feig

Our blog has moved to posterous

2011-03-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Hi there folks

I've moved the blog to Posterous. This blog will stay up for a while, but any new posts will be over at the new sight. All of the posts from this blog have been moved over. Why you may ask?

Well blogger was doing my head in
Posterous seems like a more flexible format, with the ability for lots of people to contribute and also uploading from email and other mobile devices.

So here's to the future. Our new address is http://feig.posterous.com/
Please head over there and update any bookmarks and links you may have. On the new site is details of our next Feig Feast.

sc

An Interview

2011-03-09T02:46:00.001-08:00

I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago for the Diocese of Gloucester magazine about FEIG.

Click here for the online magazine

sc

Where is your place

2011-02-16T06:23:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this today and really liked it

Mark Scandrette on his conversion to 'place" from Parish Collective on Vimeo.

Coming up... Feast & Pause

2011-02-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Hi all

We wanted to let you know about a couple of gatherings that feig are hosting.

The first is our regular Feig Feast, it's 'an ordinary meal, in extraordinary surroundings.' Hosted in the Cathedral, on the first floor, tucked away in the 'Triforium.' There will be music, tower and crypt tours, as well as good food and wine. If you are in the area then you are very welcome. The next Feast is on Thursday 17th February at 7.30pm.

This year we hope to use the Cathedral on a more regular basis. As well as the Feast we will hosting a gathering called 'Pause'. This is a reflective space within the Cathedral and a chance to slow down and find space and stillness. The theme for the first of these will be 'A journey into Lent.' and will be in the Cathedral on Thursday 10th March at 7.30pm.
We're excited to be partnering with 24/7 Prayer and others in this new venture.

Do be in touch if you want more info about either of these gatherings.
Contact steve@feig.org.uk for more information.

sc

The Church in Shadow reflection

2011-01-24T09:50:00.000-08:00

It is always special when church gathers, but sometimes everything comes together to make it very special- Thuesday was one of those evenings for Feig. We chatted about Jesus Great Commission at the end of Matthew. Towards the end of the evening Claire led a worship reflection using an image of this painting by Van Gogh.

It really helped our worship and flowed well out of our discussion. The reflection can be found here.

sc

New Year Hopes

2011-01-10T02:54:00.000-08:00

Well... Happy New Year.

I've just got back from a family break and feel full of energy and I'm looking forward to the New Year. I've been thinking a bit about hopes for Feig at the start of 2011.

Here are my thoughts...

If I were to sum up my hopes for Feig in the coming year it would be to seek more fun, adventure and risk (that fun kind of risk- like jumping off the top diving board when you were a kid) and that as we did these things we would discover that Jesus is right in the midst of them.

I'm also using Henri Nouwen's 'Bread for the Journey' as a reflective guide at the moment and a couple of days ago he wrote this about friendship

Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories... Friendship makes all of life shine brightly. Blessed are those who lay down their lives for their friends.

Feig is a community of friends and my hope for the year is that this continues to grow.

sc

A thought on justice

2010-12-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this short video through a few people Tweeting it. It's Walter Bruegemann speaking about justice. Take a look

sc

An Invitation to Justice from The Justice Conference on Vimeo.

Peace on Earth

2010-12-07T10:55:00.000-08:00

During the month of Advent (the December journey towards celebrating Christmas), which is traditionally a period of expectant waiting, the 24-7 prayer collective in Gloucester have obtained a shop on Westgate Street and they have called it 'Peace on Earth.' A very nice chap called Joe Knight has been one of the visionaries behind this.
It is a chance to get a break from the hectic rush that Christmas has become and perhaps reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. At feig we like this very much and so we are going to be hosting this coming Saturday, pop in for a cuppa and some space, if you are around.

sc

Advent

2010-11-29T10:59:00.000-08:00

So this Sunday was the beginning of Advent. We had our first Carol Service in the Cathedral (I've never been to a carol service in November before.) The place was packed out and most of the service was held in darkness, save for the small candle lights each of us were holding. As the worship progressed, the focal point (i.e. the choir) moved from west to east, to symbolize the journey to Bethlehem. It was a good evening and I didn't set anyone's hair on fire.

But in the morning we had our usual service, at which Geoffrey Sidaway spoke, he is the Archdeacon of Gloucester (Archdeacons are like the Bishop's right-hand people.)
I have to say it was one of the best sermons I've heard in the Cathedral.
He opened the season of Advent by talking about the birth of Christ, as the coming kingdom. He explained that the Scriptures have two words for 'time'. One is the Greek word, 'chronos', where we get our idea of periods of time, a similar phrase in English would be chronological time. The other word for time is, 'kairos.' This is much more dramatic, giving a sense of a time being etched into our very being. It's when a time becomes a moment, a season, someone might say that they have had 'the time of their life.' It could be a celebration, the time you got married, or laid eyes on your child for the first time. The time you witnessed a human being walk on the moon. It can be a time of sadness, a time you remember the loss of a loved one.
It's the phrase 'kairos' that is used to described Jesus entering time and space. The birth of Jesus is the time Christ entered the world, a time that becomes a moment, even a movement that alters the course of human history.
He went on to challenge us that Advent should reflect this sense of drama as we anticipate the time when Christ came into the world and the bigger challenge was given to the wider church, that our worship and daily life should reflect this drama. As we connect with the world, how are we communicating in our worship and life, that the time of God is here? It wasn't about choosing between traditional or contemporary worship, but it was a call to authenticity and excellence. I found my heart agreeing as well as being challenged afresh by what was said. You could have called it a 'kairos moment.'

sc

Reading at the moment

2010-11-25T07:31:00.001-08:00

I'm reading Dallis Willard's 'The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus' teaching on discipleship.' It's a good book bringing together some deep but accessible teaching drawn from his work on the Sermon on the Mount (The Divine Conspiracy) and his work on Spiritual Disciplines (The Spirit of the Disciplines). It's worth a read and is slightly lighter reading than some of his previous works, still punchy mind. He talks a lot of sense, that he and by extension we, can ground in day to day reality- my favourite kind of author. Here is a great quote:

The process of 'conformation to Christ', as we might more appropriately call it, is constantly supported by grace and otherwise would be impossible. But it is not therefore passive. Grace is opposed to earning, not effort. In fact nothing inspires and enhances effort like the experience of grace.

We are continuing our thoughts on Jesus' teaching of the kingdom of God tonight. We are looking at a collection of parables (stories) in Matthews Gospel, all of which are about the kingdom and all of which speak about it as a journey of discovery: something open to each one of us.

As we lean into it, a whole new reality opens up to us.

sc

Lego Jesus

2010-11-19T14:14:00.001-08:00

This week I am in Sweden, with a bunch of other curates from the Diocese visiting one of our partner Diocese, Vesteras. We visited a church in the area with an ethos I really liked. To begin with they chose to move location to be a church amongst the people, which required a great deal of change and sacrifice. They have also pioneered a number of art projects to engage the surrounding community in a meaningful way.

My favourite was Lego Jesus, pictured here. They didn't just buy in the lego bricks, but asked the local community to donate some of them. One lady brought in 4 white bricks from her husbands old lego collection, he had recently died and it was a way of helping her grieve, but also celebrating his life with the wider community. Lots of children brought in bricks from their own collections.

For them this statue represents the body of Christ, with many parts (some seen, others hidden) making up the whole. Another lovely aspect to this statue is that it is hollow and inside are lots of different individual lego creations by the children (houses and gardens)

It was a beautiful example of creativity and meaningful engagement with a local community. A chance for the church to preach the good news in a visually powerful way. I liked it.

By the way it's not glued together, Jesus' hand fell off a few months ago... all fixed now.

sc

The Chewing Gum Man

2010-11-12T13:20:00.001-08:00

So this week at feig we started a journey, looking at the kingdom of God. We will be discussing what Jesus meant when he talked and demonstrated the kingdom.

