Get off the couch and gather round the table

St Francis had the table laid upon the naked earth as was his custom. And when meal lime came, St Francis & St Clare sat down together, and one of the Brothers with the companion of St Clare, and next all the other brothers, and they humbly took their places at the table. And with the first dish St Francis began to talk of God so lovingly, with such depth, so wonderfully, that the divine fullness of love descended upon him, and all were enraptured in God. And while they were thus transported with eyes and hands lifted towards heaven, the people of Assisi and Bettona and in the neighbouring towns saw that Santa Maria degli Angeli and the whole convent and woods, which then were at the side of the convent seemed to be in a great blaze.
St Francis and the foolishness of God p66

A few random unconnected thoughts

1. The table is possibly the greatest and underused tool that we have to build community & make disciples
2. Us charasmatic / Pentecostals dont have the corner when it comes to the supernatural 
3. “Worship” can never be contained in a building or a time, it needs no music just hearts enraptured by and directed to Jesus.
4. It almost sounds like a “small group” I’d go too! Lol

Mother’s Day Musings

Was meant to publish yesterday but somehow didn’t, but the thought transcends Mother’s Day :)

In February 2000 as we all looked forward in hope to a new millennium, my world changed with one phone call from my dad. My mum, or as we would say back home - mam, having survived a scare with cancer a few years earlier the doctors were confirming the devastating news that it was back. A hastily arranged flight up north to Aberdeen followed, to be greeted with the news as I arrived at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, that this time there would be no cure. The next couple of weeks was spent at our family home with my dad caring for her as her health slowly deteriorated.

I have many private memories of that time as we took turns sitting at her bedside throughout the day and the long nights. But two things I can share that sums up much about my mam.

One of her brothers came to visit and said to her, Why you Elsie? His thought process was that my mum, in his mind at least, had possibly lived a good life and why was this happening to her? Quick as a flash she shot back, Why not me? Living a good life or being a Christian did not give her a pass from illness but following Jesus assured her of comfort in the dark times and a guarantee of an eternity in heaven.

As my mam grew sicker and drifted in and out of consciousness she often would say “I would like to have done one more year”. At first, I wasn’t sure what she meant but then discovered that it was about the Sunday School at Cairnbulg AOG. She had started teaching a Sunday School class as a teenager and continued ever since. Taking out a few breaks when her kids were born she had served for 39 years and she would have liked to have made it 40 years as teaching children about Jesus was so important to her.

Amongst a host of other things, my mam demonstrated to me what trust in God and faithfulness to His cause looked like.

Thank you mam.

The age of the laity?

Our era has been called “the age of the laity”, and indeed, recent decades have seen an increase in the appreciation of the laity’s contribution to the body of Christ. Yet much remains to be done. Through Baptism the laity are full members of the bod of Christ, with rights and responsibilities in their lay vocation. But to often, ordination to the clerical state is the source of power in the church, and lay people function at the SERVICE OF, or in ANSWER TO, priests - a situation which clearly needs to change.
St Francis and the Foolishness of God (p56 c1993)

Written as a reflection on the gospel centred communities formed by St Francis a millennia ago. So in 1993 and even more so in our leadership obsessed church of 2019, this old Saint has something to teach me. Unfortunately, even recently I have succumbed to practice that has created a gap between what he would have called clergy and laity. 

I need to think of my vocation as much more equipping the “saints” than leading the “saints”.

“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to EQUIP the saints for the WORK OF MINISTRY, for building up the body of Christ,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:11-12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Paradoxes

Like it or not, the life of St Francis, presents us with startling paradoxes. An enormously free and spontaneous person, he nevertheless adhered faithfully to the institutional church; a fully alive human being, he embraced suffering; a true lover, he chose celibacy; born into relative affluence, he practiced a literal poverty. 

St Francis and the foolishness of God (p8)