The Simeon Centre for Prayer and the Spiritual Life Ridley Hall, Ridley Hall Road, Cambridge CB3 9HG Tel: 01223 741090 Web: www.simeoncentre.co.uk
Director: Adrian Chatfield ac588@cam.ac.uk Chaplain: Anne Aldridge ala29@cam.ac.uk Admin Asst: Rosemary Kew rak44@cam.ac.uk
Newsletter #14 Spring 2014
Stilling Prayer You may remember the white rabbit’s immortal words in Alice in Wonderland as he hurried past her. ‘Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be late!’Alice’s curiosity, of course, took her off on her great adventure, as ‘she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it.’ These days for me, it’s more likely to be a mobile phone and a Cambridge resident. Like me, you may have been nearly run down by a multi-tasking wellconnected individual in pursuit of the good life. It’s that phrase ‘in pursuit’ that bothers me most. Life will sometimes be busy, rushed even. All of us miss deadlines or forget appointments occasionally. It took me a long time to realize that once I have got up a head of steam – to catch a train, complete an editorial, see the next person – I don’t have an automatic speed governor. So when the need for speed is past, I speed on, cartoon-like, past the finish line into the distance, in pursuit of... pursuit itself. The discipline of my prayer life needs built in to it a series of finish lines, a form of stilling prayer. How I do that is probably quite personal to me. But for all who read these lines, perhaps the way to stop at the finish lines of the hour, the day or the year is simply to ask: ‘Lord, what do the stopping points in my life look like, and would I recognize them if I saw them? And, Lord, deliver me from chasing my tail. Stop me now. Amen.’
Adrian Chatfield
http://simeoncentre.blogspot.com/
SIMEON CENTRE EVENTS PAST AND FUTURE Give thanks for: •
Adrian’s teaching on two Prayer Intensive courses at the beginning of term, which were spiritually significant for several Cambridge Federation students.
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The Ridley Hall Prayer weekend for new students, at which Jane Keiller was farewelled, and which as ever was a wonderful blessing to those who came.
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St Nicholas, Nottingham held its biennial weekend away, and Jill and Adrian Chatfield shared in their time together at Swanwick. Adrian spoke three times, on ‘People of Prayer’, ‘People of the Spirit’ and on ‘Grace, Gratitude and Generosity’.
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The launch of ‘Home’, a community of pioneers based around the Centre for Pioneer Learning.
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The launch of the website www.mcmpengage.org.uk, as part of the Simeon Centre’s initiative in ‘making Christian marriage possible’.
All The Way . . . Even To Death The One Hundred Percenter: The Faith That Does Not Draw a Line in the Sand (forthcoming) is summarised here by its author, Greg Obong-Oshotse. When old Job lost all his fortune and children in one day He worshiped and blessed God. That’s right. Job worshipped and blessed God! Holy Writ records for us in more detail Job’s singular devotion: “Job arose and tore his robe and
shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshipped. And he said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord’ ” (Job 1:20-21). Yet that is not all. A short while later, more disaster strikes Job. And it is much more personal. It is much closer home. In fact it is as close as it can possibly be. His very life is at stake! From the ‘sole of his foot to the crown of his head’ Job is covered with ‘loathsome sores’. Ah, surely, now he would shake his fist at God and scream curses at Him! After all, there is just so much anyone can take! Especially one who is ‘blameless and upright’. But not Job. He will live up to God’s view of him. Gracious, surrendered, blameless, and upright! No curses. No screams. No anger. No clenched fist punching the sky. Rather he sits quietly in the ashes, a sign of penitence and mourning. And then he picks up a piece of broken pottery to scratch his itching skin. That’s all the comfort he can find. This is the faith that does not draw a line in the sand. This is faith in the face of tragedy, the faith that faces off the wild winds of stormy trials and temptations. It does not issue ultimatums to God. It will not draw a line in the sand and say to God 'beyond this line I am not prepared to go'. It will not accuse God of unfaithfulness. If it was asked, 'How far will you go with me?', it would reply like Peter, and say, 'All the way even to death.' If it was asked, 'At what point would you say enough!?', it would simply echo Ruth and say 'Never!' It will even go beyond all of that: it will give thanks, it will keep up its hope, it will keep rejoicing, and it will keep going forward in obedience like a soldier under orders. If that faith were a person or group of persons what would they look like? What elements would form their character? What distinctions would mark them out from other people? Can we sketch a profile of such a person or persons? The One Hundred Percenter is a humble attempt to provide just such a sketch. And it does so by presenting a discussion of twelve characteristics of the faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Building a church without a worship band I used to think that the best way to build up a church was to rip out the pews, add some LCD screens, put in a worship band and run some Alpha courses. The modern evangelical church tends to be built on a pretty standard template. But now in my first post as priest-in-charge in an inner city parish I have changed my mind. All the above may work, but they are not the only way. We are seeing good growth at our church without any of them. Here are a few thoughts about how I think we are doing it. 1. Spend a lot less time on the sermon and lot more time on visiting the sick. Modern evangelical ministers sometimes outsource the visiting to a pastoral team. But in my experience the congregation notice if the priest visits and respond by turning up to church and inviting others. 