It was a great evening looking at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, as he announces the kingdom.

I think the biggest challenge is that there is 2000 years of culture and history between us and the life of Jesus and so we want to do the creative work of re-imagining what the kingdom means for us today.

We looked at this short clip of the Chewing Gum Man, who creates something beautiful out of something that's been thrown away.

For us it was a helpful picture of what Jesus spoke about when he announced 'the Kingdom of God has arrived.'

Jesus was about taking the very ordinary things, people and circumstances of life and bringing the beauty out in them.

sc

Ze Frank's web playroom

2010-11-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well I stumbled upon this the other day, thanks to Andy Mort aka atlumschema
It's from TED, a great place for ideas.

It's beautiful because in my mind it's unapologetically positive. My favourite project is 'Angrigami' (about 11 minutes in). Social media is often spoken about negatively and I get that it has the power to make our world more fragmented, distant and lonely, but it seems like these creative projects are small acts of kindness to connect people and celebrate humanity. What I love the most is that it is changing, challenging and connecting people from within the medium and not throwing rocks from a distance.

Worth 20 minutes of your time

Valley of teh Psalms

2010-11-03T15:30:00.001-07:00

Well, last Thursday we had our regular Feig Feast in the Cathedral. A good crowd were in attendance and much fun was had by all. There were the Crucible sculptures to enjoy and we also had a walk through meditation to experience. Min & I created two 'valley's' using glowing floating balloons, two versions of Psalm 23. One was Psalm 23 reversed and the other was Psalm 23 remixed.

Here they are for you to ponder over:

Psalm 23 Reversed
I am my own;
I can buy what I want.
My bed is the softest made.
Wherever I walk, people look in envy.
Even though I walk through the valley of death I fear no one,
for I am the meanest person in the valley.
I spread a table finer than any of my enemies.
The best of life will be at my fingertips all the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the best house in the city.

by Darrel Manson

Psalm 23 Remixed
God is my guide & guard. What more could I need?
You bed me down in a place called ‘Home’
And quench my thirst for ‘Life.’
True to your word, you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

Even though life can feel like the darkest alley late at night
And far from that place called ‘Home’
I'm not afraid when you walk at my side.

Yes you stand with me and steer me.

You feed me, even when life is closing in around me
And you help me to walk tall- that’s how lucky I am.

Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I'm back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life

----------------
remixed by Steve Clarke

inspired & quoted from:
The Message by Eugene Peterson
The Street Bible by Rob Lacey
Reflections by M. Breen

fruitful

2010-11-03T13:00:00.000-07:00

Here's a link to the October Fresh Expressions news letter. I liked this quote from Graham Cray:

"Perhaps the key lesson is that fresh expressions are more likely to be fruitful if they grow out of relationships, than if they use an event to establish relationships."

things we know and things we hope

2010-10-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Liked this in the Guardian today - an article by Rhidian Brook about his travels in Africa with his young family and how they inspired him to write the film Africa United. His reflections on what they had learned jumped out at me:

"it came down to some things we already knew: The world is in terrible shape, money isn't the answer, mankind gets its priorities badly wrong, as well as some things we had always suspected and kind of hoped were true: gratitude is one of the most important things anyone – adults and kids – can learn; a good small community can make a huge difference to a culture; and that much of the world is being held together not by money, power, guns or celebrity but by small, often hidden, acts of kindness."

A Communion Poem by Chris Blockley

2010-10-18T09:17:00.000-07:00

Lord
You gave up your one and only son
That we might be forgiven
For all we have ever done that is wrong
Everything we did not say but should have said
Every evil thought

We turn to you
We say sorry
We follow you more closely
We live our lives, Jesus as you would have us live them
Yes, we are up for that!

But we can't do it on our own
We can't do it without you
Or without your forgiveness,
without your power, your Spirit at work in us

When you died your body was given for us
When you died your blood was shed for us
And so when you ate and drank with your followers
Whom you loved just as you love us
Just as you love everyone gathered in this place today
Broken bread was your body
Wine shared was your blood for all
So it is now
That we might be forgiven and come home
To rest in you
Like the birds of the air come to rest
Rest in the large branches
Of the mustard tree

So by your Spirit bless this bread we are about to eat
That it may be to us your body
Be your Spirit bless this wine
That it may be to us your blood
Spirit come
And bless us now

Amen

Psalm 40

2010-10-11T03:39:00.000-07:00

We used this visual version of Psalm 40 in our worship on Thursday night. The sculpture is part of the Crucible exhibition, currently showing at Gloucester Cathedral. More details here. Enjoy.

A Feig Prayer

2010-10-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a prayer written by a member of Feig. It is posted here because as the writer said "All prayer belongs to God anyway so it is not really mine to keep."

“The Kingdom of God does not come with careful observation, nor will people say, “Here it is” or “There it is” because the kingdom of God is within you”. Luke 17, 20-21.

God of love,

If you are within me, then I cannot escape from you. So why is it so hard to find you?

Can I find you through my emotions? I remember times when you have felt so close; standing on a cliff top as the sea rages against the rocks, watching the sun set over the Grand Canyon. A wide beautiful sky makes so much feel possible. But peak emotions can only be sustained for so long. Where are you in the mundanity of the rest of the time? In the boredom, the petty annoyances, the traffic jams, the supermarket queues, in my procrastination and in my guilt. My heart is so restless and so selfish. There is no room for you in here.

Can I find you through my mind? Sometimes the probability of your existence seems reasonable, sometimes not. I have been both hardened by cynicism and plagued by delusions. I have believed all kinds of madness, and doubted all kinds of truth. I am suspicious of words, concepts, theories, ideology. I am always primed for an argument, picking at the inconsistencies. My defences are raised high. My tongue is sharp and ready. No room for you in here either.

Can I find you through my senses? I look for you but I cannot see you. I reach out my hands but I cannot touch you. What do you smell like? What do you taste like? When I try to speak to you, only silence answers me. My past is a tattoo on my back, following me everywhere. If my body is a temple then it has been vandalised and violated too many times. It is no longer fit for purpose.

I have sinned through my emotions, through my thoughts and through my body, and yet in those who have loved me I have found healing and grace that I do not deserve. My God, I really hope you do exist because I need someone to thank for this. These blessings I have received are demanding a response from me. I owe you everything but how can I repay you when you remain hidden from me? Please help me. Please forgive me. Please have mercy on me.

For yours is the kingdom that I search for,

Amen

sharing

2010-09-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Feig met at ours tonight.

Stories were shared, music was heard, and prayers were spoken.

It was intimate.

It was powerful.

Here's a clip that Dan showed.

Crucible Eucharist

2010-09-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

For the next couple of months Gloucester Cathedral are hosting a sculpture exhibition called Crucible. It is stunning, wonderful and at times provocative. Each day the Cathedral is buzzing with guests coming to stroll around the sculptures. If you haven’t had a chance to see it yet then I’d highly recommend it, even if you have to travel a little way to be here. Jonny Baker has some good images here.
We were privileged to have the sculptures installed at our summer Feast and they will see be around for the next Feast on Thursday 28th October, probably one of the last chances to see them.
At our gathering last Thursday we celebrated communion together and were able to be in the Cathedral. It would have been a missed opportunity not to include some of the pieces to enhance our worship and so we chose a number of sculptures to help us journey through the Eucharist together. It was a powerful time together. Here is a flavour of our journey:

Gathering
This piece is called ‘You and Me’. A reminder of the dynamic of gathering as church. God calls us to be with one another and yet as church our hearts, minds & souls are simultaneously angled towards God, who is Other.

Penitence & Confession
This piece is called Calvary. It is powerful and shocking and is a stark reminder of the reality of the cross, the anguish that ultimately connects creation to the Creator. A place of grace; sins forgiven and fresh mercy.

Scripture
This installation is called ‘The Fast Supper’ and depicts some of the consumer stuff we often crave in life: it dovetailed with one of our readings nicely.

