benedson

Dekhomai - Day one

it was great to be at MBS this morning, i went in early and set up the stand - we're next to Alison from Everyday Angels who i always have fascinating conversations with about the most recent angel that she has channelled. Her current angel is called the angel of truth...fascinating.

On the stand we offer prayer for healing, foot massage and we also use the Jesus Deck to explore peoples life stories through the gospel stories. The pack of cards looks like tarot cards with each card having an image and story from one of the Gospels on it, we get people to select a card and then share thoughts and comments around that card with them. It's just like opening the bible and randomly pointing at a passage of scripture...

Just before we started Laura picked a card out, and it was the story of the Inn keeper letting in the Mary and Joseph when there was no room at the Inn...a story of welcome, that ties in nicely with the theme of the stand...maybe there is something in pointing at random verses in the bible...

One again i was struck by the value of Gift in this context - in a place where everything costs money ther can be no greater prophetic criticism than a free offering of time, resources and prayer

Technorati Tags: Dekhomia, Gift, Mind Body Spirit, spirituality

Dekhomai - the blog starts here...

It's Manchester Mind Body Spirit this weekend and Sanctus1 and a few of our friends are there over the weekend. We're linking in with Dekhomai and running a service at Manchester Cathedral on Sunday night also called dekhomai. I'm on duty every day so I'll be blogging my thoughts and encounters on this blog over the coming days...

Technorati Tags: Mind Body Spirit, Dekhomia, spirituality

What's in a name?

When I was 16 my entire immediate family changed our surname...We went from being called 'Pratt' to 'Edson' - I can't believe I'm telling you this! I also decided to use my middle name rather than my first name so I went from John Pratt to Ben Edson; life has improved from then! The reason that we changed our name was quite simply about first impressions, it gave a bad first impressions and for a teenager this was not what was wanted. So when we moved to Devon the whole family changed to Edson.

On the blah tour I was chatting with Jonny and Karen about how we introduce ourselves to people outside the Church without alienating the person that we're talking to? i(e calling yourself a missionary can alienate a lot of people). Jonny said that at MBS London he called himself a 'spiritual creative', Karen refers to herself as an 'abbess'. My job title is city centre missioner, my title in the church is 'Captain' - both are hideous - but it would have been worse if we'd not changed our surname...Captain Pratt!

I think that often the titles that the anglican church uses have overtones of power associated with them - Venerable, Reverend, Right Reverend etc. This is problematic as i think that ministry within the church should primarily be about serving the community that you are part of and none of these titles suggest a serving ministry.

So what should I call myself? A spiritual creative is ambiguous and this is one of the beauties of it! I usually say something like I'm a minister in Anglican church - but it's a bit non-descript and tends to close down a conversation rather than open one up...any thoughts?

Technorati Tags: mission, spirituality

Suicide, Vaux and Liminality

I borrowed some CD's off Jonny yesterday of four talks by David Tacey. Tacey is a psychologist and theologian who lectures and writes on contemporary spirituality. I've listened to the first two and my mind is buzzing with thoughts and ideas - I woke up at 5 am this morning with my mind still making connections.

The area I am drawn to particularly is his thinking about the high rates of suicide in young people. To understand this tragic phenomena further he spoke with some aboriginal tribal elders about why they thought there were high levels of suicide. Their response was that they perceived a lack of 'rites of passage' within contemporary society and therefore people were unable to transition from childhood to adulthood. In tribal communities it is often the case that there is a significant right of passage that people go through when passing from childhood to adulthood. During this time they become an adult, childhoods dies and adult life is born. It's a time of liminality where communitas is created for a temporary time period. The aboriginal response to the problem of suicide in contemporary society is that people don't know how to transition to adulthood because there are no longer any rights of passage. Rites of passage create space for the child to die and the adult to be born. If the child is not allowed to die there is a danger that it can kill the latent adult.

I am wondering whether emerging churches need to find rites of passage that allow them to grow into adulthood. It maybe that there is a high rate of suicide in emerging churches (such as Vaux) because there are no rights of passage into adulthood. Childhood is exciting, creative, new and dynamic stage but it is a stage which needs to transition into adulthood for its own survival. This is not a criticism but just an observation that rites of passage enable sustainability and that perhaps corporate rites of passage are missing within the emerging church.

Steve Collins was speaking this morning on the blah...tour about Grace. He was saying that in the past Grace didn't know whether they'd still be functioning in a few weeks time, it was a very fragile community. Now they feel as though there is a level of sustainability - they've got their name on the church notice board! and the future is something that they now engage with in a hopeful way, perhaps a move to adulthood has taken place?

I had an interesting on-line conversation with steve taylor about whether the emerging church should be community rather than communitas. Communitas is essentially a period of transition and of liminality, i wonder whether emerging churches are not even in a time of liminality as liminality suggests transition to adulthood...

Technorati Tags: emerging church, theology

Attentiveness

The Enzo Bianchi book Words of Spirituality is stunning, short chapters that focus on prayer and spirituality. Attention is one of the words that he explores. The concept of attentiveness is profound and has the ability to change how we interact with ourselves, one another and with God.

Attention in the Christian tradition has tended to be a focusing of the mind - 'pay attention!' etc. whereas the true meaning of attention and hence the attitude of attentiveness is very different. Attention is not the activity of a particular human faculty rather a movement of the entire person, mind, body and spirit. It is a lucid 'presence to oneself' that becomes the discernment of the presence of God in the human person. Hesychius of Batos said 'Attention is the silence of the heart uninterrupted by thoughts.'

