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Page 1: Web viewListening, Learning, Transforming – this Advent ... I wonder what it might mean for you, this Advent, to Listen to God, to Learn from his Word,

James writes…

Listening, Learning, Transforming – this Advent

‘It is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first became believers… Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light.’ (Romans 13.11)

I am passionate about the new thing that I believe God is doing at St John’s. After nearly six months in post, I have a real sense that this Advent is going to be momentous. It may be a busy time in the wider society, but (in a more hidden way) it will be transforming for us. I invite you all to be part of what is happening… ‘Now is the moment for you to wake from sleep’, writes St Paul. So let me say something about our new vision, about this month’s plans – within our ‘Year of Prayer’, which began last month – and about ‘waiting on God’. I can assure you, from experience, that God will not disappoint and your journey of prayer will lead you (like the children discovering Narnia) to a new place that you had scarcely imagined beforehand. It will indeed be like awakening from sleep.

Vision is a subtle business. Ideally it needs to involve everyone, and this will be true of us at St John’s in the medium term. But in the short term a small group of us have developed an outward-facing vision statement, to say something about our vision and values. Think of it as ‘from the outside in’, so that those beyond can get a glimpse of what we’re about. After all mission is the raison d’étre of the church’s existence. So we ended up with a simple phrase, ‘Listening, Learning, Transforming’… this will be widely used, and a new logo is being developed. This vision can be applied on lots of levels: to our faith life, our relationships within, our engagement with the wider community, pastoral care, etc. I wonder what it might mean for you, this Advent, to Listen to God, to Learn from his Word, and to be Transformed – allowing the Holy Spirit space to be at work?

Deeper into God, our Year of Prayer, started in November. It is a key building block to ‘Listening, Learning and Transforming’. Some are being moved by weekly prayers (at Compline) on Thursdays at 9pm at my house – as is so often the case, the profound silences we keep are as transforming as the liturgy we share. There is now a prayer table in Church, with books available for hire: please sign out and return within a fortnight, so others can also benefit. There are some real classics of prayer writing. This month, December, there will also be three special things happening, all of which provide a unique opportunity for growth (as we ‘wake from sleep’):

- Each Sunday at 10.00am, there will be five minutes of silent prayer before worship; we will also pray as the Advent Candles are lit; our sermons will be prayer-focused, and the liturgy will be profound, expressing our dependence on the God who is coming to us afresh.

- On Monday 4th and Wednesday 6th December at 7.30pm there will be an ‘Advent School of Prayer’. You only need to attend one session, and the material will be available at other times to, for all ages. This is a workshop I piloted with the Bishop of Leicester in Lent, and includes hospitality, a talk about prayer, prayer stations, a plenary and Compline. It is as much for beginners in prayer, as for those with more experience, to open our eyes afresh.

Page 2: Web viewListening, Learning, Transforming – this Advent ... I wonder what it might mean for you, this Advent, to Listen to God, to Learn from his Word,

- On Saturday 9th December, a late edition to our calendar, I am offering an Advent Quiet Morning at St John’s, on the theme of ‘The meaning is in the waiting’; an opportunity to step aside and meet with God. Coffee, quiet, two short talks, midday prayer and free time.

- Otherwise all the usual Advent and Christmas services & activities will be happening, as detailed elsewhere in Parish Voice.

Waiting on God: One of the most powerful things about Listening, Learning and Transforming, is that if we genuinely wait on God, he always come to us. This, after all, is what Advent is about, and it is the experience of countless women and men (myself included) of the deeper life of prayer & Christian discipleship. For in the end, it is God’s work and not our own – we only clear a space for God to act, by his Spirit, within the depths of our heart, our mind and our actions. The liturgy, prayers and Bible readings for Advent are all about this… as we wait expectantly on God, and journey with the patriarchs, prophets, John the Baptists and Mary. Let me end with a few brief insights about the mysterious dynamics of how this happens, or at least the conditions that predispose God (wherever possible) to act, within the complexities of everyday lives:

- Allowing space and being expectant, in hope that God will act. Malcolm Guite, echoing the ‘O’ antiphons of Advent, meditates on the theme in his sonnet:

O mind behind the mind through which I seekO light within the light by which I see

O Word beneath the words with which I speakO founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me

O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me O memory of time, reminding me

My ground of being, always grounding me…Come to me now, disguised as everything.

- Being present to what is already happening, within us and around us, developed through attentiveness to God in ordinary. This theme is brought out by Eugene Peterson’s poem, which contrasts awareness of God’s time, with our usual blindness to what God is doing:

Half, or more than half, my life is spentIn waiting: waiting for the day to come

When dawn spills laughter’s animated sunAcross the rim of God into my tent.

In my other clock, sin, I put offUntil I’m ready, which I never seem

To be, the seizing day, the kingdom dreamCome true. My head has been too long in the trough.

- Building silence or stillness into our daily rhythm, in order to discover the art of waiting on God in the present moment, where He is hiding. R S Thomas’ poem captures this well:

Moments of great calmKneeling before an altar

Of wood in a stone church

Page 3: Web viewListening, Learning, Transforming – this Advent ... I wonder what it might mean for you, this Advent, to Listen to God, to Learn from his Word,

In summer, waiting for GodTo speak; the air a staircaseFor silence; the sun’s light

Ringing me as though I actedA great role.

Prompt me, God;But not yet. When I speak,

Though it be you who speakThrough me, something is lost.The meaning is in the waiting.