Peace & Eucharist
We moved into a small chapel to share the Peace and the bread and wine.

Dismissal
We returned to ‘You and Me’, reminding us that we have shared bread and wine; the body and blood of Jesus. This sacrament takes on mystery as we are called to go and be the body and blood of Jesus in the world. We go as community, whose lives are angled towards God in love and service. We go in the peace and presence of the Holy Spirit.

sc

Greenbelt

2010-09-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

This year Feig and Foundations hosted worship in the Worship Co-Operative venue on Friday night.

It was a great experience preparing and hosting the evening. We titled the evening ‘Peripheral Visions.’ Here is the write up from this years programme:

A journey with those on the edge of society – through Jesus' eyes. We will look into different places and contemplate our own lives – with his unique and powerful glances that challenge us with his love for those on the edge and in our peripheral vision.

We took some of the encounters Jesus has with those on the edge of society, people that would have been overlooked or unnoticed: those in our peripheral vision. These encounters were represented in the form of installations around the edge of the room- see images below. The evening culminated in the celebration of communion around a representation of Jesus that had been emerging over the three hours.

It was a powerful evening, with many people encountering the Lord. Communion was especially moving as we heard the 4 encounters read aloud from the corners of the room. The two teams worked well together with grace, humility and skill and it was a privilege to be a part of the evening.

sc

Feast

2010-08-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, time to stop. The last week has been crazy with the Feast and Greenbelt, I do love a good feast, though.

We think there were 150 of us this time round, a few couldn't make it due to the terribly wet weather at Greenbelt but they were there in spirit however sadly missed.

Atlum Schema played for us and did a great set over the course of the evening. Thanks Andy!

We were very lucky to have a huge sculpture exhibition at the Cathedral, the Crucible, and made for an amazing atmosphere, do please check it out if you get a chance to come along!

Anyway, thank you to everyone who came along and made it such a magnificent evening. It was great to see some new faces - and some old faces!

I hope you all had a great Greenbelt if you went and we look forward to seeing you next year.

Oh, one last thing, thank you Andrew McConnochie for the great pictures!

G

Busy Busy

2010-08-22T11:58:00.000-07:00

We're busy planning the next Feig Feast on Thursday. It's the pre-Greenbelt Feast so we're looking forward to welcoming communities that will be contributing to Greenbelt from across the country and indeed the world. As always it will be a pleasure to host a meal in such an ancient space. But before that comes the busy busy organising phase! Email us at feig@feig.org.uk if you would like to come along

We're also busy planning for Greenbelt. We will be jointly hosting a worship event called Peripheral Visions with Foundation in the New Forms Cafe on Friday evening between 7pm-10pm. And then an event called IF in the Youth Yurt at 2pm on Saturday. So come and join us if you're about.

'Jesus with a side order of church please'

2010-08-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I stumbled across this article. Anne Rice has not give up on Christ, but is walking away from Christianity. Like Gandhi she loves all that Christ is and stood for but has had enough of His followers.
This formed the basis of a great discussion with Feig on Thursday, where we talked about Church, what we loved and found frustrating. To finish we prayed this pray. I can’t really say that I ‘wrote’ it, but rather used some reflections from Henri Nouwen’s ‘Bread for the Journey’ to put it together. Nouwen is a spiritual writer full of grace, truth and compassion, who encourages us to love the Church because the reality is that it is made up of broken people like you and me on a journey into freedom:
A prayer inspired by ‘Bread for the journey’ by Henri Nouwen

The Church is the people of God.

The people of God who remember what has been,
look to the future and live for today.
We are the body of Christ, travelling together, looking for signs of God’s reality
Celebrating when we see this, longing, hoping and praying for more.

We are both holy and sinful, spotless and tainted.
We are tempted by the powers of lust and greed
And yet we are seen us as holy and faultless.

Lord help us believe in the Church the way you do
Help us see the Church with your eyes of compassion.
Help it be a place where God becomes God-with-us.

May we be that unlikely of places that reveals God’s love to the world.
May we be a place of mystery and abundant grace.

Forgive us for the mistakes, the judging, the anger, the division.
Where we’ve become more like the religious leaders,
And less like Jesus.

May we instead be a garden of grace amidst the brokenness in the world

Help us to love all of God’s people, whether powerful or powerless,
Conservative or progressive, tolerant or fanatic

When we’ve been hurt by the church, its structures, its leaders
Help us to forgive, remembering that it is full of broken people
Who are on a journey towards freedom and healing.

May we be able to say, ‘I love the Church and belong to it.’

Toodlepip!

2010-08-05T05:25:00.000-07:00

We Pierce's are braving the climate in the north east having completed our move away from Gloucester. We will miss the city where Roo and I met and where both our boys were born but it's a new Day and Durham will soon become home for us.

We will of course miss Feig a great deal, as it has been so much a part of our lives for four years. I wanted to write a parting blog with some sage words for our beloved community but I've got nothing!

Although perhaps just one thing comes to mind if it's not too presumptuous of me... and you'll have heard this before...

Love one another ...and everybody else too.

Peace and so much love

DP,RP,RGP&JP xxxx

and endings

2010-07-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

Dan and Ruth, founder members of Feig, are packing up and preparing to move Up North. Dan will be training at Cranmer Hall and I suspect he will bump into Michael Volland at some point. Who knows, maybe they will set up Feig Mark II...

It is too hard to sum up here all that Dan and Ruth (and their boys) have brought to Feig over the years. If you know them then you will know what we will be losing when they go and what Durham will be gaining.

But in amongst the sadness of goodbyes is the excitement of new beginnings, new adventures to be had and new stories to tell.

God Speed good Pierces.

beginnings

2010-07-25T13:18:00.000-07:00

Steve Clarke was ordained last month as a Deacon and can now begin his job of leading Feig through our next steps along the journey.

Big congratulations also to Steve and Min as they welcomed their second child into the world. It'll be interesting to see what perspective Steve brings through the haze of parental tiredness.

Choirs

2010-07-05T01:54:00.000-07:00

Here are lyrics to a song I wrote. Don't think it carries well without the music but you get the gist. A cautionary tale.

Choirs
We had to hustle Sunday morning
Use all our muscle to get going
Gonna use your wealth
Empire ain't gonna build itself

We read the message on the pages
We do believe He really saves us
But you know what else
Empire ain't gonna build itself

Lord Knows I'm an awful sinner
Get fat while the rest get thinner
Lord knows it makes him tired
Empires crumble crumble when you got no humble...
Choirs

We heard the message on the station
With every blessing comes temptation
Goin straight to hell
Empire ain't gonna build itself

Lord Knows I'm an awful sinner
Get fat while the rest get thinner
Lord knows it makes him tired
Empires crumble crumble when you got no humble...
Choirs

dp

Greenbelt

2010-07-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

We're on the Greenbelt line up. Check us out here.

The Road

2010-06-28T09:07:00.000-07:00

Just finished Cormac McCarthy's novel 'The Road'. It is beautiful and terrifying, holding in it's power the rare effect of stealing your gaze when you most want to look away. It made me cry a little.

It is one of those stories which continues to do it's work even now that I have set it aside. One such line from the book that has been occupying me comes in the wake of a violent encounter. The man (as he is known) is washing blood from his son's hair and laying him to sleep by the fire. This taking place in the bleak remnants of America at the end of the world. Glimpsing his internal monologue it reads 'Where you've nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe upon them.'

Not sure why I considered this worth sharing. I just did and now I have. So there it is.

dp

Obstacles or opportunities?

2010-06-17T07:08:00.000-07:00

It’s my son’s second birthday soon and his Grandad is building him a sandpit. I popped in to Tesco’s (other supermarkets are available) to buy some play sand. Min’s Dad doesn’t do things by halves and so I had to purchase quite a bit of sand. Upon leaving, zig-zagging hazardously through the car park, a shop assistant took a look at my trolley and remarked, ‘I bet you’ll be sweeping that up for weeks!’

