am not in Belfast - I am off on the college mission to Hardwicke tomorrow so wasn't able to go!

I have posted on this mission already and it raised a few questions - both on the blog and in the pub! I have to say I am quite nervous about going into a rural parish and speaking not only about my faith but also about the Church of England and my calling to ministry. But I guess that is what I am being trained for. I am also going to miss Mark and Eva - I hadn't really factored the missing them in to all of this. It has just hit me that it is holy week and I won't be here. Again, I guess this is something I am going to have to get used to.

Anyway, this is a brief outline of what we are going to be doing:

Palm Sunday - Parish Eucharist with Palm Procession at Hardwicke (Common Worship) 11.00am

Holy Monday April 2nd
Morning of school work, school assembly, residential home service at 2.30pm,
and door to door visitations in the evening.

Holy Tuesday April 3rd
Our Parish Passover at 7pm.
Morning of school work, school assembly, community service, afternoon coffee meetings,
door to door visitations in the evening.

Holy Wednesday April 4th
Midweek Eucharist at 9am
Sheltered Accomodation Service at 10.30am,
Lent Lunch Meeting 12noon - 2pm, Afternoon Coffee Meeting 2.30pm,
and door to door visitations in the evening.

Maundy Thursday April 5th
Agape Meal at Hardwicke Church at 7pm.

Good Friday April 6th
Good Friday Children's Workshop 10.00 - 12.30pm
At Hardwicke School
Good Friday Service at Elmore Church 12 noon.
"The Last Hour" Service at Hardwicke Church 2.00 - 3.00pm

Holy Saturday - Easter Eve April 7th
The Paschal Liturgy at Hardwicke Church 8.00pm

Easter Sunday

Easter Eucharist at Elmore(BCP) 8.00am
Parish Eucharist at Longney (Common Worship) 9.30am
Parish Eucharist at Hardwicke (Common Worship) 11.00am
Easter Family Celebration Service at Hardwicke 4.00pm
With the Trinity College Team

So, for those of you who are of the praying kind I would appreciate your prayers this week - for me, the team and the parish. Ta. xxx

if there is a bandwagon in town

...then I am going to be on it. I have really enjoyed my 24hrs on Facebook. I have made lots of friends and have even poked 'the Canon'. But it is a distraction from the real task a hand...

I am trying to sort out my PhD so it actually looks like a PhD and not a load of words in no particular order. Thankfully (hopefully) my study mate Liz H is going to help me put it in an electronic form that is acceptable so I can send 'something like' a draft to Sara next week. I am getting a bit weak with all this reading and sorting. I feel like Cinderella when I hear about my Facebook friends having holiday fun. I am stuck at home making stuff up! Hey ho.

facebook

I have got sucked into another e-world...Facebook me!

emails

In the last month I have emailed a some people about a few things that have been on my mind. You may well remember that I emailed Jerry Falwell about his sermon 'The Myth of Global Warming' (Please don't buy this sermon DVD - it will only encourage him!). Although my letter was very polite Jerry hasn't got back to me.
I also emailed Doug Naysmith my MP . To ask him how he voted on Trident - he hasn't got back to me yet.
I emailed Christine Walkden about her gardening show - she has got back to me. No offer to help with the Foundation allotment though! hey ho.

heaven and earth

Today has been a day of lost hours and confusion. I got confused over British Summer Time - the last time I got confused and forgot to sort the clocks out was in 1992 - when I lived in Toxteth and was an hour late for St Philemons Church. Today was the 2nd time ever I made this mistake. I turned up to Cotham Church at 10.05am (I was going to be late anyway - Eva had decided at the last minute that she wanted to take a cucumber sandwich which put us back 5 mins). When I realised my mistake I could have turned back and saved myself the embarrassment but having got there I decided to brazen it out. I am not going to be able to be at Cotham for Easter (because of the Hardwicke mission) so this week was the last week for at least 3 that I will be there. I wanted to say hello etc etc.

Because I messed up with the clocks I did get to see Si Johnson on the Heaven and Earth Show on the BBC. He spoke brilliantly about the Protest4 / Truth isn't Sexy campaign. He even got to speak about the Gospel. Good on yer Si. This campaign needs all of our support so please do join this protest against sex trafficking. All this lament about the end of Slavery 200 years ago will mean nothing if we don't do something about our current injustices.

christine's garden

I don't really know why I watched this last night- but I am glad I did. It was really entertaining and Christine was amazing. A true enthusiast and very funny. This week she went on the Kirklees railway, next week 'Christine also finds the time to help her neighbour Reg prune a magnolia tree' (Reg is one of the happiest men I have ever seen on the BBC!). I joke not...watch Christine's Garden and you will feel great about the world. You can watch a couple of previews and see for yourself.

