Trying to find a way ahead

One thing I have not escaped from is the MHA Live at Home Scheme. With funding now getting to the critical stage, and the Manager finishing at the beginning of August, crisis meetings are the order of the week.

Yesterday afternoon three of the Committee met with a lady from Together for Regeneration (a Churches Together in South Yorkshire body) to look again at funding possibilities. It all looks quite hopeful in the medium term if we can just keep things going for the short-term! The big problem is not being able to advertise for a new Manager until we have identified a years-worth of funding for the post.

However, Joanne and I then spent about 2 hours double checking that all volunteer costs had been included in the "report back" to SYCF - all the record-keeping, photocopying, cross-referencing, hours of work just to justify £2,500! Why, O why can't some kind person or group just give us the money and say, "use-well, use-wisely but just send a couple of photos of people enjoying what the volunteers do".

Today's Committee was less positive - people are getting tired, fed up of visiting this same crisis every two years, with talk of winding the Scheme up! The next four weeks will hopefully tell us whether or not we have funding available to keep us going for the time being. While you don't want to give in because of all the good the Scheme does for so many older folk, and you don't want to let the Staff down, fighting to keep going is certainly not the easy option!

Hope yet for the Methodist Church!

Judging by my visit to Rawmarsh Methodist Church I have to conclude there is indeed a future for the Methodist Church - at least in some places. Behind its quite grand century old, but quite drab exterior, lies a real gem.

It was in the 1970's that this old traditional Wesleyan preaching house had the gallery floored-over and the church moved upstairs. But it is only in more recent times that the pews have been replaced by comfortable chairs and a screen built into the front to allow projection of hymns, prayers, illustrations, picture, etc.

With a motto of "Recognisable but fresh" worship at Rawmarsh has an exciting edge, mixing familiar ideas with new and presented in a manner to keep you "tuned in". With every decade represented in this mixed congregation, family worship became just that with much for everyone. Traditional and modern hymns were included, and projection facilities allowed the morning reading to be projected, not in words but in the form of an extract from the Miracle Maker. Other elements of this Family worship included a "surprise us" competition, an extract from "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and a meditation in words, pictures and song.
A Baptism was also part of the service, using the liturgy from "new" service book, but without the books, essential words/prayers again being projected.

The whole service, extending to just over an hour, felt far less, and was comfortable but challenging, relaxed but meaningful, familiar but with an edge which lead us to worship and be thankful for all God has done for us in Christ. And above all, you felt that going back again was a good idea!

The rooms downstairs have been transformed into an effective Community resource greatly used during the week, and the Sanctuary even serves as a Conference venue during the week offering high standard facilities to match the best available.

Seek and ye shall find....

And yet I wasn't even seeking ... just cleaning out the car to get rid of those spiders and hedge clippings, and guess what? ... my wedding ring! On the floor in the back of the car - must have fallen off the seat or wherever I put it for safe-keeping.

Now what is it they say about cleanliness being next to Godliness?

Would Wesley turn in his grave?

York Minster and an experience of sung Eucharist had been on the cards for morning worship today to give Emily an Aidan an idea of what there cousin Tony contributed to as a chorister at the Cathedral of Newcastle upon Tyne. But that would have meant leaving at about 8‑30 am. Needless to say we didn’t make it, and with a certain member of the family still in bed at 10 am it was a case of where we could get to in ½ hour. Clearly Epworth had to be the choice!
So at 10-45 am (thank goodness for the internet and church websites that list service times) all four of us joined the congregation at Wesley Memorial Church in Epworth. The normal congregation (and choir) was swelled by a group of American tourists, who it was good to see, and four folk from Portadown. Despite three Bishops in the Congregation the service was led by an effervescent lay-preacher from Cannock in Staffordshire who was clearly a bit of a Primitive Methodist historian. I confess that I would never have thought of using “Nelson’s Cradle” as an illustration of how what we do affects others in a different place but it was certainly entertaining if not visible to the vast majority of the congregation!And though the sermon was short (12 minutes) the whole service was 1 hr and 12 mins in total. In some small part that was due to the visitors being asked to “bring greetings”, an idea I was introduced to in Kenya when at every service I attended I was required to do likewise.