Of course she was being light hearted and making conversation but it made me think, ‘Well, yes, you could well be right but who cares! Adam will love it.’

How do we see life, full of obstacles or opportunities? Yes things might get a bit messy, but some things can always be swept up. It strikes me that Jesus saw life as full of opportunities. A conversation to be had, a story to tell, a life to impact, a hand stretched out to heal, to welcome, to include. Some would call him a troublemaker, others a Messiah.

Messy… but full of life and colour.

Maybe it's because I'm pregnant but...

2010-06-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

... I love this prayer found on Hold This Space.

a prayer tonight
for those who are holding the promise of new life
(of whatever kind)
inside them

tiny cells and a heartbeat,
a barely formed idea,
a story still yet without words

holding already a fingerprint and a soul, unique and unrepeatable

a beginning too early to speak of
as if the telling – even in a whisper -
would break the fragile membrane that holds it together

hold it fast with fierce passion
hold it gently with holy love

Welcome Steve and family!

2010-06-09T06:36:00.000-07:00

It has been a bit quiet on the feig blog lately but we have something worth saying at last! Steve Clarke and family have moved into their vicarage and Steve begins as curate at the Cathedral and feig leader as of the 27th of this month.

It has been a strange year having had Michael and family move on last summer but we are excited to welcome The Clarke's and look forward to all they will surely bring to the feig community and to the life of this city.

Warm and chilli

2010-05-27T22:17:00.000-07:00

10 feigies gathered at our house last night. Among other things we looked at Mark 10:46-52. Got loads out of it. Such a short yet deep passage. We ate chilli too. Off to work now. Toodlepip.

dp

Pete - post run

2010-05-13T04:39:00.000-07:00

So, he did it, the absolute legend.

Pete ran 40 miles, Gloucester docks to Bristol docks in just over 7 hours 30 mins.

Incredible.

Well done Pete, you are amazing, an inspiration to us all. I hope you're recovering well today.

G

A rock and a hard place

2010-05-05T06:22:00.000-07:00

In Philosophical circles it is largely accepted that there have developed two primary ways that individuals approach building a moral framework by which they then live. Either they choose a system of rules which they dutifully adhere to (Sharia law, the ten commandments, legal contracts etc) or they choose to “follow their heart” as a means of “finding out who they really are”, making sense of right and wrong according to truth as revealed by personal experience.

It is agreed that most of us relay between these two approaches for much of our lives. Although the former is certainly more classically associated with Christianity the later is not alien in modern Christian teaching.

The trouble with "rules" is we get legitimately concerned about who dictates them and why. Also rules can become clumsy and end up serving themselves rather than the reason they were created (see Luke 14:5 or the parliamentary expenses scandal).

Following your heart isn't without it's flaws. What about the person who's heart tells them to molest or destroy or deceive or abandon? These are extreme examples perhaps but are not all our hearts potentially open to the tinkering of selfish desire?

Are we left then to navigate between the unyielding rules on the one hand or the tricky business of discerning whether our hearts can be trusted on the other? Are we destined to bounce infinitely between a rock and a hard place?

We'll be exploring some of the alternatives at Feig in coming weeks. I'll let you know how we get on.

dp

heart & soul

2010-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

I remember Dan blogging awhile back about the new Quays centre and wondering if it's what Gloucester really needs. I agree that Gloucester needs places that adds to its heart and soul - creative spaces.

We stumbled across the Gloucestershire Arts and Crafts Centre today in the old Antiques Centre by the docks. It's a place where local artists can sell their wares. They also have big plans - they have room for exhibition spaces, are planning workshops and classes and hope to open a coffee shop soon.

It could be a small seed that grows into something really good for Gloucester.

Pete - he runs, he runs far...

2010-05-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

See, I thought me completing the Brighton Marathon a couple of weekends ago was a pretty decent achievement, my legs are back to normal and I can do some more running again, and quite well, too.

Now, Pete, who recently left feig to carry on his life in Cambridge and travelling doing various other things, felt the need to raise some money, a lot of money for the charity called Charity Water. Pete is going to be running from Gloucester Docks to Bristol Docks, a distance of about 40 miles, incredible, and he's done the training too...you can see a really cool video about it, too:

http://www.mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=3881

http://www.justgiving.com/peterun40

So, on 12th May 2010 he will begin his run, to raise a massive amount of money for Charity Water.

Watch the video, be inspired, give him some money, he will really appreciate it!

Thank you

Cloister-feast fun times

2010-05-02T12:25:00.001-07:00

I'm a couple of days late but I've only just had the chance to sit down this weekend, been a busy one, won't bore you with that, though.

Friday night was fantastic, we hosted the feast in the Cloisters of the Cathedral for the first time, it meant we could use the Chapter House and the Garth, it worked really well. I think the mood was right and the space was great, it meant everyone could relax and talk to each other really easily.

It was great to do something different and certainly great to see everyone again. Thank you to everyone who came, contributed and enjoyed themselves...I will, one of these days, stop panicking about there not being enough food, there always seems to be and there is plenty left over....next time I think we should do some feigy-bags...

Hope you're having lovely weekends.

FEAST TIME FEAST TIME FEAST TIME!

2010-04-30T11:13:00.000-07:00

Hustings

2010-04-24T00:53:00.000-07:00

Most Feigies went to watch the local parliamentary candidates take questions from the Gloucester community on Thursday. One Feigie, Simon Cozens, blogged about it
here. This is his perspective.

dp

When in Romans

2010-04-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

When I think of myself at my worst, words like complacent, grouchy, inconsiderate and coarse come to mind. Perhaps you haven't seen that in me, trust me it's there. Perhaps you have seen it in me, well it used to be much worse!

On a default setting I remain all these things but mercifully I exhibit these tendencies less and less. The decline of these bad traits is necessary and welcome but I doubt I shall ever see their demise. There is little to be gained however by eternally beating myself up over it.

The danger is that we can spend so much time trying-not-to-be-bad, trying to rectify our behavioural flaws, that we become fearful, conceited and humourless shells rather than getting on with the business of bringing life and light.

In Romans 6 Paul tells us not to be "slaves to sin", he doesn't then ask us to become "slaves to not sinning" he says "be slaves to righteousness" (v18). There's a distinction worth pondering there.

Romans 12, which feig will be looking at on Thursday talks of "overcoming evil with good"(v21) What does this mean? It means we don't overcome our hang ups by fixating on them.

Overcoming negative or abusive use of language for example, is not achieved by writing a list of all the words one mustn't use! It's achieved by practicing complimenting, encouragement, forgiveness and thankfulness.

After a while you notice you're not as - insert your own failing here - as you were. This is not because you spent your best efforts on battling your weakness but because you were occupied and invested in a better way of being instead.

dp

Reading

2010-04-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am currently revisiting more Douglas Coupland with 'Eleanor Rigby'. Having just read John Steinbeck's 'Of Mice And Men' I appear to have found myself on an inadvertent study of loneliness as this is one of the strongest themes in both novels. At feig on Thursday we chewed over loneliness and just some of its opposites.

dp

Isn't it a Beautiful Meadow?

2010-04-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

As a child I remember reading a book called 'Isn't it a Beautiful Meadow?' by Wolf Harranth and Winfried Opgenoorth. I still have it in fact. It begins like this, "One Sunday some people from the town went for a walk into the country. When they came to a nice spot, they stopped."

The story unfolds that these people decide to spend more and more time in this lovely new location. So much time in fact that they inevitably end up erecting fences, building roads and slowly but surely, creating a town much like the town they had left behind.

This gets me thinking. Every decade more or less, the various denominations of Church reinvent themselves. We get louder or quieter, ferociously conservative or bewilderingly liberal, we meet in big buildings, then homes, then big buildings again and each generation offers with varying degrees of humility,"this is how it should be done!".