2. Concentrate more on prayer and less on programmes. Alpha is great. Programmes are great. But spend the first year praying, helping the congregation to pray and soaking the place in it. 3. Love the riches of the Liturgy. My background is free church, but the liturgy is hugely powerful. New people love it because they are looking for an experience that feels like church. 4. Value older people and elders. So much effort goes into getting families in, but love the older people, listen to them, understand their spiritual wants and their children and grandchildren will follow. 5. Be messy. Church isn’t a business. Priests aren’t primarily managers. Modern evangelical churches are so well organised and glossy they aren’t any fun anymore. Make a mess, involve people who try hard but aren’t the most talented…give out a message of the joyous anarchy of God’s kingdom and the people start to come.
Steve Morris
FOR YOUR PRAYERS •
Strategic planning as the Simeon Centre looks forward to the next five years: for God’s wisdom, vision and courage.
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The identification of funding agencies and individuals who can continue to support the Centre’s work.
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The Simeon Lenten Quiet Day at Ridley Hall on Healing – ‘Who Touched Me’, at which Ridley’s Vice-Principal Mike Thompson, and Pam Thorn of the Ely Diocesan Healing Advisory Group will be giving the talks. [March 1]
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Adrian, running the Cambridge Half Marathon for fun and in Simeon Centre fundraising. [March 9]
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Jane and Adrian at the Regional Deliverance Conference, as members of the Diocesan Deliverance Team.
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Adrian speaking at the Impington Quiet Day at Little Gidding on ‘Deepening our Faith’. [March 15]
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Adrian and Anne Spalding, contributing to the Edmundsbury and Ipswich Diocesan Day for new ministers on the subject of ‘Going deeper – leading spirituality in churches’. [March 22]
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Rosemary Kew and Adrian on a visit to Harnhill Centre of Christian Healing as part of the Simeon Centre’s role in building networks of groups and individuals encouraging a life of prayer. [March 25]
Prayer in a Difficult Place In May 2013 I was diagnosed with breast cancer, two weeks before my final exams at Ridley Hall, and about six weeks before I was due to be ordained. I did sit my exams, my ordination was postponed for a year, and I embarked on a quite different year than I’d anticipated, spending the next eight months having chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy. During that time I had to come to terms with the emotional, spiritual and practical impact, not only of the diagnosis and treatment, but also of the loss of all I had been anticipating and working towards. This article comes out of my experiences of prayer and reflection over that time, and offers a snapshot of the aspects of prayer that sustained, inspired, nur-
Limited places are still available on this year’s Simeon Lent Day, which will be held at Ridley Hall on Saturday March 1st. For more details and online booking visit the Simeon Centre website: www.simeoncentre.co.uk tured and challenged me, that held me in the embrace of God whilst all about and within me was being scrambled. One of the most important lessons I had learned at Ridley came very early on in a lecture by Mike Thompson. It was about the deep importance of thankfulness: that it is an essential part of our relationship with God, and in forgetting to be thankful we fall out of good relationship with our creator. This proved to be a core prayer practice for me, connecting me to truth and enabling me to rest in God’s love and provision, come what may. So I found myself writing a little book of graces, each day noting a gift of grace – perhaps the dappled shade of the apple tree under which I spent long days during the gloriously hot summer, or the fact that I live only minutes away from an excellent hospital. In choosing to enter into thankfulness, I found myself at home in the joy of the Lord, strengthened and sustained for the difficulties. Secondly, I listened to the stories of Scripture and the Spirit spoke to me through them. I felt a lot of the time as though I was wandering in the wilderness, with no purpose, no direction, no task, and with no familiar landmarks or signposts to show the way. As I prayed with this image and shared it with a friend, I was reminded that in the wilderness God was always present to his people, in the new and nebulous, ungraspable, form of fire and cloud: and that each day the gift of manna was given, sufficient for the day. I
began to try and notice the presence of God in new ways, and to receive the gift of the day’s grace without striving.