Feeling like a “normal” human being

No weddings, no gymnastics for the kids, no shopping while waiting for them, just …. nothing! Nothing but a day to work in the garden and, at long last, finish cutting the side hedge. I finished the day tired out but with a sense of achievement that something, which had evaded me for months, had been completed, and I didn’t need worry about finding a sermon or hymns for tomorrow! I just felt like a normal human being and had rediscovered what Saturday’s used to be like. O, the bliss!

"All Change" (Who knows the mind of the Lord)

Much like that children's party game "Stations", it is now clear that it is "All Change" again this summer with regard to Ministers and Churches. So its “goodbye” to Rossington, Edlington and Carr House Wesley for me and “hello” to St Andrews and their near-neighbours Flintwood (Conisbrough stays with me for at least a further 12 months). As expected the changes got through Circuit Meeting yesterday without a hiccup - not that there was much chance they wouldn't since they were presented in a way which avoided any opportunity for anyone to amend them. It’s not a lack of democracy that concerns me (though clearly there were those where were “drunk with anticipation” the day before), but more the refusal to accept the concept of a “testing of the spirit” (1 Thess 5:21 & 1 Jn 4:1) which is worrying.

It raises again the question of leadership and authority in the Church which has been the subject of much debate at Connexional level. The biggest question is not about leadership, but rather about wisdom and authority ie who does God speak through? Sure, we have leaders at every level of an organisation. But the question is whether we believe that certain people have a “hot line” to God which the rest have to acknowledge and obey without question, or whether we believe in the collective wisdom of the people of God who, having heard the ideas of the leaders, will make their own judgement on the point in question.

A good example is the “Bishops” debate. In the report which was brought to Conference two years ago it was assumed that we would accept Bishops, so the question was “who” would be Bishops. Conference amended the report to allow an option of not having Bishops (but only by implication in the option “none of the above options” which they inserted). In the debates at all levels of the Church it was clear the majority said “no” to Bishops. Now if you believe in the collective wisdom of the people of God you would have thought that that would have been an end to the subject. But in the Report to this year’s Conference on the findings from around the Connexion, while it was accepted we clearly couldn’t proceed with accepting the idea of Bishops at this time, also went on to declare that “it be recognised that it is inappropriate, in the light both of the Methodist Church’s Covenant relationship with the Church of England and its ongoing discussions with other ecumenical partners, not to envisage taking up this discussion again at some point in the future”. And that, “the Joint Implementation Commission be encouraged to continue its discussions in relation to episcopacy”.

Now please excuse me for being cynical but this sounds very like the Committee which wrote the report for Conference saying that the collective wisdom of the Methodist people is wrong and though they have been defeated this time they will come back again to have another go at getting it through at some time in the future!

So please consider, where do you consider wisdom lies and who is it who knows the will of the Almighty? A few selected people or does God ask all of us to be part of that process of discernment?

Finishing things off and ...

A week of tidying ends up! Time is flying past all too fast and there are sill many things to finish off, paperwork to get out of the way and arrangements to make!

However, Tuesday was a bad day. With yards of Privet hedge to cut back I made several trips to Goole tip with boot-loads of greenery. Sometime during the day I lost my wedding ring! Despite hunting everywhrere I had been and carefully digging down into the skip I had placed the cuttings in nothing came to light. All credit and thanks to the guys there who dug down as deep as they could but to no avail. I feel ... lost without it. I still hope it might yet come to light but ...

Three month's starts today

Most three month periods have 13 weeks, but this one has 14 Sundays!

So today we headed off to Aston to worship with Helena's Mum at her home church at Aston Central. Worship was lead by the Minister there, the Superitendent Minister of Rotherham and Dearne Valley Methodist Circuit, Revd Sean Adair.

It was a longish (1hr 20 mn) service with a great variety:

• a Baptism (interestingly using a variation of the old (1974) service),


• a farwell to a trainee Minsiter, John, who was off to Barnsley as a Probationer Minister from September


• a provoking "Ministry of the Word" looking at the cost of discipleship (readings about Elisha's calling from the oxen and Christ's warnings about the cost of following him),


• and some visual input about the situation in Catcliffe following the floods the previous week and people's response to it.

Of course, there was another reason for visiting Mildred - the day was also the 1st anniversary of the death of Bill, Helena's Dad, so is was a good day to share with Mildred and give her some company.