The problem comes when, like the people in the story, we feel we have come to a nice spot and stop there. We settle down, mark our territory and begin to lay immovable bricks, blocking ourselves in and others out.

I'm reminded of another story here. Not sure where I heard it but it goes something like this. An Australian farmer is approached and asked "How do you keep your sheep from wandering off in all this desert?" he responds "Well we don't need fences mate, we just dig deep wells".

Like water, love is a source of life. We must dig deep for it. Love nourishes, it doesn't trap. Love keeps us moving beyond this meadow and the next, freeing us to cross property lines. Love must travel beyond our best idea of church.

It doesn't matter if we're cafe church, clappy church, cyber church, hyper church, parish church, power church or whatever beautiful meadow we find ourselves - without love, it'll just end up being all that we wanted to leave behind.

dp

Inspiring?

2010-04-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

Found this on the church times web site.

Tesco Vs local shops

dp

Juicy

2010-03-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

Min told me off, because my first post for the Feig blog was all about death. So here's something a bit more cheery, something about fruit... life.

This last week I’ve been hearing all about new ways of being church. There have been lots of stories. Jill Duff came down from Liverpool and told us about her community 11:57 based in the city-centre, seeking to connect with those working and living there. Her story resonated with me and I was often reminded of Feig as she spoke.

It was this quote from Bread for the Journey by Henri Nouwen that really jumped out at me:

There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching each other's wounds. Let's remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.

I saw three ships

2010-03-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

Last weeks feig saw Diocesan Missioner Andrew Braddock visiting. During the evenings discussions I remembered a conversation I had had some time ago. I can't remember who it was with but it was about the nature of church mission.

Somehow the conversation had lead us to nautical terminology. Reflecting upon our experiences of church mission we felt it had too closely resembled the tactics of battleships or the lure of an entertainment cruise. Either trying to shell people into submission or dazzle them with promises of unrivaled pleasures.

We concluded, at least in that moment, that we are more like deck hands for Columbus. All of us exploring through fog and high seas aboard a sail boat. Nowhere more exhilarating or terrifying, nowhere more uncertain or hopeful.

Every metaphore falls down somewhere but until then, may God bless Feig and all who sail in her.

dp

Your mission should you choose to accept it...

2010-03-16T05:25:00.001-07:00

This Thursday the Diocesan Missioner, Revd Andrew Braddock is coming to spend an evening with Feig. What does he do? Exactly what it says on the tin. He, in collaboration with other colleagues, works to enable and sustain a commitment to mission and evangelism across the life of the diocese. He'll be talking about his job and helping us to think about mission.

Here are the Anglican communion's five marks of mission just to get the juices flowing.

proclaim the good news of the kingdom
teach, nurture and baptize new believers
respond to human need by loving service
seek to transform unjust structures of society
strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the earth

Some points may resonate or grate more than others. What do you make of them?

dp

Hmmmm

2010-03-16T03:56:00.000-07:00

Last week we met at Simon and Henrietta's house - thanks for having us guys - a good time was enjoyed by all.

I say a good time, the subject matter was hard going but in the best possible sense. We looked at the need to lobby for more rigorous monitoring of the supply chain in British business. We wrote some letters to the justice secretary Jack Straw and our local MEP and others, to question how it can be good enough for companies to shirk responsibility for how and where the raw materials for their products are sourced.

I have been guilty over the years of imagining this kind of activism is futile. If I am honest, I do still question what kind of difference we can effect in trade issues by expecting government or big business to get our house in order. I am sorry I feel like that. Cynicism is ugly, I know.

Sure, we must keep writing and shouting, jostling and marching for justice. As long as we're questioning the morality of demand for goods, as well as the morality behind their supply.

We all know that if our society and we as individuals, keep demanding new and more and better, someone will keep walking over bodies to give it to us.

dp

Hey Nostradamus!

2010-03-12T01:27:00.000-08:00

I am currently re-reading a book I loved about 7 years ago. This is not always a great idea as the book I remember was perhaps better left fondly in my memory bank. It's not bad now, It's just not...wow! This is not the books fault though obviously. It is the same print before me, the same story and a good story at that.

Written by Douglas Coupland 'Hey Nostradamus!' depicts the aftermath of a High School Massacre from the perspective of one of its victims, that victims lover, the victims lovers father and a fourth party. Confusing? Nah. It's an enjoyable format. My tastes have changed that's all and the twists in the story are familiar to me now so they lack the impact that I enjoyed on the first read. The Bible doesn't stand a chance!

That said, the odd thing has jumped out and grabbed me by the throat. In a good way. This for example. The grieving lover Jason rants against his tyrannical, religious father Reg, saying "You're only concerned with making people conform to your own picture of God, never trying to cool the suffering of anyone in pain."

This sounds like the kind of thing Jesus leveled at the Pharisees. More disturbingly though, this sounds like the kind of thing Jesus might say to me on occasion. Unlike Jason though, Jesus isn't trying to impale the Pharisees with guilt, he is trying to propel them and us into action, into making the connection between what we say we believe and how we decide to live.

Hey Nostradamus! You were worth a re-read after all.

dp

In the Shadow of the Cross

2010-03-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

When you are training to be a vicar you’re involved in some pretty diverse activities. Last week, as part of my course I had to visit the local crematorium and have a ‘tour’. I suppose it comes under the whole ‘hatching, matching and dispatching’ part of the job description. Crematoriums are fairly non-descript places, no doubt due to the diversity of people that travel through them. Up on the facing wall was a large plain wooden cross, which was flanked in theatre style curtains. Someone asked why the curtains were there. The answer was an obvious and understandable one. People of other faiths and no faith may not want the cross as part of their funeral service and it saved a lot of effort taking it down and putting it back up again.

A strange thought popped into my head, ‘The cross is always there, either revealed or hidden.’ Every service in that building stands in the shadow of the Cross. I’m not saying that by slight of hand somehow the cross changes things. But as we move through Lent towards Holy Week and Easter we are reminded of the cosmic effects of the cross and how in so many ways we live in its shadow, aware or otherwise. A shadow that speaks of (re)connection with God and one another, of sacrifice, love and ultimately Jesus putting the broken pieces of the world back together.

SC

Sunday night in

2010-03-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

A dozen or so Feigies gathered at our house last night for no particular reason other than enjoying each others company. Wine, crisps, home brew and an open fire were on the menu. Accompanied by a side order of Django Reinhardt jazz noodling in the background. Nice.

Other than my making the school boy error of drinking on an empty stomach, it was a great night in. Splendid.

Thanks to all.

dp

Lent

2010-03-03T14:18:00.000-08:00

"The point isn't that God needs our sacrifices. The point is that we need God."

Read more here.

99 days and counting?

2010-03-03T02:19:00.000-08:00

I work as a security guard in a busy supermarket. I spend many hours watching cctv, patrolling the store or standing in the foyer looking for trouble. For all the stories I've collected of adrenaline fueled chases and scrapes, the truth is, it is a largely mundane job for little obvious reward.

That said, I have learned a great deal about myself and nurtured some qualities that may otherwise have remained alien to me. Patience for a start! Every so often I hit a rough patch though, when I've been stood for hours and hours near enough on one spot and I begin to ask myself "what the hell am I doing here?".

What follows is a mental struggle, like scrambling up a steep gravel bank. Sometimes it is harder than others and I feel like I'm just getting hands full of stone and making little progress. But when I reach the top - which I do most of the time - I am able to find some perspective, feel gratitude, enjoy even the dullest of shifts and see the blue sky.

In 99 days the FIFA World Cup begins and I leave my job as a security guard to enjoy a month of football and prepare to move for training as a priest, starting in September. It will be tough not to count every single one of these days but I read something a while ago by Rowan Williams that has really helped me in the gravel bank hours.