There is talk of a Foundation allotment - if we could get Christine to come and look at it and get us going it would be brilliant.

water aid

My step son Joseph's mother, Vanessa Ashton, is the director for fundraising at Water Aid. She is, as I write, down at the Eden Project with Adam Hart-Davis launching the charity's campaign for World Water Day - which is today. You probably got an envelope through your door in the last few days asking you to donate money to this charity. It is a pretty amazing organisation so if you could spare some cash then please do. If you haven't got a penny then please go to the website and join the lobby of governments worldwide to End Water Poverty.

By the way Mark and I are thinking about doing the second Coast Along for WaterAid event that takes place on Saturday 15 September 2007. We will need a team and to do a bit of fundraising. So, if anyone is up for it do let us know!

liverpool blogs

I have been put on the blogroll of a new site called Liverpool Blogs. Despite the fact I don't really meet the criteria (i.e. I don't live within 5 miles of Liverpool City centre). Also on the blogroll are John Davies and Simon 'the Scouse Ordinand'. It is packed with Liverpool blogs and well worth a look. My current favourite is Breakfast Liverpool which reviews the breakfasts eaten in Liverpool cafes - with pictures. tasty!

unknowing god

Last night's Foundation Big service is still going around in my head. I am really tired - having been busy all weekend with prep and trying to keep the family running as well (Mark was so involved with the service prep so it was very tricky). But, like a well oilded machine we managed to keep it all going. Though this morning we did realise that Eva hadn't done her homework. So it was a last minute dash to get her 'who was St Patrick?' homework done this morning.

Anyway, last night has had a big effect on me, not least because of the way the group of us who participated in the service have got to know each other over the last few weeks. Sharing all those difficult things, admitting to the lament, working with the stories and tracking the way we moved through them, has shifted not only the way I think about the group but also the way I feel about preparing for this sort of worship. It was an immense privilege to be part of the team. Who were:

'the voice of the psalms' - richard T
DJ Hoyland
the mac bros - Mark and Paul
the fabulous foundation singers (writers and producers) - Richard W, Jez, Tracey W, Anna, Paul
theo hazard disposal squad - Revd and Mrs Davies
designer, maker, sticker, stapler - Lizzie
magic lantern - Mr and Mrs Kissell
stories that will never end - (in order of appearance) Ellen, Dylan, Lizzie, Tim
refreshments - Debbie F
Liturgy maker - Jenny L
Holiday makers and idea generators - Mr and Mrs McColl
Continuity (and understudy for the mac bros) - Bruce Foreman
Bits and Bobs - Ellen

The picture above is the one I got in my envelope in the wilderness. Another one of Antonia Rolls pictures. Poor old Mary looks very tired and in desperate need of a cuppa and a good nights sleep. Someone mentioned to me that she also appears to have prepared for a baby girl - given the frock in the background. Jesus looks perky though.

Jesus on the tube

Thought I would share this with you - a exhibition that happened last year - Jesus on the tube
I am loving the work of Antonia Rolls.

Thanks (again) to John Davies - and his picture of the month page - for bringing her work to my attention.

mothering sunday

This is a simnel cake (which I didn't make). It is one of my favourite cakes. But unfortunately it is unlikely that I will have access to one tomorrow (no time to make one, no time to find one - but if one turned up I am sure I would find time to eat one)!




Eva is planning something with her brownie pack which she is preparing as I write. She has gone off to some secret pack meeting to develop it. Whatever it is will be presented at the morning service at St Edths Church, Sea Mills. So, we will miss Cotham's Mothering Sunday offerings. The day will be a bit hectic as both Mark and I are heavily involved in the preparation for Foundation Big Service. We have spent most of the day preparing stuff, creating PowerPoint presentations, editing films and measuring the church for installations. All very exciting. I am cream crackered. Going to have a cup of tea and a little something and chill out for a bit.

belfast chippy

My adoring husband sent me this fantastic picture of a Belfast chippy. I hope it gives you as much pleasure as it did us. xxx

trident

Sounds like a toothpaste but it isn't - and it has a rather nasty aftertaste.
Can't actually believe this so called labour government have actually voted yes to the renewal. What a bunch of idiots. Now this will be another mess to clear up later.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Trident, Trident, Trident Again

Somewhere in a submarine
Lives a life where no-one’s seen,
No-one’s heard by night or day,
For which there must be hell to pay.

