Simon Says ...

Review of John Swinton, Dementia: Living in the Memories of God (SCM, 2012). I confess that I approached this book with trepidation.   What I feared was a well-meaning but dull account of the symptoms and basic pastoral needs of those with dementia – worthy, but not very interesting.   What I found was quite different.   This book is a mixture of deep theological accounts of what it means to be human, and important reflections on love and living.   All of this is explored and brought to the surface in Swinton’s reflections on dementia.   All has repercussions far beyond caring for those with that illness.   This is another truly excellent book on the Michael Ramsey Prize shortlist. Swinton starts with a question of identity.   He wants to be loved and cared for, just for who he is.   So the question becomes who is he?   This is, of course, compounded by issues around dementia, where people lose memories, a...

A Sermon for the First Eucharist of Sarah Dawson Habakkuk 2.1-4; Ephesians 2.19-end; John 20.24-29   It is a great pleasure and an enormous privilege to be here this morning.   I bring you greetings from Derby Cathedral, where I minister.   Thank you to Joabe for the invitation.   Thank you also to Sarah.   I’ve known Sarah since I was 11.   She and I have laughed, cried and gossiped our way together through our lives for a long time now.     It is a real joy and delight to be here when she presides at the Eucharist for the first time. Some words from the Gospel this morning: ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’   Today we gather to celebrate with Sarah, to share bread and wine, which are for us the body and blood of Christ.   And we also gather to thank God for St Thomas, one of Jesus’ first disciples and an apostle of the church.   In the midst of all of this, we...

Luke 7.36-8.3 Some words from the Gospel reading this morning:   Jesus ‘went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.   The twelve were with him, as well as some women’. It’s a great pleasure to be with you this morning.   My thanks to Simon for his invitation, and to you all for your welcome.   I bring greetings to the Cathedral of the Peak from your Cathedral Church in Derby, where we pray for you regularly.   I’m here, I think, because one of the roles I have is as the Director of Curate Training in the Diocese.   So I have been involved with Sue, not least as she prepares to be ordained priest at the end of the month.   I want to say a few things this morning to help us all prepare for that new ministry.   At the end of the Gospel reading this morning we hear that Jesus ‘went on through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom...

Acts 16.16-34 ; John 17.20-26 It was one of those moments when my mouth engaged before my brain.  I was being interviewed for a parish job, and had just been asked what I would do if someone refused to work with the Parish Child Protection policy.  "They can't be allowed to work with children" I said, and almost immediately began to soften it.  "Of course, I would speak with them and try to help them engage with the policy first" and so on.  But knowing what I began to know shortly afterwards, I think it was one of the reasons that I was offered the job. After several days of being followed and spoken about, however accurately, by a slave-girl with a spirit of divination, Paul finally loses his temper.  "Very much annoyed" is how Luke puts this.  He turns round and orders the spirit to leave her.  Those who read Paul's letters carefully might wonder how he managed to last for "many days" without getting cross earlier.  There is, no d...

--> Review of Ian Cowley, The Contemplative Minister: Learning to Lead from the Still Centre (Bible Reading Fellowship, 2015). This excellent little book is for those ‘who are looking for a better way of serving Christ than the relentless busyness and pressure which has become the norm for so many’ (p. 12).   Ian Cowley, who has experience of ministry in South Africa and is now the Vocations and Spirituality Co-ordinator for the Diocese of Salisbury, calls us to rediscover our still centre in prayer and rooting in God. Ministry that does not have stillness and prayer at its heart is in danger of losing its relationship to God, of warping a vocation, and not having the counter-cultural edge that should be the mark of all Christian ministry.   Cowley calls us back to silence and simplicity as being of the essence and the heart of ministry, not just extras and ideals.   He draws widely on the traditions of the church, from the contemplative to th...

Acts 10.34-43 ; John 20.1-18 “We do not know there they have laid him”.   If the stories of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection have anything in common, then one of the major common factors has to be that they are all surprises.   Mary is surprised by the gardener.   The eleven disciples are surprised to find Jesus inside a locked room.   The two walking to Emmaus are surprised by a biblical interpreted walking with them.   The eleven are again surprised as they go fishing in Galilee.   And St Paul is surprised (to say the least) by Jesus appearing on the road to Damascus.   Jesus turns up where he is not expected, and that seems to be common to all of the stories of his appearances. When Jesus turns up all kinds of things happen.   There is healing of people and relationships; forgiveness and the rebuilding of community; there are lives transformed by love; and hope and confidence is rekindled.   In the Go...

Synod began, more or less, in silence as we remembered the 21 Coptic Christians martyred in Libya for their Christian faith on the anniversary of their death.   An important moment.   There was little silence thereafter, as we moved into the normal pattern of debates and presentations.   February was a relatively short Synod, across three days.   It was the first meeting of the newly elected Synod other than the short gathering for its inauguration last November.   This means that there were lots of maiden speeches, lots of new voices to listen to. It means that we the newly elected Prolocutors of Canterbury and York (the chairs of the House of Clergy) and the Chair and Vice-Chair of the House of Laity were presented to us.   It feels like the new Synod is still being run in. Business started with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Address .   This was mostly about the Primate’s meeting, and was clear and helpful.   He spoke of...