In a chapter entitled 'Staying' he says 'The fact is that we don't want to start where we are: the legendary response to the inquiry about how to get to wherever-it-is. "I wouldn't start from here", is exactly what we are feeling' but he goes on to say we must acknowledge that we do in fact start from where we are - in the foyer of a supermarket, having a hectic meal time with my kids, struggling with lust or fear, rage or complacency.

Williams warns us against imagining that somewhere else we could be nicer, holier, more balanced, more detached about criticism, more disciplined, able to sing in tune and probably thinner too. We are what we are, where we are and should invest in that, not in some unreal parallel universe.

And so I scramble up the gravel bank practicing the love of God in every encounter whether with customer, colleague, thief or even with myself.

Off to work now. I'll let you know how I get on.

dp

New kids on the block

2010-02-27T02:32:00.001-08:00

Let us be blunt. Feig has never risen to the challenge of formally involving children as part of the community. There is little comfort in knowing that most churches don't know what to do when it comes to families either.

Parent and child involvement has lots of logistical knots to unpick. Or perhaps I'm making it over complicated. What do I remember about my childhood faith? I remember not really wanting to go to sunday school and finding family services embarrassing.

Fortunately, I also remember...

helping our neighbours with their gardening,
watching the church community rally behind a grieving family,
listening to my parents and their friends talk about faith over coffee,
trying and failing with a helpless drug addict,
giving shelter to the homeless,
taking shopping to the elderly,
spending time with the social misfit,
celebrating well with those who had reason to,
hurting deeply and taking action against global or local injustices.

All these things and more.

Churches will probably look quite different to our children as they grow up. As long as they see faith around them in the everyday though, there is every chance they'll walk in it.

That goes for everyone I suppose.

dp

Why we meet

2010-02-26T06:56:00.000-08:00

For the company?
For the food?
To tell our story?
To be still?
To make noise?
To hear others stories?
To feel a part of something greater than ourselves?
None or all of the above?
Other reasons?

So be it.

There are probably as many individual reasons to gather for church as there are individuals within it.

Trumping all of these though must be our coming as a response to God in worship. In coming to worship, all these other needs are met as a by product or altered in their sense of priority. It is important for our mental health as much as anything, to gaze upon 'the other' whoever or whatever that might be. Bishop John Pritchard says “Worship is the means by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to God”. When so much of life is designed to meet our needs perhaps worship is a place that challenges them.

My prayer is that feig might avoid the urge to become a haven for any one expression of worship. That counter-culturally it would resist the pull of self interest in favour of entering community, embracing the value of diversity both in the character of God and his people. This is where unity is touched and made real, not in our all liking the same expressions of worship but in our coming with the grace to love God and one another, through many different means.

This then will be a triumph for substance over style. It means we don't have to like one genre of music or show particular leaning towards scented candles. It frees us from obsessing over our preferences and desires that are already pandered to from every angle on our tv screens. It stops us from creating an image of God that might end up looking and sounding a lot like ourselves. It throws us into the arms of possibility and passion. Author Karen Armstrong puts it this way “this is the heart of the Gospels and every major faith – the requirement that we dethrone ourselves and put another in the centre”.

And so compassion is born,
hope has sprung,
grace is extended,
mercy is manifest,
patience is nurtured,
forgiveness is realised,
and love is at home

dp

10 days and 10 nights

2010-02-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

Myself, my wife and our two boys are coming off the back of over a week of sickness in one form or another, mostly in forms that one is unlikely to mention in polite company let alone blog about.

Anyway, part of the way through this sickness, at the point where we had been in our house too long and began to experience the onset of cabin fever, we were reminded that this, while not a nice situation, is not our normal situation.

Yes, we are grateful for our general health but more than that, we are moved to remember those who live with ill health or disability on a greater and more permanent scale.

When after ten days and ten nights we are asking "how can we go on like this?" The answer returns - pray for those that do.

dp

Just read...

2010-02-20T13:31:00.000-08:00

Very funny.

Some of my favourites:

Models should be chosen at random from the electoral roll

Politicians should have to wear tabards displaying the names and logos of the companies with whom they have a financial relationship, like a racing driver

Private health companies that use NHS trained staff should pay a levy to the NHS to reimburse them for the training costs

The garment trade should print the age of the person who made each item in the label

Ash Wednesday

2010-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:00

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Turn away from sin and be faithful to Christ.

In all times of sorrow;

in all times of joy;

in the hour of death,

and at the day of judgement,

good Lord, deliver us.

p.s. the photo is from Flickr and can be found here.

Bishop's College

2010-02-12T08:01:00.000-08:00

Chris is the Chaplain at Bishop's College and also a member of Feig. Bishop's is going through a hard time at the moment. They were told this week that the school will close to make way for an Academy. In the midst of this Chris and others have created a prayer week focussing on God's Love. Joe has blogged about it here. I went along. The tree, created from chicken wire and newspaper in 65' people hours' was amazing. Looking forward to seeing it come to life in the lead up to Easter.

Bonhoeffer

2010-02-05T06:42:00.000-08:00

Last night Peter and Jennie played us an extract from a Northumbria Community talk on Bonhoeffer's book - Life Together. Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran Pastor and was arrested and executed by the Nazis for his resistance and involvement in the plot to assassinate Hitler. He has a lot to say about Christian Community. Lots for us to think about as Feig, a Christ centred community in this time and this place.

Nadia Bolz-Weber

2010-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Nadia has come to our pre-Greenbelt feast a couple of times now. Despite this I have not actually managed to speak with her! I do however greatly enjoy reading her blog. Here it is just in case you might too.. http://www.sarcasticlutheran.typepad.com/

Grace

2010-02-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

We had a smaller gathering of about 10 of us on Thursday which seems rare for us these days. Having one big conversation around the table was a novelty!

Dan led us in a contemplation around experiences of worship which led on to speaking of Grace. We all worship and encounter God in different ways and I hope Feig is a place of Grace. A place where we can share and explore together. A place where we recognise that we are all different and understand that what works for one might not work for all but that it is no less important for that.

And I think we can all agree that Dan rocks at the whole vicar thing!

Feast - lovely

2010-01-27T13:00:00.000-08:00

Again a good evening to you all. How've things been? Good? I hope so.

So, we had a fantastic feast last week, thank you everyone for coming. We were very privileged to have a local band, Tinkerscuss, http://www.myspace.com/tinkerscuss an amazing sound, very fitting for the Cathedral, everyone really enjoyed the atmosphere they created. Very much so.

There were fewer of us this time round, we get to take a good few people up the tower and down the crypt, always a special treat for anyone who hasn't been to the Cathedral and who would like the chance at night.

Anyway, the next one will hopefully be around April time, a little after Easter, maybe even on a Friday so that we can invite some people from round the country. Watch this space.

G'night.

G

Feast - 2010

2010-01-18T13:07:00.000-08:00

Good evening.

I trust that you are all well?

I thought I would mention the feast this week, the first feast of the, er, ten-ties? It's a much smaller affair this time round, it feels like a long time since we only had around 30-40 people! This is a good thing that we've had so many, lots of people wanting to come along, to enjoy the space and hopefully listen for God.

G

Haiti

2010-01-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

The focus of feig tonight is prayer. Not least for the people of Haiti.

You can give to the relief effort via Christian Aid

Music

2010-01-11T04:10:00.000-08:00

Listening to - Colleen. She is a French musician from what I can gather, describing her music as experimental, classical, minimal and acoustic. It is mostly if not entirely instrumental.

I asked for one of her albums for Christmas called 'The Golden Morning Breaks'. You might approach any album sporting a unicorn and fairy on the cover with a due sense of caution and alarm but what you find inside compensates for any initial misgivings.

