October Vicar's Blog
Welcome to the October Vicar's blog. A chance for me to share a little from behind my eyes this past month, and look forward into the next. 31st August was a memorable day for me. On the Bank Holiday Monday we invited our road around for a BBQ - including our soon to be new neighbours Gaby and Mark (congrats on your wedding, the highlight of the month by far!!!). One of our neighbours popped round in the morning to present the most delicious looking, exquisitely seasoned butchers sausages. I could just tell that those pigs had a most excellent (albeit short) life. Well, everything was going well with chef chez moi at the BBQ until about 5.15pm when all the neighbours were arriving and then all of a sudden - whoomph - the BBQ caught fire in a way that would make the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel declare praises to Adonai. My arm hairs were gone in a split second. I switched off the gas, closed the lid, ran inside to grab my fire gloves from our wood burning stove and attempted to tip out the carbonated remains (including of said 'sausages') and the fire thankfully abated along with my pride. The neighbours are a forgiving lot though!
I've been enjoying reading Jonathan Haidt's devastating critique of how mobile phones in particular are causing 'the great rewiring of childhood… an epidemic of mental illness'. It's called 'The Anxious generation', exploring the sociological and psychological research into Gen-Z (born 1997 to 2012) with the introduction of mobiles and 'social' media. Every generation has been affected, and thankfully governments around the world are realising we have to intervene to attempt to bring some reversal. A recent court ruling agains Meta causing harm to children could be a rubicon moment. I've been reflecting on my own tendency to get sucked into the 'dopamine loop' through the 'emotion-novelty-curiosity' triangle. It affects us all, even the way we scroll through BBC news apps, or most curated 'news' online. It's designed to suck us in with fear or delight or curiosity, and I don't think it's good for our discipleship or 'shalom'. I even think it affects our ability to sit patiently with God's word for any length of time. Our attention spans have become shorter, and when we don't get the dopamine loop offered to us by a book or the Sunday preacher, we switch off, or demand shorter, more entertaining sermons… If John the Revelatory were to write a second edition for the modern churches of today, I'm sure it would be a gentle warning of those digital distraction devices!
I also love reading the excellent blogs by Revd Dr Ian Paul, Theologian, writer and speaker of all things contemporary and Christian, especially his commentaries on the Church of England. Check out a nugget of gold in his recent blog 'I'm not busy' - I'll copy a section below as it spoke to me: https://www.psephizo.com/life-ministry/honestly-i-really-am-not-busy/
In our culture, are we allowed to say 'Actually, I am not very busy'? I practised saying this in my head, and it sounded odd. What kind of people say 'I'm not busy'? When my late mother retired, one of her comments was 'I don't know how I ever found the time to work!' Even in retirement, she was busy. We appear to have created a culture where the only people who are not 'busy' are people who are, well, a bit sad. Busyness has become the mark of a full and satisfied life. But is it really so?
Perhaps 'busyness' can be used to boost our significance, as we think we are the one's that get to wear the red underpants (Superman by the way - a former Bishop at my ordination really did pull a pair out to show us in Bristol Cathedral back in 2010!). In reality, God is both in charge and is compelling us to live a less hurried, worried, rushed life embracing Sabbath and Shalom.
So how has your September been? You're not allowed to say 'busy', okay! September has seen the return of schools (and traffic!) and Uni's, the launch of our new ministry 'Refresh' which is on the 4th Friday of the month 2-3.30pm over coffee and cake, and an opportunity to engage people outside of our church (as well as in) with the hope of the gospel. Let's pray for Sue Ellison and team and give them our blessing!
It's been great seeing the arrival of our new youth interns (Josh, Ruby, Josh) as well as a final year Ordinand (Vicar in waiting!) Marie on placement with us on Sunday mornings until next June. Do pray for them all and send some encouragement their way!
September saw our three week series on Stewardship - giving to the Lord our time, gifts and money as part of our discipleship. It was a time to thank God for his generous provision, and for us to review our giving in these areas. For more info, see our website - https://www.stastb.church/giving
I also gave a talk at the Men's Breakfast, with the title 'No shame, no secrets, let's talk about porn'. I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me to speak on this as part of our values of being 'real' with each other in our discipleship. We can't grow in our discipleship if there are 'off limit' bits to God and each other, and I know the Lord longs for us to walk in light and freedom in every area. If you weren't there, speak to me and I can get you some notes from the morning.
October will see the launch of our new preaching series by the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity (LICC) called 'Fruitfulness on the frontline' as we commission each other to build God's Kingdom exactly where you spend your time during the week. Nobody can reach people for Jesus the way you can on your 'frontline'. If you want to know more, check out https://licc.org.uk/ourresources/fruitfulness-on-the-frontline/
Finally, I'm so excited about our Impact Church Weekend at Home starting 9th-11th October!!! I would be so encouraged if you have't signed up yet, to sign up click here https://stastb.churchsuite.com/events/gezrxh90
We're going to be launching our new Vision, Values and Priorities for the next season, along with redesigned Mission statement and logo with our motif of living in the water of life (Ezekiel 47, John 4, John 7)! I'm going to be sharing on the Friday night before our Quiz, and throughout Saturday morning. There will be time to share around your tables over a coffee, lots of time for prayer, worship, fun, laughter, sharing life together, for blessing others (love your neighbour), and even time to not take ourselves too seriously at the talent show! Please please please come and be blessed! And if anyone needs a BBQ chef for your next garden party, please think twice before asking for my help!
See you soon, Revd John Monaghan