Everyone to their taste in property

– a home for the snails found in our garden during the spring clear up

Taking a break from Vineyard Church

I am taking a break from the Vineyard Church to see what else is going on. There was an excellent article in the always excellent The Conservative Woman this morning that sticks up for human and indeed Christian standards to the best of its ability. Now I draw your attention to a very good article from today’s edition C of E’s helter-skelter plunge into heresy by Dr Campbell Campbell-Jack.  In the article he describes how the Church of England structure has been infiltrating by the woke mentality with the unspoken connivance of the Bishops and indeed the Archbishop of Canterbury.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this diary you will see the flood of correspondence that this has caused which does give me some hope in that there are people of integrity still left in this country but also whether they are in positions of power to make a decision. I do not know.

Visit to the local Methodist Church

Anyway I decided on a whim to go to the local Methodist Church here in Midsomer Norton.Needing to use the facilities I saw this positive message in the men’s loo.

The church service began at 10 am so having time in hand  I preceded it with a coffee in Wetherspoons. I was warmly greeted at the entrance to the church and noticed that since I had been in the church five years ago the situation had been made far more informal with large screens at the front showing hymns or other text so I did not need any books. Half the area did not have any chairs or pews and was devoted to open space for chatting and so on

I found a round table, I have a thing about round tables so I decided to sit there from whence I took part in the service. I had the pleasure and the honour of being ministered to by Simon Topping who is also the local area administrator presiding over many churches. He spoke in  very clear terms about the meaning of the word ‘covenant’ as opposed to the modern term ‘contract’ that we have to endure on a day to day basis. See below for a transcript of part of his address.

Interestingly there were two sermons or addresses. One was after the reading of the Old Testament and the other one after the reading of the New Testament. I was attracted to the obvious dedication and lack of affectation of his stance. Afterwards I went overboard a little bit and told him that the light of Christ shone through his face. I don’t suppose he’s used to such upfront comments but he got them anyway.  I need to be with people who have ‘done their homework’ and shine forth with an unambiguous stance.

I spoke to a church volunteer, Sally, about wokeness; she had no idea what I was talking about so I don’t know what universe she has been living in but anyway they have evidently recently agreed to same-sex marriages with which I was disappointed and felt this ruling was a step back and the first step in a slippery slope. Time will tell. These campaigning people exert such pressure and if you criticize them they accuse you of hate crime. Where does free will come into this?

Covernance vs contracts

Dictionary definitions are not very helpful so I found Simon’s exegesis very helpful.

Second address on the parable of the seed falling to the ground

Even if we aren’t gardeners all of us will be aware of processes that take place in the garden particularly at this time of year. We are beginning to see things start to emerge. We are putting seeds into pots or even into the ground. We are all aware of the miraculous transition that takes place from seed to plant, from something that is small, dry, hard, and apparently lifeless into a living growing and beautiful organism. Something that looks nothing like the seeds from which it came.   

We also know that the new living organism cannot grow unless the seed ceases to be a seed so you can’t have both at the same time. The seed has to give up its existence in order to allow this new growth, this new life. The seed in effect must die. It must surrender its present form in order to release growth. That is a powerful message that can be applied in all sorts of different ways and we see Jesus applying that parable today when he says ‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the Earth and dies it remains just a single grain but if it dies it bears much fruit’. So Jesus is using this analogy at a key moment in his mission. It is clear that when and where he said these words he is anticipating his own death.

Before this in John’s Gospel we hear the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on his donkey to a different King not the warrior King, differently from that which people are used to seeing, entering in triumph with all the accoutrements. But nevertheless, Jesus knows that it is a provocative act and does indeed trigger events that led to his death only a week later. And yet in the verses after our passage today Jesus speaks specifically about his death and the manner in which he is going to die.  Starting with the metaphor of the seed Jesus is not just speaking about his physical death  but another kind of death which is the death of his own will.

He makes reference to that in the battle between his will and God’s will which is taking place within him these days leading up to Good Friday. Is this also the death of his desire to control the course of his life and allow God to take control. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus is still battling  to to submit his will to the will of the Father he finally declares ‘let your will not mine be done’.  And you could say that that point there is a death within Jesus even before his death on the cross. This is the point of which Jesus is self-will dies and in dying he allows God the Father to take charge and to lead Jesus through what lies ahead.

Not only through the suffering of the cross but onwards to Resurrection, and life in all its glory not only for Jesus but for us. Can we connect this story of the seed going into the ground and dying with our own Christian journey as a challenge we face to declare in our own lives ‘ your will of God be done’ not my will. This calling to fall away from our own life is at the heart of the Covenant prayer which says ‘your will not mine’ be done in all things. As our self-hood falls away so we aspire to calm acceptance of what God’s will might lead to serve. We seek to be content with whatever course our lives might take. We have let go and allow the desire for self-will to die within us.

We pray to be free from our attachment to control and self-will and our desired outcomes ‘my way’ and in a society where the culture is to do it my way this sense of autonomy it is so important, this sense of autonomy, inner control, making personal choices to direct the course of our life on our own terms, it is so strong so submitting to the will of another including God feels like death and is a death for us. We have to struggle within us to achieve the death of our self-will. God’s will to take over.

I went to Saint Biden’s monastery in North Wales trail during which we had a taster of a 28 day period of learning to accept God’s will. Take and receive lord all my memories my understanding and my entire will, all  that I possess. You have given all to me, to you good Lord I return it all. All is yours to be used according to your will give me your love and grace for this is sufficient for me

Am I a traditionalist?

You will gather from the above that I might be a traditionalist. My father was a Church of England vicar so I was born and bred into the Church of England but as for being a traditionalist this is only partly true. I’m a great fan of looking at the actual words of Jesus and trying to figure out what they mean. I do not appreciate being told that anything I say against any group no matter how malformed amounts to hate speech. I do assert my right of free speech in other words saying what I think without being de platformed. It looks like we are well on the way towards a Chinese type society where everything you do is monitored and recorded.

This also applies to what you spend and your spending permissions are based on your brownie points. This means if you have said the wrong thing on social media you get de-merited and you may not be able to travel. I think we are sleepwalking towards this in the western society of which I am a part. The latest computers can make 1.7 million decisions per second so The Powers That Be are really gearing up for mass surveillance.

However, the unexpected morning Methodist service cheered me up considerably and I will be going back for more.

A few of the pro-traditional responses
connected to the article above