It is beguiling, delicate, sensual and occasionally haunting. In short, more sparkly, plinky-plonk noodling to chill out to. I am a fan.

dp

Reading

2010-01-11T03:58:00.000-08:00

I am 3/4 of the way through a book by Chaim Potok called 'My Name Is Asher Lev'. I have read and enjoyed his novels before but none so much as this one. It is an exceptional story charting the internal confusion of a young Jew caught between his faith and his art, his father's wishes and his God given gift. Ok, so it might not sound like a real page turner but I am loving it.

dp

Postponed

2010-01-10T12:15:00.000-08:00

Along with so many other events and gatherings, feig was postponed last week because of hazardous conditions. We'll have another go this Thursday, see if we can get this new year off the ground.

A bunch of us met for a drink this afternoon though at a new place called 'It's all about Chocolate' down at The Quays. A fine time was enjoyed by all. True to their word, it was indeed all about chocolate. Great spacious place (around 15 of us managed to sit together). They even brought over our drinks and treats. Nice.

dp

Epiphany

2010-01-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

We're in cold, dark winter but the Church now celebrates epiphany. The coming of Christ, the light in darkness. Such a powerful image to carry into the new year and one to guide our worship over coming weeks.

Just as the wise men made their way to worship, so feig gather on Thursday at St Paul's for the first time this year, in this new decade, to worship the light that has lead us this far. Brilliant. Looking forward to it.

dp

Catch up

2010-01-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

Leading up to the Christmas period we interviewed candidates for the post of leader within Feig. Pleased to say that we found someone and that that someone is Steve Clarke.

Sadly Steve and his family won't be able to join us until sometime in June but we're looking forward to all that they will surely bring to this community.

dp

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-01-01T13:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year all!

According to my sources Feig-ers variously spent New Year's Eve:

Investigating a murder mystery
Sharing a meal at the Air Balloon
Experimenting with getting a baby into a sleep routine
Hanging out at each others houses
Working
Drinking Champagne
Putting babies to bed and eating a take-away
Watching fireworks from a window
Being grumpy about the whole thing

So there.

Secret Santa

2009-12-20T13:22:00.000-08:00

The last Feig before Christmas happened on Thursday. Good food. Good company. And most importantly, Good Presents. (The photo is from Flickr by the way. I really must start taking more of my own photos!)

It has been an eventful year for Feig with Michael and his Family moving on and a search for a new person to take up the post. More on that to follow...

But for now, I am content to wear my secret santa present of a warm woolly hat, contemplate what has been and dream of what is to come.

As Dag Hammarskjold says: "For all that has been, thanks. For all that will be, yes"

- el

Big Congratulations!

2009-12-05T02:04:00.000-08:00

Our very own Dan Pierce found out yesterday that he has been recommended for training for ordination. I think it's fair to say that there was never any doubt in our minds! We're excited for the Pierce family as they think and pray and plan their next steps in the journey.

latest

2009-11-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Pete H rounded up our final passage of Corinthians last Thursday. Too much to reflect on here but just to say, it has been well worth the effort.

This coming week we set about the very practical task of considering questions to ask of the applicants for feig's new vicar. Not without enjoying food and worship first of course.

dp

approaching advent...

2009-11-29T08:36:00.000-08:00

Winter is upon us and darkness is around us. Advent is approaching. One of my favourite Taize chants comes to mind...

"In our darkness,

there is no darkness,

for you,

oh Lord,

the darkest night is clear as the day."

Cartoon

2009-11-22T06:40:00.000-08:00

A friend sent me this and I thought it was funny. Especially as I'm sat here with my weird beard and working on my mac lap-top!

Not that I'm influential or even that much of a blogger I should say.

Still, weird beard - check! laptop - check!

dp

2009-11-17T12:01:00.000-08:00

So I was surfing the web again and came across this blog discussing the difference between seed of the church and fruit of the church. It struck a cord with me because we often get asked 'what is Feig?' and 'what exactly do you do?'

Ryan Marsh writes "I always get confused about which is which, so I try to remember how Luther distinguished between the “seed” of the Church and the “fruit” of the Church. The Seed is the proclamation of the Gospel, and when this Gospel is proclaimed, when this seed is planted, it blossoms into all kinds of fruits:

Like feeding the hungry, befriending the lonely, dignifying all humans, giving access to medicines to people who are suffering, and saying “No” to injustice. As well as saying “Yes” to beauty, to creating, singing, painting, and community… the number of fruit that comes from the Gospel is as varied as there are people.

But when I get mixed up is when I start to see myself and my community as centered around the fruit rather than the seed. When we start thinking of ourselves as a social service, or an artist colony, or a country club, or anything else other than a Gospel community united by a common grace in Jesus Christ, in whom there is neither Jew nor Greek (no longer an ethnic division), in whom there is neither slave nor free (no longer an economic division), in whom there is neither male nor female (no longer a gender division), and in whom there is neither insiders nor outsiders (no longer status division), because Jesus is our peace, who has destroyed all these hostile divisions between us and reconciled us to God through the cross (that almost sounds biblical)."

Shortlisting

2009-11-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

Shortlisting for the feig post will take place tomorrow evening. Please pray for wisdom and discernment as those gathered consider each applicant. Cheers

dp

Women of The Bible

2009-11-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

Cheryl Lawrie (who I have mentioned on here before) has written a blog post recently about the place of women in God's story. About how, over time, we have forgotten about their contribution or miscast them as moral examples. Lawrie points out that "When a woman’s story becomes too important and subversive, the Christian tradition has an embarrassing tendency to shift focus; to demean her character, so that the telling of her story will always be associated with morality and virtue, rather than courage and wisdom."

Lawrie points out that "The Gospels themselves are filled with stories where people were challenged by Jesus for interpreting faith with a worldview of morality and relationship in place. Instead, we are told, the story of faith is to be read into our worldview, confronting our stereotypes and prejudices."

Gloucester

2009-11-11T03:02:00.000-08:00

I have been reading a book on and off for about three years. It is called 'The Rise of the Creative Class' by Richard Florida. It explains how certain cities or regions in North America have become synonymous with creative enterprise and how those hot spots have thrived, reflecting on their political, sociological and economic landscape.

Gloucester is not a creative hub although there are some highly creative people here. I wonder what this city might be known for in coming years? The regeneration project underway seems to focus on our commercial potential with shopping developments and so on. I could be wrong about that but that is how it seems to me.

Is that the best we can hope for? Is that such a bad thing to hope for? or could Gloucester offer something more distinctive and pioneering to the world?

...these and other questions.

dp

Feig Winter Habitat

2009-11-10T02:34:00.000-08:00

So Louise and I were talking about where the people of Feig can get together and hang out. Summer seems much easier. Weather permitting you can pretty much just arrange to meet in a field. Kids are happy. Balls can be kicked about and lounging can occur on blankets on the grass. But what about in the winter? Where can we meet that is interesting for kids, warm and dry, and preferably serving good coffee??

The great indoors

2009-11-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

Sparked up the open fire last night for the first time this season. Have done so again this eve. Had a good father-son bonding time with my eldest who is almost two as we built the fire. You can't start these things too early! Very nice indeed. The picture is off flickr but it looks similar to what I'm looking at. Cosy.
dp

The Evangelism Project

2009-11-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

The Ikon community in Belfast have an experimental group called The Evangelism Project. Peter Rollins explains: "The Evangelism Project’ is a group of people who visit different political and religious groups, not to evangelise, but to be evangelised. Not to reform the other but to invite the other to reform us. In the project we have found that, as we see our world through the others eyes, we come to see some of things we believe and do in a different light."

Ikon explains that "An analysis of human interaction over history teaches us that there are two dangerous temptations each of us face when confronted by a stranger, i.e. by one who thinks and acts in a way that is foreign to our cultural or religious practices. The first is a desire to transform that stranger into our own image, endeavouring to eclipse and replace their cultural and religious practices with our own. The second is to exclude and reject the stranger entirely, viewing them as a threat which must be guarded against. In one the stranger is rendered into a clone while in the other they are made into an enemy."

Pete Rollins sums up "To invite a world that we would wish to critique and dismiss to be a mirror into our own world is a difficult thing to do. It requires both bravery and humility."

