Hello, blog. It's been a while

The blog has been quiet for a while. I'm not exactly sure why. It's partly because there's only so much creative energy I can find at one time, and also I've not been quite sure what to say. Anyway, I have been musing on a few things, so a few occasional comments will be surfacing again over the next few weeks.

New Year, New Layout

I decided it was time to ring the changes with the appearance of my blog. In a slightly scary correlation with what my Myers-Briggs personality type predicts, I get bored with things being the same all the time. I used to change the Chaplaincy website template periodically, and the blog gets the same treatment from time to time.

Quite pleased I have now managed to include a new photo and get purple words on to a grey background for the first time in the life of this blog.

Little things please little minds, I guess.

Lack of blogging

One appointment finished earlier than expected and the next is due in 15 minutes, so as a bit of a break, I thought I'd take a look at the blog. I've just realised how long it is since I last posted anything.

I think one reason is time - a lot of other things have taken my energy, so I haven't go round to it. Another is that one or two things I would have liked to talk about weren't appropriate to publish in a public context (not that that stops some people!) The third is that in that blogging hour - 1030 to 1130pm for me, I've been looking in on Twitter or catching up with TV I couldn't watch because there was a committee meeting.

However, I have missed it - I started blogging as a way of processing those ideas which go round in your head. Maybe I just needed a blog holiday.

Time to put the kettle on for the next visitors

Time, talents and twitter

I have had a number of interesting conversations recently about what clergy should and shouldn't prioritise in their work. In all previous posts in churches (clergy and lay) regular operation of the duplicator ended up being a major feature, so it's quite a relief not to have that weekly expectation. However, on the relatively rare occasions I do run something off, I actually find it quite satisfying. I also enjoy creating document masters, powerpoints, websites and, of course, blogs and social networking.

So I have been reflecting on that. Being interested in methods of communication seems entirely appropriate for anyone who is seeking to communicate something of the Christian faith, or to raise awareness for a cause. The relationship between ministry and communication is obvious. In an era of new media and social networking, preaching the Gospel includes the use of blogs, facebook, Twitter and whatever comes next. That doesn't replace or supersede 'real' contact - far from it, but it can extend the reach and impact of a message or cause.

Having first worked with computers 30 years ago, and having stayed with them ever since, I am enjoying drawing on that experience. Computers are becoming ubiquitous, easier to use and a lot more fun.

There's also something else. I suspect quite a lot of clergy like to do certain kinds of tasks every so often which have a clear and well defined beginning, end, and (if possible) a 'product'. So much of what we do is intangible and difficult to quantify, and goes on indefinitely. You might take a service or make a visit, but you know the next one is round the corner. At one level a sermon is a 'product', but there's always another to write - the "tyranny of the sermon" as Abp Donald Coggan put it. Sometimes you just want a beginning, middle and an end.

So cutting some bushes or setting out some tables and chairs can be surprisingly refreshing and rewarding in a life full of ill-defined boundaries. Even writing a blog post can help you feel you have achieved something specific at the end of a day which feels full of activity but not achievement - it was one factor in me taking up blogging whilst a Chaplain.

Just wish it would stop raining long enough for me to hack some bushes or dig some earth.
 

Related articles

• How Facebook and Twitter Are Replacing Blogging (blogs.forbes.com)

A welcome return

Just wanted to say that I am delighted to see that The Beaker Folk of Husbourne Crawley are blogging again. They took a break which looked rather final, but it looks like they couldn't resist a comeback. Burton Dasset, Archdruid Eileen and Hnaef are all back in business. If you're new to this phenomenon, try this post to get you in the mood. People suffering sense of humour failure need not apply

A test run

This blog post has no significance or value, other than to prove my mobile blogging software works. To finish the job, I'll photograph my dog using the picture option. Back to normal next time!




-- Post From My iPhone

Schizophrenia Sideline

...was the code I had to type to post an item on facebook just now. It is fascinating to see what combinations of words come up at random as part of the anti-spam protection.

It sounds a plausible candidate for the title of an unreleased King Crimson album from about 1972.

Anti-spam humour

If you are regular and active internet user, you'll know that a lot of blogs and similar sites have a system to avoid being inundated by automatic advertising or spam messages. You usually have to type in letters or digits that you can see in a graphic. Sometimes the combination of words can be quite amusing, and I wonder how they are derived. Posting my friend, Steve Tilley's, latest blog entry on facebook meant I had to type ordained as one of the words. Have they noticed he's a clerge, then? Also, is it possible to get an obscene word by mistake? How random is this?

Steve's post raises some interesting questions about why we have certain rules, and how they get changed. An example he refers to is the fact that the C of E General Synod recently threw out introducing some flexibility into whether the clergy should robe or not at ever service they take. The current position is that they should at all public worship. Many don't, especially those who are officiating at more informal gatherings, or with congregations who meet in less formal circumstances, such as church plants in schools or other community buildings. I have no idea why common sense didn't prevail and bring in some degree of flexibility. I guess for some people it would represent the thin end of a very long wedge, inevitably leading to vicars turning up in Hawaiian shirts and Bermuda shorts.

Making Assumptions

It has been refreshing to be a clergyperson in a place where people don't rush to assumptions about you. During my ordained life the following incorrect assumptions have been made about me:

1. that I am a connoisseur of classical music. It was only some way in to a one-sided conversation about some mass in something minor that the shocked person discovered that my record collection contained none. They were obviously programmed to believe that all vicars' musical taste should end at 1850; unfortunately mine began in 1960 (well I'll allow a few jazz/blues classics and Heartbreak Hotel was released in 1956)
2. that I would love religious art. I do like some religious art, but it doesn't follow that I want to surround myself with only religious artefacts in my home. My, er, railway pictures are a bit of a give-away.
3. that I don't drink. The CAMRA guide was a bit of a clue.
4. that I have never heard bad language, or that using bad language requires an apology to me. On at least one occasion I thought the parents with young children within earshot needed an apology much more than I did.

