You get me...

Dilbert comic strip for 03/19/2012 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.:



I think Dilbert is great. Sometimes I think we have too many words...



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Do you ever feel got at?

If you know me, then you will know only one of the above applies... though when I watched the DVD of my videoed sermon yesterday I did have a very shiny forehead maybe it is 2 of  3.

100th Post

Well today I post my 100th blog post. Something which gave me a little stage fright, what could I write which would be profound and yet at the same time fun?

Well it stumped me, so I thought I would say thanks for reading the blog. It has been a while as I am really trying to both catch up with my reading schedule (I have a mountain of assignments to write), and integrate new technology into life (Kindle and an Android Phone). Both have been recommendations as ways to work better I will blog a simple users guide to each...

Basically I went to my dyspraxia study skills and found that simple things make a profound difference. I have a rubbish memory but have just learned the planets from Mercury- Pluto in about 10 minutes (using mind mapping and story telling) which is amazing, and it encourages me to keep trying. The reason I ended up with the new phone was talking through my organisation (lack of) and the 6 places I keep info of the stuff I am meant to do. Now I have it in one place my pocket!

But I have now been introduced to the world of Android phones, and I am loving it, it will make blogging easier and should hopefully resolve the issue I have in logging in from time to time. As long as I stop playing angry birds...

An insight into my mind!

Dave Walker adapted this cartoon for the Church Times and entitled it "the preaching creation process". This seems to be my default position lots of ideas plenty of research (if at times too much) and then the rest of the time is spent unjumbling the muddle. One of the challenges for my training is the need to do things quicker, as much as a sermon or leading the service are part of our communal worship, I don't think I will be able to spend 30 hours a week preparing for them!


So far I have had two mentors and two formation tutors ( the first has now moved on but is missed), a spiritual director and a placement supervisor, each of them has encouraged me to not take myself so seriously and let God speak to me as I prepare and lead and always make space, to develop rhythms which daily set my face towards the one who made me. Preaching has been interesting thus far, going from 30-40 minute sermons to having now preached a homily (previous shortest was a friends wedding)  but now learning to preach in just 20 minutes is actually a great training curve.

My new formation tutor has surprised me by asking me what I am at college to do? Is it to achieve an academic qualification or for ministerial formation? I answered it is the later, then the challenge which I have been putting off is to actually use this next year as a time to reflect on having dyspraxia and the implications for life and ministry. My prayer is the muddle of my mind will be able to clear while I actively receive one on one sessions and reflect and try different ways of doing things.

Work Life Balance?

Dilbert comic strip for 10/12/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

The temptation to develop a culture of long hours is just as much a temptation for the church as it is for the work place or home (there is always something else which needs doing, as I look at a pile of washing). Scott Adam paints the picture well, the culture for a business is set by the manager of your place of work, they are the first in and the last to leave, commitment to your job is measured in hours (and not effectiveness just look busy), others expect if your target has not been met that you stay until it has been (though if you have spent 8 hours not getting there will another hour or two really work?), then you get the rare breed which understand you have a life outside of work, which means there will be times when a need will arise for late working or an early start but this will be done by negotiating rather than enforcing contract hour directives (most places I have worked have a maximum number of hours to be worked in a month or week and any hours between 7am and 7pm).

The temptation when things are going wrong is to pour more time into the issue, that somehow if we stare at the same screen the figures will miraculously change or by ringing the same 200 people we will get a different response. Work life balance is something which I always hear, in church and at work. At work we are reminded that we need to balance work and home life as both affect each other (just go to work after a row with your nearest and dearest or come home after a bad day at the office) yet in my experience this is largely lip service and I don't think the church at times is any better. As an ordinand (someone training for ordained ministry in the Church of England) the question turns on me, how am I allowing God to form me in his likeness? I can be an an activist frantically rushing to save the world one person at a time, which in reality fulfills a need to be wanted or a messiah complex. Jesus is Lord has been the declaration of the Church down the ages and though Caesar is no longer the competition, I am faced with the same temptation but to place myself as lord.

Bonhoeffer in Cost of Discipleship, points to the call to follow Jesus by saying Yes to God, which if we take Sabbath as part of God's pattern means taking time out from work (even as a priest). Jesus is Lord means not accepting a cheap grace which molds God in our own image but allows God to mold us in to his. I tend towards working longer and harder to get a job done, which means I can so easily circumvent prayer and taking time to read scripture for scriptures sake. If Jesus is Lord then that means that neither work or leisure are God. He is.

The Mission of the Triune God: Plenary

Dilbert comic strip for 09/22/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.:

Fortunately the plenary wasn't like this, Ben and Michael did a good job, they summarised the issues and pointed the way forwards. Loving the juggling picture of how we often drop one of the balls and neglect the fullness of the Trinity (is it fully possible to appreciate the fullness of God?),  in our Theology or worship. It is one of those mysteries, but I am looking forward to Sarah Coakley's Praying the Trinity, which should be a good read.

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How do you handle stress?

Dilbert comic strip for 09/24/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.:

As college starts up again it is timely to remind myself that it is not all about dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. David Runcorn suggested we need two signs, the first for the house, and the second for the desk. The first is to say "We are not the holy family" and the second which says "I am not the Messiah".

Stress can affect us in many ways, but for me it is usually caused by trying to spin too many plates at the same time. How do I de-stress?

• Prayer
• Scripture
• Exercise

Having had a night to sleep on it, I would say that the best cure for stress is playing with my children though yesterday it was one of the causes of stress!

Like I have said before, I just need to live out my own advice!

Any thoughts?

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Technical Support?

Customer service at its best...

Dilbert comic strip for 09/16/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.:

Reminds me a bit of some places I have worked at.

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If only this worked with more people!

Dilbert comic strip for 09/13/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.: "
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Pastoral Care 101

Dilbert

A Brilliant Plan

Dilbert Comic Strip

I think this conversation goes on at governmental level sometimes! I know its not quite Blackadder but nearly.

DIlbert- The truth teller.

Maybe change the second frame to:

I try not to judge people by the quality of the theological questions they ask?

 Just a thought but I sometimes feel this is the way it is sometimes...

Dilbert's word of wisdom for the day...

Dilbert comic strip for 07/20/2011 from the official Dilbert comic strips archive.

Esther- The Book of Comedy

Wish I had seen this when I wrote my sermon! It reminds me of Haman and the king, assumption is bad for you (in Haman's case more disastrous than Dilbert's).

As it hasn't been handed in yet I don't think I can post the sermon outline but once it has been assessed I will.