Just in case the world is flattened,
Somewhere hatches will be battened,
Safe in this – if a nuclear blitz
Should blow us all to bobs and bits,

At least we’ll know there’s been a bang:
Islamabad, Teheran, Pyongyang
Will vanish in a careless puff –
And then they’ll know Enough’s Enough.

At any time, Saddam Hussein –
Because he had an addled brain –
Was planning to eliminate us:
That’s why, with our divine afflatus,

We totalled him. So, saved from slaughter,
We emulate him, underwater,
And why we hold the keys to power,
And why we keep a conning tower

Hidden somewhere in the deep.
It helps us breathe, it helps us sleep,
To snooze here in our great gazebo.
It makes the world a safe placebo.

a poem by Bill Greenwell

mixing it up





Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Since I have been in Bristol I have been hanging out with all sorts of Christians (actually in the last 7 months I have met more Christians than the whole of the rest of my life put together). Anyway, I have tried very hard to give all sorts of spiritual expression and worship style a go - to get a sense of what everyone is into and see if it helps me to get closer to God. I have genuinely had a great time - but I am starting to get quite exhausted. It was a heavy week last week (what with visiting Hardwicke and experiencing their Eucharist, Book of Common Prayer - all week in Chapel, anglo-catholic Eucharist Sunday Morning - Cotham, fresh expression compline - Foundation Sunday night and today Cafe Worship in the dinning hall at Trinity). To be honest I feel like I need a little bit more continuity. Not that I am going to get it! Hey ho!


mr deity

We can blame Tinho Da Cruz for this. I have chosen this episode of Mr Deity because it has an Easter theme (just). See which one you like best - go to the Mr Deity website for the entire series.

book of common prayer

Tonight I am making my debut on the floor of Trinity College Chapel as the Deacon for James Steven at the college communion. This week we are using the Book of Common Prayer, common worship, order one. Oh Joy. As I am dyslexic and I go on panic mode with words I don't know this has meant that I have had to learn by sight the entire service. It has been a long night and morning. I am still not sure I have all the words in the right order. However, I will have the sheet to guide me - so it's not like learning Shakespeare from scratch without a script (oh yes, those were the days).

I have checked the clerical wear cupboard and found a snazzy cassock and surplus that fits (shame they don't come in other colours). I look a bit of a pudding in it though - what I look like in my head bears no relation to reality: inside I think I look kinda cool, bit rugged and am someone who can carry clerical wear; the reality is I am chubby and slightly physically overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of material involved. I will see if a picture can be taken so that I can get some feedback on my look.

To add to anxiety the speaker this evening is the director of Christian Aid - Daleep Mukarji who is a bit of a hero. Hey ho. I am sure all will be fine.

Foundation Big Service - publicity out

As planning moves into the final stages the publicity was launched today.

A POISON TREE

WAS angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunnèd it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright;

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole,

When the night had veiled the pole:

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

by: William Blake (1757-1827)

Got so much to do. This week is the time I sit down with the PhD and assess where I am up to. My foe is not so much a person or a thing more a mindset that tells me that I can't get all this done.

mission

The Church of St Nicholas,
Hardwicke









As part of my ordination training I have to go on a college led mission.
If someone had told me a year ago that I would be going on a mission to a rural village in Gloucester with a bunch of Christians I had only just met I think I have thought they were bonkers. Those of you who have known me for a long time would think it an unlikely prospect. I am not shy about my faith but the concept of mission in this context sends shudders through me. But there you go. This is what has to happen.

By some cruel further twist of the knife I have been assigned the role of mission leader (along with Patrick - one boy one girl leader!). Oh joy. Actually I have enjoyed it so far. I love the parish, the incumbent Andrew James, and after our visit to the parish today the people are great to. Very warm and welcoming. So, a week of school visits, sheltered accommodation, door-to-door inviting to a special service, the service itself, coffee mornings, suppers with testimonies and Easter Sunday events don't seem so intimidating.