I love the openness of people in Morecambe. Long may it continue.

Doodling

Fixing a date for anything - parties, meetings, socials, conferences, etc can be very frustrating. A brilliant site the Reverend Mrs pointed me to is Doodle. If everyone is on email, the organiser of a meeting can offer a number of dates and times via Doodle and then make invite everyone on the group. Each group member then follows the link in the email to their 'unique poll', clicks the slots they can manage, and Doodle records the results in a very handy table. It even keeps the total of the number of positive responses to each slot at the bootom, so you instantly know which is the most popular choice.

It's all free, and you don't even have to register (if you do, you get the use of additional facilities)

Slipping down the ratings

It appears my blog has slipped from 321 to 342 in the rank of Christian blogs I am connected to. Obviously standards are slipping. Oh well, at least I have a life away from computers!

Blog Action Day 2009: stewardship

Today is the day. Around the world, bloggers are posting in all kinds of ways about climate change.

What concerns me is the resistance within some Christian circles to take seriously the reported facts and figures about climate change. This complacency seems to arise for a number of reasons:

1. A strong belief that the world will end soon, and therefore the condition it happens to be in at the moment is of transient importance. A more extreme version seen in 'end timers' in the US is a desire to see world events move towards its destruction, as they would see that it speeds the Lord's return. (I would have thought he will choose his own time!)
2. People regarding evangelism (in the sense of concentrating on personal conversion) is the only core business of the church, and other things are peripheral.
3. Disbelief in the science of climate change, or a belief that global warming would be happening at this rate anyway.

The interesting thing about all of these 'objections' is that they disregard the key Christian theological reason to conserve the environment and the earth's resources; namely stewardship.

Christians stewardship understands reality in a fundamentally different way to secular materialism; namely that we own nothing, and everything is, in a sense, on loan or entrusted to us by God for safe-keeping. This theme regularly surfaces in Scripture, eg Psalm 24:1. Even in the story of Creation in Genesis 1, God gives responsibility as well as privileges to the human beings. There is no mandate to go and wreck what has been provided.

This means there is an accountability to God for what has been entrusted, even if the end of the world really is very near. In the parable of the talents (Mt 25:14-30), which is not primarily about material gifts, the three people only have what is entrusted to them temporarily; the issue is what they did in the meantime. The question for climate change is what will God make of our stewardship of the earth which was entrusted to us. Even if you're a climate change doubter, you are not off the hook. Even if the earth isn't warming at all, we still have a responsibility to look after the wonderful gift of creation that God has chosen to share with us.

Stewardship also challenges us about the consequences of our choices and actions for others. If consumption, pollution and environmental degradation is ruining the livelihoods of millions of fellow human-beings, then surely there is a responsibility for Christians to act? Even Christians who only focus on evangelism must surely be concerned that millions of potential hearers and recipients of the gospel might suffer and die. I think our faith gives us a duty to care, regardless, but I'm trying to get inside the head of people who think differently here.

It seems to me that Christian must be good stewards. Whether you believe the world is warming or not, whether that's a result of human activity or not, whether you think evangelism is the only concern for Christians, or even if you think we have only a few years before Jesus returns, that still holds. And if the science is (more or less) right, that stewardship will be an important contribution to all the world's occupants; if it's wrong, then we will have done what we should have been doing anyway. It's very sad that Christians haven't always been at the forefront of environmental protection, as it's there in the heart of our theology.

Blog Action Day 2009

You may notice a button referring to this has appeared on the blog. The idea is simple; a cause is identified, and then bloggers are invited to blog one one particular day about that specific issue. The blogosphere fills with content on this issue, and awareness is raised, and hopefully discussion is prompted.

This year, with Copenhagen coming up, climate change has been identified as a critical issue. I shall be blogging tomorrow.

Another theo-wordle

Couldn't resist another while waiting for someone to call round. This is one is the Church Pastoral Aid Society's statement of faith. I like the fact that grace is big in this statement!

Wordle theology

Thanks to Steve for the idea of Wordle preaching.

Here's a Wordle of the UCCF doctrinal basis (click to see full size)



Meanwhile the Evangelical Alliance basis of faith looks like this



Does this tell us anything useful?

Momentary lapse

Normal blogging frequency will resume when house move is over. We're getting there slowly.


-- Post From My iPod Touch

Neglect

Just noticed the date of my previous post. This week has flown by, full of travel, farewells, services and meals. Graduations next week and the final days at UoC beckon. Increasingly feels the right choice to have taken, but still strange to hear of plans for next term which I will have no part in. A good team in charge, so if you're coming to Cumbria next year, join in!!

Absent

Not been blogging lately. Must be evidence that I am a bit distracted, busy, and doing a lot of writing things. You can only produce so much at any one time.

-- Post From My iPod Touch

No News

Took a break from blogging. I know one theory says you blog daily, even if you have nothing to say. I prefer to blog when I have got something to say (except this post, which essentially says nothing)

Nerdy Observation

One of the little gadgets I installed on my blog is the feedjit traffic feed. Something I noticed was that the June 2006 archive got a lot more hits than anything else. So I'm wondering why. The section includes a post about creationism and why I don't believe in a 6 day creation 6,000 years ago, so maybe I'm getting some hits for that. Otherwise it's mainly world cup 2006 comments and bulletins on my progress with my MA dissertation. Still, I'm glad it's interesting