Cycling the Americas

2009-11-06T03:12:00.000-08:00

I heard about this on radio 5live yesterday afternoon. A bloke called Mark Beaumont is cycling from Anchorage, Alaska to Ushuaia in Southern Argentina. I think he set off in May and is somewhere in central America. I love this kind if thing - adventure I suppose.

I think they are filming his trip for a BBC series like Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boormans 'Long way round'. If you fancy keeping up with Mark, follow his cycling the americas blog

dp

Does God prefer folk, soul or techno? Candlelight, neon or strobe?

2009-11-04T05:26:00.000-08:00

How we worship God has arguably become the feature that most defines one church or denomination against another. We might reveal our personal preference for one style of worship as the deciding factor in choosing which church we are a part of. On one level this makes some kind of sense.

However, the trouble with this is that God can end up looking and sounding a lot like us. We limit how we might hear from God or indeed from one another. We can come (although not always consciously) to mistake our way of worshipping for the way to worship and shut ourselves away from other possibilities.

I went to a southern gospel music show at the Royal Festival Hall last week. It isn't my cup of tea but my dad and his dad love it so I went along with them. Apart from the odd song the music left me pretty cold. However, in spite of the considerable theological or musical differences I might have with the performers they clearly loved God with a joy that I find it hard to muster. I was blown away.

The fact that our worship has so often come to embody our differences is deeply sad but perhaps I'm naive to think it might be otherwise. My experience at the Royal Festival Hall left me to reflect upon two questions...

What does Feigs worship say about me? What does Feigs worship say about God?

dp

hold this space

2009-11-03T07:38:00.000-08:00

I've stumbled across this site http://holdthisspace.org.au/ and keep coming back to it. It's an alternative worship project in Australia and I find much of it beautiful. Here is one of their prayers...

In the darkest night

it is not possible to believe

that light will come.

Because light has come before,

doesn’t mean it will again.

Hold faith tonight

for those who see the darkness

stretch before them -

who know no other truth than that -

whose barren-ness prevails,

who are buffeted by despair,

who cannot breathe for fear.

Join your prayer to God’s:

let there be light.

Pank-A-Squith

2009-10-28T13:17:00.000-07:00

Caught a segment on radio 4 this morning about Pank-A-Squith, a snakes and ladders like board game designed for supporters of the Suffragette movement a hundred years ago. Its name comes from Emmeline Pankhurst and then British Prime Minister H.H. Asquith. Perhaps the only board game to reference the force feeding of hunger strikers.

I have an urge to find one and play it, perhaps with other Feigers. It goes under auction today with £600-£800 as a guide price. We'll see.

Corinthians

2009-10-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

This week we will welcome a guest facilitator Derek Foster from Redcliffe College, with whom we will be gaining an over-view of the book of Corinthians. We are beginning a little themed series throughout November.

"Series on Corinthians!" you might say, "thought this was a fresh expression of church!". Well, it is. We've never done it quite this way before as feig so it will be a refreshing change for us.

Over the coming weeks we will be employing the help of several guests to aid our musings on this brilliant and troubling book. We'll see what happens.

dp

Feast

2009-10-23T11:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all who came last night to the Feast at Gloucester Cathedral. You made it very special. Lots of people, lots of food, lots of wine and lots of chatter. Hopefully someone took some pics of proceedings. If not, you'll just have to trust me, it was mellow and marvelous. Nice one.

dp

Another beast of a feast!

2009-10-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

We're looking forward to welcoming around 60 or 70 people for the upcoming feast at Gloucester Cathedral. It's a privilege and a pleasure to open that space and share a meal with so many. I'm quite excited really.

dp

New job?

2009-10-20T14:43:00.000-07:00

After the departure of our friend and vicar Michael Volland and family, the diocese is looking to appoint a new person to his post. It will be interesting to see who applies. Watch this space.

And if you're interested...click here

dp

Women of Feig

2009-10-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

So the men gathered and the smell of men in a confined space along with garlic bread did indeed make me run for the high ground.

A few of us women folk met and talked and laughed and ate cake. Some of us got lost and others did the finding. Those who couldn't make it were missed.

All in all a very different night to the men. Was good to talk of deep things in the intimacy of a small gathering. And pretty awe inspiring to realise that were it not for feig we wouldn't even know each other let alone be sitting in the same space and sharing our lives together.

P P P P P Poker Face...

2009-10-20T04:25:00.000-07:00

Last night we had another games evening, it was lovely. Well, manly.

Every now and again we have a few drinks and play some games on the Playstation and enjoy the company of men - it's mostly men, the ladies do their own thing, they run for high ground when the garlic bread comes out.

Anyway, we tried a bit of poker last night, since we are getting a little old for fighting over the Playstation (some of us anyway). It was a great night and a good crowd, I love doing things like this, makes me feel like we are definitely working with a community, even if it is just relaxing - it's all important.

Sadly, due to us being men, we forgot to take many pics, I have one of the table though, which is nice.

Anyway, next stop feast, really looking forward to it. It might be a bigger beast than we thought.

Feig Feast (part 1)

2009-10-19T03:48:00.001-07:00

I've been asked a few times lately what led to feig laying on "the feast" at the Cathedral. The idea is simple.

It is a meeting place, a point of connection, the start of a conversation without premeditating the outcome. We invite our friends and eat together. That's it.

The friends of one person in feig are perhaps strangers to others in feig. Therefore, we create a welcome space for strangers. This is a rare thing and we think it is a good thing.

Gloucester Cathedral is a hugely iconic building free from some associations that may halt people’s thoughts of entering a regular parish church. It is largely perceived as a place of historical intrigue and local pride that somehow neutralizes any residual unease about it as a religious institution.

We try and avoid filling this space with our words and propositions, in favour of creating space for wonder. It is not an overtly evangelistic event but it is profoundly missional. This is a simple act of hospitality or as we have come to refer to it – an ordinary meal in extraordinary surroundings.

DP

On a mission?

2009-10-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

The more I think about it, we are strange if we talk about DOING mission or evangelism. When are we not doing it? I find that if I talk in these terms it increasingly leaves me cold. Like I've been put in charge of product placement in a Life-style mag.

We talked around this tonight as Feig. I sense there were a lot of differing opinions in the room and that is no bad thing, there is a lot of love and respect too.

Dan

PCC on the PC

2009-10-12T05:46:00.000-07:00

A couple of us got together last night to give our long neglected website a bit of TLC. We haven't really done much but updated things. Meeting to revise our web content is surely the fresh expressions equivelent of a PCC meeting. Very right and proper too!

Swedes, Sliding doors and supper

2009-10-09T02:46:00.000-07:00

Feig met to share in the Eucharist last evening. We were pleased to welcome a group from a church in Sweden and enjoyed meat balls for supper followed by a short service. It was sound.

I have been reflecting in my own time on why we meet for worship. A film called Sliding doors came to mind. You might remember it.

In the film the central character played by Gwyneth Paltrow goes to catch the tube. At this point the film splits in two. One plot line shows us what would happen if she got on the train and the other shows us the result of her missing it.

When we choose to enter any space with the intention of worshiping our creator our lives take a different course because of it. We are shaped by the encounter. We are inspired, we are unsettled, we are met and we are changed in ways we wouldn't have been if we had stayed at home.

As in the film, both plot lines come with complications. It can be hard to articulate why I enter God's presence as I don't always necessarily feel better for it but I'm glad the door is left open and last night, I'm glad I made it.

Dan

Jonsi & Alex

2009-10-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

So here is another music recommendation for you. Do Sigur Ros get played to death at alt-worship emerging worship gatherings? I suspect so but I can live with it. They know how to reduce the heart rate and lift the spirit.

With this album their frontman Jonsi and his partner Alex Somers create another kind of stunning sound-scape. It's not a million miles from the bands work (minus Jonsi' vocals)and is every bit as fitting for your moments of reflection and wonder. Enjoy.