I discovered, for the first time, the power of the Psalms to give voice to my groanings and hopes. I experienced the physical reality of Psalm 22: “ I am poured out like water and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax…my mouth is dried up…you lay me in the dust of death”, and I prayed Psalm 27 as a fervent hope: “the Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?...I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living”. Silence, the Jesus Prayer, and the accompanying prayers of others were also hugely important to me. I felt like the paralysed man being lowered through the roof to be lain at the feet of Jesus; I was dependent on others to do the hard intercessory work and to hold me in his healing presence when I was incapacitated. At other times I felt well enough to engage myself in the privilege of interceding for others; this, at least, I could do from the chair under the apple tree! So, I am certain that through all this God has been with me always, and I have grown just that little bit closer to him and learned just a little more about how to pray, and trust, and love. Thanks be to God.
Bridget Baguley Signs of the Times: Seven Paths of Hope for a Troubled World by Jean Vanier (London: DLT 2013) is reviewed here by Mary C. Amendolia Octogenarian Jean Vanier’s latest book, Signs of the Times: Seven Paths of Hope for a Troubled World provides an inspirational
reflection of the times in which we live. Vanier writes in a winsome way yet at the same time manages a hugely challenging message. A philosopher by education, he has penned well over two dozen books. It is worth listening to what he has to say because of his wisdom, love for the church and 50 years of work in the l’Arche community. Vanier is a prophetic voice to the Church, but who is listening? Vanier reflects on the state of our world since the Vatican II Council. He emphasizes the need to care for the poor and marginalized. The challenge for us is to live life like Jesus did thus pointing the way to Him. Essentially, when we enter into a real relationship with people with disabilities we are transformed. (p.5) He argues that by serving others transformation occurs both in the one serving and the one served. He is not blind to the demands and problems of our culture. His awareness inspires a message of hope and warning. “We are entering a new world, in which there will be a much higher proportion of fragile people who live with the illnesses, disabilities and psychological weaknesses associated with age.” (p.117) He writes: “I’m struck when I read that there are more than a billion Catholics in the world, and more than two billion Christians. That must make it a wonderful place to live in! But it isn’t, and at the very least we can ask ourselves why our world is not more humane. Has our faith truly reached into our bodies and hearts, or is the Church in danger of closing itself off by over-identifying with its rituals? Without a real and deep transformation of hearts, faith changes nothing in life; it engenders neither a new vision nor a new world.” (pp.120-121) In contrast to this, Vanier reminds his readers three times that a billion and a half people around the world today live in poverty. He asks, “Who wants to encounter them? Who is ready to set out on the road of transformation?” (p.72) I consider Vanier’s book a must read for all Christians. Those who would most especially benefit by engaging with this book are lay leaders, clergy, church planters, evangelists, and apologists. Even though Vanier confronts his readers with a huge challenge, he is not a pessimist. Quite the opposite, he sees these challenges as opportunities. He sees things differently so that we may “…work with people who are fragile instead of simply for them.” (p.119)