I went, with my fellow missioners, to Hardwicke Church this morning. Eva came too and we had a nice lunch in a local pub by the canal after the service. When I got back I still had work to do on the creation and salvation essay and then finish off essay number two ready for the handing in ritual tomorrow at mid-day. I have just finished so trying to get to Foundation tonight is out of the question. Shame - but then someting had to give this weekend. A glass of something white and a few nibbles and I will be off to the land of nod.

on my own

I have spent last night and today on my own.
Mark went for a walk in the Brecon Beakons with some Trinity people and Eva spent the night over with Joe and Vannessa in Bath. Eva has been dying to stay with Vannessa since we moved down here and last night she got her chance. I have been a bit lonely. I have finished my essay though so some good has come out of it.

Nothing on the telly so I am now going to do some work on the plan for the next big Foundation service - which is happening at Cotham Church on March 18. Put the date in your diaries because it is going to be well worth coming to. The theme is Unknowing God.

creation

I have been writing an essay about creation and salvation all week which has had quite an effect on me. I really have been empowered by Scripture to make sense of my environmental ethics. Not that I am done but I feel I am at least on my way. I was also spured on by a sermon preached by Jerry Falwell on Sun 25th (Dave Walker also blogged about it the other day). His attitude and argument made me a bit cross. After a legnthy tirade against the 'trendy' scaremongering of ecologists, Falwell concluded:

There's no need for the church of Jesus Christ to be wasting its time gullibly falling for all of this global warming hocus-pocus. We need to give our total focus to the business of reaching this world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and stop running down meaningless rabbit trails that get our focus off of our heavenly purpose.

Anyway, I was so cross I decided to write Jerry an email. This is what I wrote:

Dear Jerry
I read your sermon, 25th Feb with great interest as it shocked me that you might feel it necessary to preach such a politically charged argument on the only day that some people get to hear the word of God. It might have been more useful to preach from the bible rather than from your president's manifesto or the national review. There was not one bible quote to back up your flawed argument.

I would like to give a counter argument that is scriptural: The Lord God loves this earth (if you read Genesis you will see what great care he took to create it for us). Even if global warming turns out not be such a threat surely we have responsibility to give it back to God in a similar state in which it was created? How would it be if you made a lovely toy for your child, one that would sustain it and give it great pleasure to use, only to have it slowly destroyed and handed back broken. Even if your child (or you) no longer have any use for it I am not sure that this act wouldn't evoke some sense of disappointment within you. Doesn't seeing rainforests without trees, land full of garbage, and mountain tops being plundered and shaved make your heart ache? how much worse must that be for a God that made these beautiful things for us?

The truth is nobody needs as much as we have. The USA and UK uses so much of everything. We know we don't need it because other countries survive without using so much. How hard is it to turn off a few lights when you leave a room, walk occasionally instead of using the car for every journey, not take that extra flight or recycle tins and glass? By giving up so little we can do quite a lot.

We have been called by God to sing a wonderful song of praise to all creation (see psalm 148) and not just to humanity. I am not sure how a landfill or an empty mountain with it's top sliced off can 'burst into song' (Isaiah 55:12) or the missing trees of the rainforests 'clap their hands' (Isaiah 55:12)? Should we not be standing up against this sort of plunder of Gods creation? This is the sort of witness that people need - this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus was the man who stilled storms (Mark 4:35-41), walked on water (Mark 6: 45-56), who has the power to heal, cast out demons and even bring people back to life (carry on reading Mark and you'll see all this). The kind of God who creates, the Christ who heals, the spirit who makes our relationship with God possible loves the whole earth not just people. It is all part of the plan. In 2 Peter 3 we see that their will be a 'new heaven and new earth' and I believe that just as when the flood covered the earth (Genesis 6-8) and dramatically altered our relationship to it, this apocalypse will mean a 'new' earth and not a different one.

I have just read a really good book about creation that I think you might like. It is balanced and informative, and evangelical. David Wilkinson 'The Message of Creation'. In the Bible Speaks Today series, published by IVP. One of the significant points it makes is that good stewardship of creation is a responsibility for all Christians and is a mark of our difference - we don't just plunder, we manage wisely and give back to the earth as well as take from it. This has to be part of a mission to the world, part of our witness of actions as well as words (James 2:17). It is a part of the Gospel of Christ and it was also a concern for the early church (see Romans 8: 18-30 - our creator liberates!).

Please be sure that this is issue is not about politics or about being trendy, this is about being a good Christian steward of creation.

Thanks for such a stimulating sermon and I hope that your journey in Christ is peaceful and joyous.

Love and blessings
Ellen Loudon