thedeepchurchproject

https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2018/5-october/news/uk/clergy-burdened-by-unrealistic-job-specs-c-of-e-told It strikes me that reading a summary on clergy wellbeing much of the obvious is missed in the Church Times analysis (October 5th 2018). The problem is the lens in which this issue is being looked at is the usual liberal-progressive end of things. This is the unspeakable truth of the Church of England, the thing you are not meant to say, namely that a particular school of thought should have a health warning against it.  Modernism will make you ill. (Or to be more accurate 'Post-Modernism'.) I am using Modernism here because I cannot really think of any other label. I firmly believe that the medicine is an ancient future, a reclaiming of the best of the Tradition with a capital 'T'.  Try it, its fun. Yes, remember reverends that word 'fun' just like Jesus said about the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. 'Fun' is someth...

Don't get me wrong - there are some fantastic things the NHS provides including free at point of use medical care. However, there is something that worries me about the way in which it is spoken of in hallowed terms and that any critical thought or alternative is blasted down as if heresy. Philosophically speaking the NHS is not a "person" but a collection of people employed to deliver a health service on behalf of tax payers. Many, if not most, are very hardworking individuals who have a tremendous sense of vocation. But, and here is my "but" it is only a "system". Yes, it was patchy before its inception, as was most healthcare around Europe. Yet, there were some really heroic doctors and nurses before the NHS many working in church-based institutions on sacrificial wages, etc. I wonder if there is an untold story of all those ("Call the Midwives") ecclesiastical health providers who were suddenly nationalised? I mean at some point, for ...

We tend to think of Emperor Constantine(272-337) as the 'bad boy' of Christian history. Either we swallow the Dan Brown mythology that the newly converted emperor invented much of Christianity in 325 at the Council of Nicaea OR we believe that he created stuffy old 'Christendom' with all its witch hunts, power playing bishops and Spanish Inquisitions. Either way in the liberal/secular worldview and the theology of Mission-Shaped Church Constantine is bad. But, could it all be more complicated?  Perhaps Constantine is not the bete-noire of liberal Christianity but a mixed blessing and at one point a champion of a sort of mish-mash religious plurality? This is what ACTUALLY happened. Constantine was never baptised until his death bed in 337 and then it was by Arian clergy rather than orthodox ones. Constantine called the Christian Church in a grand council in 325 in Nicaea to resolve the Arian/orthodox conflict. Arius, a charismatic bishop held that Jesus was a cr...

I was asked online how 'Salvation is through Jesus'. Brilliant question so I decided to do a short piece on this.

Our lack of speech and outreach is hurting people, really hurting. The number of young men who are lost in this modern country of ours seems to be growing. Cultural Marxism and liberal progressive theology with all its virtue signalling has nothing immediate to offer. To me, it’s all hot air. It’s too safe. For me there are some lights on the horizon.  The ever expanding Russian Orthodox Church is doing tremendous work in this area, especially by inviting young adults with addiction to temporarily join Monastic communities and their gruelling regimes. The Orthodox are brilliant at a policy of no bullshit. Within a short time the guys (and girls) are blown away by the tough love, spiritual depth and sheer physicality of the Monastic life. Many stay and become monks or priests. On YouTube I am impressed by the work of psychologist Jordan Peterson and also, recovering addict Russel Brand. Though I don’t buy much into his politics, his passion for people in recovery and tell...

What did Disney ever do to upset Putin? Yesterday, President Putin showed off in a computer animation a new cruise missile system that apparently is unbeatable. The animation shows multiple warheads descending on central Florida - i.e. Disneyland. For goodness sake hasn't Florida had enough troubles without this specter hanging over it?  No doubt the animation was put together a long time before the school shootings.  I have this funny feeling that the Russian leadership deliberately chose the sunshine state for their chilling cartoon. Could it be that "Disney" represents something that irks the Slavic soul? Is it that Disney and Florida represent in all cultural saccharine way represent the American dream? Is it that "Disneyfication" of life haunts the collective Russian mind?   This could be a poke in the eye for the Hollywood/Disney postmodern narrative which really rubs up Eastern Europeans and in particular Russians.  That cultural myth is proba...

