clearing out the dead wood

My wife and family will happily tell you of my mild OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) tendencies. Timing every Dog walk for instance, and  finding golf balls and remembering how many I’ve found in Graves Park each week and month are 2 of my quirky traits. The latest one on the dog walk is clearing dead wood. I hasten to add that it is dead wood. I hate the vandalism caused by those  who rip off  living branches (almost as much as the mindless who hang  full dog pooh bags from trees in the park like some bizarre Christmas decoration, definitely one for Room 101).

 

Ellie the dog and I do  a lot of our walking off the main routes through the park and its here I’ve discovered old branches stuck in living trees, and  dead wood attached or hanging off trees. I’m now in the methodical business of clearing light and space by getting rid of the dead wood.

 

Now there’s a thought; at least another dog walking divine moment for me!  Preparing the way of the Lord is a bit like clearing away the dead wood attached to our lives. It cuts out the light, restricts growth, and blocks or restricts the way forward. There’s so much dead wood in my life. Stuff that once was living and vibrant but is about what was not what is or what will be in my life and calling. What about you?  Is it time you cleared away the dead wood in your life that is so unproductive so new life can flourish?

Inside out

As we come to the end of 2008 I’ve started to reflect on Hope08 in Sheffield. Like most things there are encouraging and disappointing aspects to this reflections. Bad news first  (I always ask for it that way round when I have an option to get it out of the way).

 

I am disappointed that some churches didn’t seem to grasp the relevance or opportunity that Hope08 provided us all. There is a reluctance in many churches to work with other churches whose beliefs or way of doing things are different from their own. When we were all in our Hope t-shirts you couldn’t tell whether we were reformed, catholic, charismatic, Baptist or Anglican; we were just a bunch of believers going about doing good! Hope08 was not a doctrinal debate on purity but an opportunity to be salt and light in society and when dogma  gets in the way of that there is something pharisaical about that in my opinion! Another sadness for me was that some churches only showed enthusiasm when they were beneficiaries. If the activity was on their patch they were  “in”, but elsewhere in the city   was not their problem. This is another driver in many churches, we’ll only invest in something with time and finances if  we get something out of it in the end. The kingdom of God often asks us to give stuff away without ever expecting anything in return: “to give and not to count the cost”!  The final frustration in helping to organise and facilitate the city wide stuff we did was the enthusiasm and big promises that were made by some people at the start of the year that were not delivered by them throughout the year. Enthusiasm wanes so easily as we chase the next big thing. Hope 08 was a real marathon event not a sprint, and we now need to reflect on how we continue to encourage and sustain  community action in the city in 09 and beyond.

 

Now for the good news! I thank God for the impact on the ground of so many projects across the city and how as a result we’ve opened doors, created opportunities  and built and forged friendships with communities and council organisations. Also for the 2 community awards we’ve won. In our own area the 2 Days of Kindness and the Whit event have been so well received and made a real difference.

 

 At the start of the year I had a picture of a church building. I was sitting in a beautiful old building staring up at stained glass windows and enjoying the beauty of them. I realised that this beauty was not apparent from the outside of the building where all you could see was darkened glass. My picture was of the churches’ windows being turned “inside out” so that the light from inside the building now shone out rather than in and the images on the stained glass were now seen in all their glory on the outside rather than the inside. As we allowed it to, Hope08 helped turn the church “inside out” and (hopefully!) the glory and majesty of  our faith became visible to those outside of the church walls in a very real way. MCF has played a huge part in the success of Hope08. Thanks for all who have taken this year of mission seriously.