Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Pondering on MOOT rule of life and other musings .
Greetings from the part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church which is as far away from london as you can possibly get....... yet because of being part of that community it doesnt feel so far away. I'm sitting here slightly sunburnt with some bushmills whiskey in hand and thinking about a rule of life ...... I have spent the last few days on the cormandel peninsula in new zealand ....one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen - a good place to chill and to think . I realise how little time my life in London gives me to read , think and even pray. Here it is somehow easier - walking along the beach reflecting on the kindness of strangers....hot springs ...miles of golden sand ....ocean so blue and little islands out from the shore catching the sunlight - relfecting patches of light on the water sweeping out to the islands and and disappearing beyond travelling who knows where and when to warm others as it has warmed me . Starts me thinking about Moot and the journey we are on as a community which reflects my own journey. It is easy to be a mystic here .....but hard to be a mystic in the city . I think i NEED a rule of life to help in the madness of london living.
Trying to create that rule of life may be a long a perhaps painful experience. It reminded me of the merchant who every week travelled the same route to market with his two camels ...a route which took him across a river . One week he loaded up the camels - one with salt and one with cotton for the market. When they got to the river it was in flood and the they all struggled to cross it. One of the camels almost drowned because the cotton it carried soaked up the water doubling the burden ...the other camel was fine because the river dissolved the salt taking its burden away . Our beliefs are like the river - they can lift a burden from some while almost drowning others depending on where they are on their journey.
So how can we come up with a rule of life which doesnt crush some while freeing others ? I think part of the answer is by achieving balance. Moot still needs to be welcoming to those burnt out by church or life - give them somewhere to rest ....yet also be an accountble community which challenges us about the way we live our lives....how we relate to each other and to the city and world around us . How do we reconcile those 2 functions ?
I was pondering this while strolling along the beach and i recognise the genuine fear about creating a 2-tier moot ...between those who want to push on and develop and those who simply need to sit still and be reminded of who God is and who they are .
I wont say i came up with the answer but i offer this up for discussion - I'm not that worried about it because any community is always in flux and we all move between these positions . My own christian journey has always been cyclical moving between needing to do and needing to be - sometimes needing to give and sometimes so burnt out i have nothing to give and need to recieve. Need to sit quietly in a service and be reminded that i still believe in God and there is a reason to be there. If we are aware of this tension in our own lives then we can surely be aware of it within moot and use it as a postive way forward.
Because I do believe we need a rule of life . I have been very good for years at knowing what i didnt believe when it came to church- where the church was wrong and what was done badly. But I've never taken the positive step of sitting down with those others in our little part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church and trying to define what it is we believe...what a church should be ...what it is we aspire to - what kind of impact we want to have on the world around us. Because its hard to be a mystic in the city ..... I'm not sure where this journey is going to end for us but I'm glad to be on it with all of you - its going to be an interesting ride .
Love and peace from the land of the long white cloud
Mark
Trying to create that rule of life may be a long a perhaps painful experience. It reminded me of the merchant who every week travelled the same route to market with his two camels ...a route which took him across a river . One week he loaded up the camels - one with salt and one with cotton for the market. When they got to the river it was in flood and the they all struggled to cross it. One of the camels almost drowned because the cotton it carried soaked up the water doubling the burden ...the other camel was fine because the river dissolved the salt taking its burden away . Our beliefs are like the river - they can lift a burden from some while almost drowning others depending on where they are on their journey.
So how can we come up with a rule of life which doesnt crush some while freeing others ? I think part of the answer is by achieving balance. Moot still needs to be welcoming to those burnt out by church or life - give them somewhere to rest ....yet also be an accountble community which challenges us about the way we live our lives....how we relate to each other and to the city and world around us . How do we reconcile those 2 functions ?
I was pondering this while strolling along the beach and i recognise the genuine fear about creating a 2-tier moot ...between those who want to push on and develop and those who simply need to sit still and be reminded of who God is and who they are .
I wont say i came up with the answer but i offer this up for discussion - I'm not that worried about it because any community is always in flux and we all move between these positions . My own christian journey has always been cyclical moving between needing to do and needing to be - sometimes needing to give and sometimes so burnt out i have nothing to give and need to recieve. Need to sit quietly in a service and be reminded that i still believe in God and there is a reason to be there. If we are aware of this tension in our own lives then we can surely be aware of it within moot and use it as a postive way forward.
Because I do believe we need a rule of life . I have been very good for years at knowing what i didnt believe when it came to church- where the church was wrong and what was done badly. But I've never taken the positive step of sitting down with those others in our little part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church and trying to define what it is we believe...what a church should be ...what it is we aspire to - what kind of impact we want to have on the world around us. Because its hard to be a mystic in the city ..... I'm not sure where this journey is going to end for us but I'm glad to be on it with all of you - its going to be an interesting ride .
Love and peace from the land of the long white cloud
Mark
