It has been a very busy month
It has been a month since I blogged, again!
Partly I have been too busy, and partly I have this notion in my head that I need to have fully developed arguments before I stick stuff up. I need to get into the rhythm of developing stuff as I go.
In that month I have been to the Praxis conference on Alternative Futures in Wellington, tagged with a PADYS meeting. These get better and better, and show how important relationships are. It was great doing some serious input stuff for the first day, which was added to by one of the Youth Staff who showed us some stuff he has been working on on how to reach the under 35’s. Stimulating, thought provoking stuff. I really enjoyed it. It also showed up how inadequate my current budget is for running these meetings!
I have just been to Nelson for four days. Partly meeting. Partly offering training. Steve Taylor was also there, doing a session on Film and Gospel, and DJ’ing culture and gospel. I had heard it all before, but it was great to hear it again. The second set of stuff was at a youth leaders training day, and I followed that up with a session on what Anglicanism offers our young people. I really enjoyed doing the reading and thinking about this, and it fitted really well with what Steve offered. He used a clip from Whale Rider, where Paikia asks her grandfather where they come from, and he uses the rope (which breaks) to answer. It fits really well with how I see youth ministry. We are threading new rope into the old and it seems frail rope. We are building on to what our ancestors have given us. To ignore the rope leaves us in a very vulnerable place.
So what does this old rope offer?
Liturgical worship, that is communal, and not just about me, that is rooted in the earliest worship traditions, that involves the whole person, that reads out scripture in large segments and allows the hearers to assess the worth of what the preacher offers, and in the sacraments offers a visible sign of Gods activity in our life.
The rope of tradition that includes the three cords of scripture, antiquity (the communal memory of our faith) and reason (the brain God gave us) When this is coupled with the via media, we are offered a way of working with young people that both takes their ongoing faith development seriously, and does not leave them stuck in Belonging faith, and gives them tools they can use over their whole life. It offers a God who is in the end mystery, yet welcoming and hospitable, and compassionate about us as individuals, about the society we live in, and world around us. WE are able to offer a BIG GOD and a big faith, It was great to see youth leaders, most of whom were NOT Anglican, being excited about what Anglicanism might offer.
Partly I have been too busy, and partly I have this notion in my head that I need to have fully developed arguments before I stick stuff up. I need to get into the rhythm of developing stuff as I go.
In that month I have been to the Praxis conference on Alternative Futures in Wellington, tagged with a PADYS meeting. These get better and better, and show how important relationships are. It was great doing some serious input stuff for the first day, which was added to by one of the Youth Staff who showed us some stuff he has been working on on how to reach the under 35’s. Stimulating, thought provoking stuff. I really enjoyed it. It also showed up how inadequate my current budget is for running these meetings!
I have just been to Nelson for four days. Partly meeting. Partly offering training. Steve Taylor was also there, doing a session on Film and Gospel, and DJ’ing culture and gospel. I had heard it all before, but it was great to hear it again. The second set of stuff was at a youth leaders training day, and I followed that up with a session on what Anglicanism offers our young people. I really enjoyed doing the reading and thinking about this, and it fitted really well with what Steve offered. He used a clip from Whale Rider, where Paikia asks her grandfather where they come from, and he uses the rope (which breaks) to answer. It fits really well with how I see youth ministry. We are threading new rope into the old and it seems frail rope. We are building on to what our ancestors have given us. To ignore the rope leaves us in a very vulnerable place.
So what does this old rope offer?
Liturgical worship, that is communal, and not just about me, that is rooted in the earliest worship traditions, that involves the whole person, that reads out scripture in large segments and allows the hearers to assess the worth of what the preacher offers, and in the sacraments offers a visible sign of Gods activity in our life.
The rope of tradition that includes the three cords of scripture, antiquity (the communal memory of our faith) and reason (the brain God gave us) When this is coupled with the via media, we are offered a way of working with young people that both takes their ongoing faith development seriously, and does not leave them stuck in Belonging faith, and gives them tools they can use over their whole life. It offers a God who is in the end mystery, yet welcoming and hospitable, and compassionate about us as individuals, about the society we live in, and world around us. WE are able to offer a BIG GOD and a big faith, It was great to see youth leaders, most of whom were NOT Anglican, being excited about what Anglicanism might offer.
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