St John's and Kiltermon

  Outward Appearance   Before the most recent lockdown, my hope was to focus on Discipleship from the beginning of the year, through to Easter. Discipleship is really about the ongoing decision to follow the Ways of Jesus; to shape your life and decisions and values around His teaching and encouragement.   I think it emerged as a theme last year, during or after another period of set apart days, when with almost all of the infrastructure of familiar parish life temporarily dismantled, I thought a lot about how people were managing to follow on after God, without the usual Christian routines.     Yes, Jesus tells us to go to our room and close the door and pray to our Father who is in Heaven; but I suspect for many, including me, we have become used to Church services, meetings and parish events to help us keep going with God. I wondered how hard or easy has it been for those who do want to grow in their faith, to keep going without the norms...

  Keeping Closer Company With Jesus Lord help us begin life afresh, ‘Keeping Closer Company With Jesus.’ Amen   To day marks a new beginning.  Perhaps I should decide what not to eat for the next 40 days or so. Perhaps.   Perhaps I should take on a new commitment. Perhaps.   None of it fills me with excitement or interest or even commitment.   My heart is set on something quite else. God willing I will get to do other great things. Hopefully in about an hour’s time twenty something folks from the parish and our friends from other places will settle into a Quiet Evening. I mention the numbers deliberately. We’ve always had two or three gathered at Breathe during these last four or five years. But in early January so few had connected I did something I’m not sure I’ve done before, I cancelled an evening. This time, I worked much harder, I connected, and emailed and Facebooked, and telephoned, and reminded. Perhaps I shouldn’t have to. Perha...

This week's readings include the phrase , ‘Give Us Grace To Perceive His Glory’  Words of St Paul to the Christians in Corinth. Felted bird and base gifted from very talented someones   A simpler version of this might be,  ‘Give Us Eyes To See.’ I’ve also read recently that ‘You see what you look for.’ Or summed up well in the old question about whether your glass is half full or half empty. This week there have been two glass half full moments. In fact, it turned out more as a ‘My cup is running over.’ One was on Monday. It could have been an unwanted walk, too early in the morning, on too cold a day, o n too dull a path.  Instead it turned into a glorious early morning walk, overtaken by the small winged creatures that live there. If you’re not a bird enthusiast you will have glazed over already. If you are, delight in the news that on one 5Km walk, there were five, I repeat five separate flocks of Long-tailed Tits;  Yes, I said 5 ( I’ve...

  From Everlasting  For days when all we hear is, ‘We don’t know.’ These days, when I write asking for dates, guidance or information, the answer is often,   ‘We don’t know.’ The unknown is sometimes more difficult to negotiate and navigate, that working with the difficult known. That’s my abiding memory of the first lockdown, learning that even a difficult time is made easier if you can see light at the end. It might be someone actually making a decision about exams dates or putting in place what must have been a difficult decision to close Church buildings for the first time. Sometimes when the decision is actually made, we are able to make the adjustments necessary when living though even the most challenging times. One of the notable stresses of this current lockdown is the shifting end date. It feels like a never-ending journey. I notice it in information I am preparing to the parish here.  There isn’t any guidance to share about confirmation be...

  ‘Gathered for the Journey Ahead.’   Sermon-blog To Him Belongs Eternal Praise.   Psalm 111 The Gospel according to St Mark 1:21-28 Deuteronomy 18:15-20   Sometimes there is a plan. Sometimes not. I’ve found it almost impossible in recent weeks to set down any plans for what ministry and teaching and prayer might look like for us in this season, because the goal posts keep being moved.   You know what I mean exactly, especially if you are home schooling.   Is it to be blended learning or a few weeks at home; will everyone or just some return after half-term, or is it now 8 th March, and will the executive here keep in step with decisions planned for schools in England?   It’s much the same in parish life; stop, start stop; endless checking of changing guidelines and competing opinions about what we might do; it’s an achievement in itself to maintain a sense of good will and positivity in it all. I try to recognize that others too ...