tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post3382247197433450527..comments2024-02-13T11:11:28.246+00:00Comments on Bishop Alan’s Blog: Ministry as Jazz...Bishop Alan Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-43103993284192119232008-11-02T20:21:00.000+00:002008-11-02T20:21:00.000+00:00I was teally impressed by this year's readers in O...I was teally impressed by this year's readers in Oxford; it's a major piece of work doing the course, and seeing everyone together in the Cathedral I really was made aware of what a tremendous ministry resource readers are to us in the Thames Valley. I do regret the ttimes they just get used to fill in the things clergy don't want to tackle, or taken for granted.<BR/><BR/>Steve, I don't want to stick years on your clock, but was your time at St Chad's John Fenton's era? I knew him at Christ Church after he left Durham, and he was a most remarkable and holy man, always ready to turn out anywhere to help people reflect on the bible and ministry. If you've got easy electronic versions of your notes, I'd be fascinated to discuss them sometime with +John Pritchard, who was bishop of Jarrow before Oxford, and has tremendous feeling for the North East. I feel a tinge of shame at the number of ministries we grew a few years ago, but never allowed to reach their full potential, because of institutional inertia or the wrong sort of clericalism...<BR/><BR/>Ann, thanks for sharpening up the point so thoughtfully and beautifully. Jesus seemed to find it so much easier than us to enact his message in all simplicity, rather than turning it into a discussion starter! Many, many thanks again.Bishop Alan Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13879516755776951638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-10602330318524485662008-11-02T11:48:00.000+00:002008-11-02T11:48:00.000+00:00"What enabled Miles Davis to let vulnerability int..."What enabled Miles Davis to let vulnerability into his sound, was a reaction to his bad experiences as a black man in a colour bar society. When he visited Europe in 1949, he ...experienced different attitudes, and respect for his humanity." <BR/><BR/>Unless people have experienced prejudice at first-hand, it's difficult to explain the relief when we find a place, a community, a set of people, where we're treated as fellow humans. For me, as someone with a disability, I know that absolutely anything can happen when someone finds out - anything from acceptance and good cheer and a genuine interest in learning more, through to people hiding from me and hoping with all their heart that I go away so they don't have to expose themselves to something new, those few who react to their own fear with defensive anger, and those very few whose cynicism apparently pushes them to be pleased if they make us suffer. <BR/><BR/>The same is true of reactions to any difference - whether sexuality, race, appearance, disability or other.<BR/><BR/>Understanding how Jesus's message was "Welcome! You are loved!" is perhaps the hardest journey for any of us: Do people find it easier to say, "How could He love People Like Those, not People Like Us? We don't want their sort here!" <BR/><BR/>Who was it who said that we know that we've created God in our own image if He apparently hates or ignores all the same people we do? Wise words.<BR/><BR/>We're called to love one another,even those who don't love us back. It's a blessed calling indeed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-10332343805891423652008-11-02T03:55:00.000+00:002008-11-02T03:55:00.000+00:00As a student at St Chad's College, Durham we used ...As a student at St Chad's College, Durham we used to go to colliery villages like Wingate for preaching practice. And we spent several Sundays in Washington, Usworth and Fatfield, which were about to be subsumed into Washington New Town, and I was struck by the similarities of impersonal bureaucracies, ecclesiastical and secular, the world over. I've often wondered what happened to the people we knew from Washington. <BR/><BR/>If it's of any interest, I could send you copies of my journal of those visits, and you could tell me what, if anything, has changed. There were lay readers we met that i though should have been ordained as self-supporting priests.Steve Hayeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11283123400540587033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7132206171945839649.post-86684018662215603362008-11-01T19:53:00.000+00:002008-11-01T19:53:00.000+00:00Wonderful post, Alan - thank you.I've been privile...Wonderful post, Alan - thank you.<BR/><BR/>I've been privileged to teach part of the preaching class in our lay reader training here in Edmonton and have been thoroughly blessed by the seriousness and enthusiasm of these dedicated people.Tim Chestertonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13676859074652475474noreply@blogger.com