Just a quick note to say there is NO service at church this Friday 1st June.
Apologies to anyone who turns up and doesn't see this message until afterwards.
Thursday, May 31
Wednesday, May 30
Shopping for Church ?
The next instalment from Dereks notes ..........
'Ch 3: Grace Davie: From obligation to consumption: Understanding the patterns of religion in Northern Europe“... the reduction in church activity in Western Europe forms part of a profound change in the nature of social life; it is not, in contrast, an unequivocal indicator of religious indifference.”
p 35“Vicarious religion” popular in Northern Europe, especially Nordic countries(!) P36 Reflections on the “vicarious” aspects and the way people turned to church during the mourning of Diana and the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham.
P 39“[There is a possible (European) mutation] taking the form of a gradual shiftaway from religion as a form of obligation and towards an increasing emphasis on consumption. In other words, what until moderately recently was imposed (with all the negative connotations of the word), or inherited (a rather more positive spin) becomes instead a matter of personal choice. I go to church (or another religious organisation) because I want to, maybe for a short period or maybe for longer, to fulfill a particular rather than a general need in my life, and where I will continue my attachment as long as it provides what I want, but I have no obligation to attend in the first place or continue if I don’t want to.” '
Sunday, May 27
What are your thoughts ?
Over the next few days I will be posting extracts from the notes Derek made whilst on sabbatical.Please post your comments.
Heres the first instalment.
Extracts from "The Future of The Parish System" ed Steve Croft:-
Chapter 2 Sarah Savage: “On The Analyst’s Couch: Psychological perspectives oncongregations and clergy“Church buildings describe a hierarchically arranged universe in which the laitytake up their allotted place.... People quickly intuit who has power in anygiven group, and modify their behaviour accordingly.”
“Clergy are expected to be nice. This softens the impact of hierarchy whilepreserving it. The norm of Christian niceness is ubiquitous, despite the picturethe Gospels paint of Jesus as an assertive, sometimes acerbic personality whoreadily confronted people in order to pursue their spiritual welfare.” p22
The unspoken requirements of clergy: (p27)
1. I must be successful in everything I do
2. Everyone must accept me
3. Everyone must love me.
4. If I make a mistake I am a total failure
5. If I disagree with someone they won’t like me
6. My value as a person depends on how other people view me
Savage reflects: “Clergy may feel they need to be “God” to their flock. Yet,surprisingly, attempting to meet all pastoral needs (an impossible task) is noteven what most people are looking for, according to Francis and Richter’sresearch into why people leave churches. ‘A factor of least importance forchurch leavers was the lack of professional clergy pastoral care. What peoplewere often looking for and not finding, is church as a caring community.’”
Monday, May 21
More catching up...
Sunday, May 13
I forgot to ask Him.
I spent a couple of hours looking for a good picture for this weeks post, but was getting nowhere, when I eventually realised that it might be worth asking God to help me, the next page that came up was this picture.
How true it is.
It made me laugh so I thought I'd share it.
Anyway this week we will be sharing our passions for the Friday service and hopefully Derek will continue to tell us more tales from his sabbatical.
I pray that God will guide and equip us for His purpose for our congregation.
Saturday, May 5
United Celebration
There will be no Friday Service this week as its St Marks United Celebration at Greenhead School on Sunday 13th May at 10am.
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