Sheffield supers retreat Whitby

Hardly seems like a year since we were all here last year.

Our theme this year being 'Soul care for busy leaders' 

Exploring afresh the need to make time for ourselves if we are to be of any use to anyone. One important aspect of our time being able to just stop and go for a walk.

So up the 199 steps to the Abbey ruins

Take in the views 

And down again to the harbour

Then a walk out to the lighthouse 

And taking in the rolling grey waves

And  looking up again to the abbey.

The best thing I find about being with our fellow superintendents is to be with people who really do care about what they are doing. Laughter has been frequent as we now know one another quite well representing the eight circuits of the Sheffield District.  So eleven supers and the chair of district makes for an interesting mix of personalities.

So one more session tonight and then business meeting tomorrow followed by communion and then return home.  Our retreat is about investing in our well being. A reminder that we all need the ebb and flow of life to have fulfillng lives. 

Monday morning and another test

Sitting at the hospital waitng to undergo a test. Naturally a bit apprehensive . It feels that since  my TIA some 20 months ago I have spent a lot of time at the surgery and hospitals being the one getting sorted out. It still remains strange to be the one on the receiving end waiting with others. You see such a diversity of people of all ages trying to keep themselves preoccupied.  So some flick through the magazines, others are on kindles or tablets, while others check their mobiles or is it playing games on the   mobile? Always an air of expectancy of concern.

One consistent experience for me has been the helpful reassuring staff. Keen to put me at my ease  and explain what will happen. 

Well pretest check with the nurse saw the usual questions asked including has any one in the family suffered from a type of mad cows disease - No! 

Then I was taken through to get changed. Now I see what a friend meant by the pants!! Hilarious. And yes I will take the gas and air if needed! 

So far everything was  running to time which is fine by me. "You did well to drink all four litres' I was told. It was the stuff you had to take in preparation the evening before. I thought you had to drink it all the instructions were clear. A lot of people apparantly don't manage it which I can understand.  I wish I had been told that  I could have at least left the last glassful!

Getting a little bit nervous now so bring on the gas and air. But first it was time to put a line into my arm just in case. In case of what?

Back to the small male waiting room to find a man sitting there who was clearly nervous and wanted to talk about how bad it would be. I just wanted to get on with it. Thankfully his doctor came and then mine only a little behind schedule. 

It's a strange state of affairs that you have to go into hospital to learn how to wait. To not be doing which of course means time to think. We are of course people who fill our time  which can drive out the time just to be still.

Well into the room for the deed. It was going to be filled with folk. Two doctors and three nurses. The TV screen meant I could once I gathered myself after the initial beginning of the test , and a bit of gas and air, follow the procedure. Wow what clarity to be able to see inside yourself. What I was not expecting was the conversation with the nurse who I discovered did not like Donald Trump. Well we were on firm ground there. Then  I gained the impression she had voted brexit, liked Boris Johnson and Mrs May. So diplomatically I sought to avoid disagreement, and talk of a granddaugter was safer territory. Then it was all over and I could go home. I remain still a great admirer of our NHS which is worth fighting for and preserving.  

Mosborough Parents tots

A visit to Mosborough Parent and Tots group was once again a pleasure to see familiar faces and to be able to collect the wonderful selection of gifts for the children in Asebu, Ghana.  This group has proved to be very generous in their willingness to look beyond their own community and provide a sign of care for those who have so little.

The church here is so fortunate to have such a well led group and to see the way the parents support one another and the children interact is a delight.

While there I picked up an e.mail to let me know we had a problem with the false ceiling at Firth Park. So of course I had to go and take a look.

Sometimes you wonder what you have to do to get ahead on our building scheme. It transpired that a part of the plaster of the original ceiling had come down. Not quite heavy enough to break through and so we have replaced the damaged tile but of course the area is now out of action as we dare not use the space.

So the challenge continues to raise the funds and enable the main church building to be converted into two spaces for community as well as church use. Anyone with a spare £250,000 let me know!      

   

Sunday at Eckington

A Sunday morning drive to our church at Eckington with St Lukes LEP . It was their Sunday when they bring together the shoe boxes for "Samaritans Purse" which will bring joy to children in places where the reality is they have very little. 115 boxes had been collected which in prayer we trust will bring a ray of hope at Christmas. It will say you are valued and of worth. While we are not without challenges within our own society. Still the need for food banks, homelessness on the rise and again with some sleeping on the  streets, families living in B&B's, a crisis in social care for the elderly. We do remain a very wealthy nation, and while not always great at sharing it justly at home, we still have the capacity to recognise the need in places far worst. So it was good to have shared in a time of worship and sharing.  

Sunday youth group

Well what a fun night we had. The second evening of a new group and our numbers have quadruppled. So with a variety of games, getting to know each orher, tower building, food and a short worship time we took another step forward to  build our work with young people. Just as in the morning worship we had real diversity reflecting the community we are set within. For me it is another glimmer of how our work is developing in a tough place and the importance of keeping going to let young people know they are worth our commitment. 

So we look forward to our December session and who knows further growth. Oh and Ed Balls got through to Blackpool excellent news the fun goes on.

Remembrance

Its the eve of Remembrance Sunday as I write. Tomorrow's worship will seek to enable people of all ages to engage with a corporate memory that has its roots in World War 1. There will be mixed thoughts about what we are doing. The hope that in remembering we don't do it again has of course not proved to be the case. World war 2, the Korean War, Vietnam, ....... The list is endless and of course today numerous conflicts many of which no longer even get a mention. 

Fear is a great driver of conflict as people paint the oppostion in such a way that many folk fall into the trap of believing in an us and them. And 'them' are dangerous! The rise of Hitler had many strands to it. But his party did get elected to parliament, and with legislation was empowered to then deprive others of power by building on peoples fears and their sense of being downtrodden and over looked. 

Who really knows what a Trump president is going to bring. What is clear that intertwining facts of unemployment a consequence of the changing industrial world with words of the fear of others in the community led in part to his election. To speak of others in the way that he did was to play on fears. Even if he does not believe it , it shows the kind of individual he is. If he does not believe it then he should never have spoken in the way that he did. People will of course become disilluioned with him when he does not make good on his promies. As many now requote his election strap line 'making America Hate again!   After decades of progress a step back to a darker time. It should serve Christian communities as a reminder that we need to make good on what we say . Our words, our lifestyle, should both discomfort us and the world we serve for they should consistently be about liberating people from fear. Every individual made in the image of God is worthy of respect, a voice, of being truely loved. 

Remembrance is not just about recalling those who died in war, their sacrifice for the freedom of others, after all World War 1 was never about that. It should be about the way living a life of Love as revealed in the person of Jesus can set you free  from your fears. So you don't need to hate, and you don't need to add to the cycle of fear that so often creates wars by creating barriers between people. But then I'm one of Mr John Wesleys preachers and so 'the world is my parish too' , and the barriers to that are only my own prejudices.

So this morning we stood in silence and then went outside to plant our poppies a community of many races and ages, but made one by our common trust in Jesus Christ.

As we made our way from our normal worship space outside and in again to our plaque of those who died in the wars, a parent at the bus stop explained to their child 'it's  a church'. I assume they meant the building,  but the reailty the church was and is that the stream of people who were coming and going in and out of the building , they really are the church. Lives seeking to live out a love that casts out fear.  

Christians live in the shadow of Jesus Love. Sadly many live in the shadow of war . Rememering is one thing, living differently is another. When we finally do live the love of Christ we won't need poppies to annually jar our lives.