There is a very close relationship between prayer and attentiveness, - some have argued that total attentiveness is the same thing as prayer. It goes against humanity that has a tendency to scattered thoughts, drowsiness and laziness and calls us into the constant struggle that is attentiveness - Attention to God through attention to self. Through true attentiveness the 'I' is simplified and reduced and we realise that which makes us truly live is what we focus our attention on. Attentiveness makes present the one which is longed for and desired.

Technorati Tags: spirituality

Spiritualities of Life, Religions of difference and Religions of humanity...

Since the MBS fair last week I've been thinking a bit about contemporary spirituality whilst reading 'Religion in Modern Times'. I'm trying to get my head around the process of sacralization and where the emerging church fits into the wider sociological framework.

Heelas and Woodhead identify three varieties of religion: Spiritualities of Life, Religions of Difference and Religions of humanity (these are then further divided down into a variety of sub-sections). Quite interestingly different stalls at the MBS fair would fall into all three categories but the majority would be 'Spiritualities of Life'.

This is an over simplification but:

• Within a Religion of Difference authority is attributed, first and foremost, not to human beings or nature but to the transcendent. Humanity is saved by a God outside rather than a god within.

• Within a Religion of Humanity great authority is attributed to humanity and the goodness of humans.

• Within a Spirituality of Life divinity is located within self and nature

Religions of Humanity are in decline whereas Spiritualities of Life and Religions of Difference are growing. Christianity falls into both Religions of Difference and Religions of Humanity - the Christian versions of Religions of Humanity are the ones which are struggling the most largely because they have sold out to a secular world-view that relocated God in the privatized realm.

There can be no doubt that the emerging church is a Religion of Difference (believing in a transcendent God) yet my perception would be there would be a rejection of the dualism within this thinking and also a positive view of humanity, hence we draw from Religions of Humanity. I think that we need to recognise the common ground with Spiritualities of Life, affirming the value of self and nature as being made in the image of God and yet affirming God's transcendence too.

At the MBS fair it is easy to walk around and unhelpfully spot 'heresy', however, I think that the missiological task is to recognise what God is doing in this context already and to work alongside God in his ongoing work. The next step is to attempt to explore what church looks like for people who follow a Spirituality of Life...I'm not yet aware of anyone who has established a Christian community with the MBS context...can anyone tell me otherwise as i'd love to chat with them!

Technorati Tags: mission, spirituality

MBS

Just coming back from a fascinating day at MBS, good to see Jonny, Gareth and Phillipa. Had some great conversations with people about Christian spirituality and it was great to pray with people too. I met up with Alison from Everyday Angels - she channels angels, paints pictures of them and then give messages. Anyway she gave me a picture of one of her angels called 'The Light'. i can't help but make connection between the Light and the Light of the World...here are some of the words she channelled:

"Do you see the Light?"
Seeing is only one aspect.
I ask you now: "Do you live the Light?"
And as I wonder on this question, ask this:
"If I see the and live the light, am i not then the Light itself?"

Technorati Tags: culture, mission, spirituality

London MBS

I'm down in London on Thursday for the Mind Body Spirit fair with Jonny, Moot et al. I've been at the Manchester fair for the past three three years with Sanctus1 - here's something that I've written about it.

You meet some fascinating people who are seriously exploring spirituality - including one person a few years ago who was a church warden and a practicing wiccan...One thing that i find frustrating is when Christians judge New Age spirituality from moral high ground as shallow and consumeristic, when really a lot of Christianity in the UK could easily be perceived in this way too. The New Age Movement has brought about profound changes in the way that we view ourselves as human, the way we view the environment and the level of connectivity between the mind, body and soul. This cannot be dismissed as shallow and consumeristic, sure, there are shallow elements but this is true of all religions. The New Age movement is an authentic expression of faith in post-modernity.

Anyway, have a look at the site: dekhomai. I think that Jonny should be a marketing guru...

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Technorati Tags: mission, spirituality

Sinead O'connor and Occulture

I got Sinead O'Connor's new album, Throw Down Your Arms, for Christmas and love it. I've not been into Sinead O'Connor before now, but I really wanted the album as I'm fascinated by her as a expression of post-modern spirituality.

The new album is in collaberation with Sly and Robbie and draw heavily on Rastafarian spirituality, some of you will remember the song 'A Prayer for England' that she recorded with Massive Attack, which was essentially a prayer to Jah. Jah is the name commonly used for God in the Rastafarianism. Rastafari consider Haile Selassie I to have been the religios symbol for Jah incarnate, referring to him by the title of Jah Rastafari. Here are some of the lyrics:

Jah forgive us
For forgetting
Jah help us
We need more loving
See the teachers
Are representing you
So badly
That not many can see you

Sinead O'Connor is a great example of what prof. Chris Partridge calls 'Occulture.' Occulture is a term that Christians have struggled with, because they see the world occult and assume that it refers to all things evil. Occulture is a term that is broader than that, the word 'occult' in the context of this word means the contemporary alternative religious milieu in the West and Occulture refers to the sub-culture that is associated with it. Obvious examples are the X-files, Buffy and Sabrina, i think that Sinead O'Connor is a great example of Occulture. Here are some words from her album sleeve:

"These men were part of a battle fought for self esteem and for the freeing of God from Religion. As such, they are my heroes, my teachers, my masters, my priests, my prophets, my guides and my godfathers."