Pilgrim's Progress

A Still Place

Another imitation of reality done in 3D software - perhaps the most photographic I've managed to date. Taken from a photo of a lake in Rutledge, Alabama.

Life is going to go crazy over the next few weeks as I move house and get into the new job (1 week in and going well!). In the thick of it all, there has been a quiet call to seek out the quiet place before I do anything else in the day. It has made a difference already ...

Whatever Next?

Is it the Brawling Bishop?
Is it the Karate Cardinal?
Is it the Minister of Mayhem?

No it's the Taekwon-Do Priest - a curate friend who's just started blogging. Drop by and say hello! And yes, he really is a black belt!

Free 3D Software Bargains!

Fancy a go at 3D art? Here is an absolute bargain I've just found out about - a commercial 3D package called Bryce 5 is being given away FREE! Click here. Also, you can get another great free package, though not so easy to learn called DAZ Studio - click here.

Go on - have a go!

My Dream (part 3)

This is FAKE REALITY - it isn't a photo ... it's a 3D "photorealistic" render. You might want to reach out and stroke the carpet or smell the flower, but you can't, because they're faked.

I can't get away from this right now - KEEP IT REAL AT ALL COSTS - vulnerable, genuine, open, truthful. There is a cost to being real in our Christian communities - we might be misunderstood, taken for a ride, taken advantage of, gossiped about, badmouthed for daring to tell it like it is ... but the cost of peddling spiritual fakery is so high in eternal terms, it doesn't bear thinking about.

Someone might walk into a church next Sunday, needing to touch eternity, seek comfort, find hope, belonging, connectedness, meaning ... will they find the real thing?

I've heard it said that Henri Nouwen's writings were like "memos to himself" - he wrote about where he longed to be, not what he had already attained (also Paul in Phil 3). Same for these last 3 posts ... am still a fearful beginner when it comes to take steps into keeping it real as a leader.

My Dream (part 2)

I dream of being a genuine, vulnerable leader. Leadership is good, but too often we have a kind of class system of "leaders" and "everybody else". No more! The leadership "class" can fake spirituality, lead because they're paid to, insist on being treated better, take advantage of their position, keep up appearances. No more! No room for "smooth", glossy, professional (in the wrong sense), "me up here, you down there", "I'm sorted now I can help you" leaders.

Instead ... to dare to be seen for who we are, as pilgrims on the way, sometimes surprised to find ourselves out front leading because we know ourselves well, constantly in need of God's grace, and daring to let ourselves be on display as a worked example of that grace in action, and YET not afraid to give a strong lead when needed, not afraid to speak boldly when called, not afraid to let the power of God work through us when prompted, not afraid to confront in love, not afraid to endure the loneliness of costly decisions ...

Is this possible? I believe so ... It's a dream that scares me, but it won't go away!

"We are called to intentional, deliberate vulnerability."
(from the Rule of the Northumbria Community)

"Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."
(Leonard Cohen: "Anthem")

I dream of a church that strives for visible genuineness. Church with glass walls, or no walls - so that if it's real, people will see ... if it's fake, people will see.

Perfect example here - Bishop John Sentamu living rough for a week in York Cathedral, to pray for the Middle East, and having many significant encounters as he does so.

"Come on, bring a noise, let the woooorrrrld know we're around, how we get on, how we get down."
(MC Conrad - from a Drum'n'Bass DJ set with LTJ Bukem)

All of this "My Dream" stuff has been a kind of Martin Luther King moment - like a glimpse of the Promised Land - it's a scary, costly dream and I don't know if we'll get there, but it's where I wanna go and take others with me.

I subtitled my blog "In relentless pursuit of REAL" and I reaffirm this today! If I have to perform, or fake it to do what I do, I will leave and do something else.

My Dream

I haven't dipped into the emerging church conversation lately, but a few thoughts have been bubbling round lately, as my new post draws closer:

My dream is to simply live out authentic Christian community that nurtures the body of Christ and welcomes others in. Is this church or mission? I dream of a community that no longer makes that distinction, but simply lives authentically and open-heartedly before the world in a way which is both attractive to anyone at any stage of faith, and prophetic, in that lives out and proclaims the Good News.

Similarly, my dream is simply to be the body of Christ. Is this "inherited" or "emerging"? I dream of a community that no longer makes that distinction. We will no longer stop to decide which label fits, or which camp we belong to, but we'll simply get on with living out our callings, while blessing the diversity in the body.

My own primary passion is to get in amongst the existing church and see it renewed in every way, to see it stirred up and roused, renewed and cleansed, re-discovering its calling. I spoke to Ben at New Wine, who told me he'd spoken to a number of people who also felt this call. I sense the call to work within the walls to be a "stirrer-upperer", rather than a pioneer on fresh ground. Neither do I feel called to be a "parish plodder", simply cranking the handle and keeping church ticking over.

What's your dream? What's your passion?

One body gathered round Christ ... one Lord, one faith, one hope ... break dividing walls.

Visitation Part 2

Hard to do justice to the "in the river" moments at New Wine, but maybe it's a bit like this ...

How we need the rain ... to revive our worship, restore the church, renew the earth ... for ourselves, our relationships, our churches, our streets and neighbourhoods, towns & cities, our nations ... how sweet it is to be swept along in the river of God's inbreaking presence.

I've come to realise that my passion is to see the existing church thoroughly renewed and reawakened - more on this soon.