Those who come close to the life of a priest, particular friends outside the Church, soon find that day-to-day ministry is far from uneventful and rarely dull. Yet, it remains hard at times to put into words a coherent answer to that curious question, “But, what do you do all day?” Like a parenting the ministry can be exhausting, demanding, a juggling of the diary, and lots of driving about, as well silent contemplation, and privileged pastoral encounters. And, more so these days, every institution and profession finds the avalanche of paperwork at times overwhelming even with skilled paid help. A friend of mine dug out an advert from the Church Times in the 1980s advertising full stipend post for a single church parish in the Yorkshire Dales that read as this. ‘One service on a Sunday with occasional requirement to give the sacraments to the sick in the week. Ideal for a man with a serious hobby.’ Oh – for the luxury of such days! The readings today I confess are a bit ...

I mmanuel Kant considered the three great categories of theology as truth, goodness, and beauty.  Most of us jump into talking about God from the 'truth' end of the categories. You know the sort of thing I mean - we begin our chats about faith on the basis of this or that about God. We start on the doctrinal end of the spectrum like a lawyer in court arguing a case. It is a very Western way of doing things where the language is legalistic.  I remember as a child our parish priest subjected (yes - subjected) us to a visiting preacher from one of the other churches for the sermon on midnight mass. There in the beautiful candlelit atmosphere where we had sung these haunting carols this man in a suit and tie and tried to sell the Gospel. Every time he bellowed out Lord's name "Jeezzus" I could see the congregation cringe.  Even our godly priest was visibly wincing in his stall. It's not just that as Brits we oppose a 'hard sell' it is that somethi...

Snowfall in Salcombe is a rare event, the last time being back in 2010 around December. Snow has such a delightful quality in quietening us down. Sounds are muted, children play, boots crunch along paths and skylines look pregnant with expectation. To paraphrase the Prayer Book the fever of the world is briefly hushed. So although there is a lot of inconveniences to this with schools closing - there is also in me a sudden spring of joy. I can't quite explain it. Yippee!!  I was struck by the recent debates on depression/anxiety being more than just a chemical imbalance or the result of trauma. There is good evidence to show that the near epidemic of depression has some roots in our technocratic lifestyles. Depression and anxiety are a natural animal response to an environment which is not right. We were not made to be working all hours for very little pay. We were not made to be constantly bombarded with images of what we should or should not look like. We...

Have you ever been in a church where everything seems a bit too good to be true? As much as I believe that the Holy Spirit can transform a congregation there can be fake versions of that spiritual journey. The BBC2 episode of 'Rev' rather hams this up somewhat cruelly but there is some truth here. A church can easily become a club or a cult. I suppose 'Rev's' fictional church is something of museum piece but at least there is love and honesty. I am two third's through Dante's Inferno and it strikes me that the poet is inviting us to see that the only way up is by going down. This has been at the heart of my own reflections on the Ladder of Benedict and the Recovery Programme. At rock bottom, people are their most honest. Oscar Wilde said that "We are in the gutter though some of us are looking up at the stars." With that in mind do watch Nicola's testimony on Youtube as part of her journey within our intentional community -St Pet...

Though the Sunday readings focus on Abraham's faith I thought it would be good to look at Abraham and Moses together. The more I read about Abraham in commentaries and looked at articles online the more it struck that his story is an archetype of a very different history from the people who looked up to Moses.  The fans of Moses and the fans of Abraham even have contrasting styles of Hebrew (Yahwist and Elohist). They reflect the different cultural stories between those who stayed behind after the Babylonian Exile and those who were deported. It struck me that the deported had a much more focused conservative faith while those who remained were more liberal and accommodated to the pagan culture around them.  Well, its the classic liberal/conservative clash! No doubt when the deported returned there was a long period of adjustment between the two versions of Judaism. The Hebrew Canon is a testimony to their sorting out their differences. Not that I am trying to demy...