Virtually Paul

In this Communion

On Wednesday night I had the rare privilege of being invited to a church service. Furthermore, I had the privilege of being invited to a church service to play the guitar - but didn’t actually end up playing it.

It was the new fortnightly Wednesday night gathering at West Preston Baptist Church. Mark, the pastor, had set it up around the communion table. There were only about six of us there and the content of the service was almost entirely responsive readings and prayer. Thanks to Ridley, I’ve developed a healthy appreciation for such things.

What I liked about it was its simplicity. Mark spoke to us briefly about how the communion table can be inappropriately sidelined, particularly by western protestant churches. I see his point. So often, communion is a tack-on to a church service where the sermon is a highlight. Sometimes I think the time is used in church services to allow people to reflect on the speaker and how that person’s words have impacted their emotions - rather than being a meal that symbolically enters us into a spiritual connectedness with our God. In the process, I think communion can become ritualistic.

The contrast on Wednesday night was marvellous. There were no little pansy 15mm squares of bread to place on your tongue and swallow whole. Similarly we had glasses of grapejuice (wine) that had a bit of volume to them, instead of those little ones that you could possibly use to give a child a dose of demazin.

The effect wasn’t lost on me. John 6:53-57 …

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.

If I was reading that for the first time, without a fair idea of the whole picture in the book of John, those metaphors would be extremely confusing… so if that’s you, don’t stress. It certainly hit me in a new way. As my jaw moved, tearing away at the big chunk of bread roll and as I gulped down the large cup of grapejuice, it actually required some physical effort. I couldn’t just slide communion down my throat. And in those moments I reflected on Jesus’ actions on the cross in a new way.

I came away from the service feeling refreshed. I felt like I’d been part of something alive and real. I didn’t feel the emptiness that comes with a stage-produced church service. I felt more like we were cutting to the chase. No one cared that I didn’t have the music for the one song we could have sung. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t about that.

I long for the day when I’m part of a community that is willing to put “what we do” aside and, instead, asks “why are we here?” When worship - when church - is just another churchy song, why do I feel so disconnected from it on the inside? Where’s God?

Have you experienced anything like this?

Working my way up

I have had a big week this week. I’ve started a new job which has been a big challenge for me personally. I like being an educated individual. I like being able to see what I’m doing and knowing why I’m doing it. Unfortunately, I have essentially no idea what’s going on. I’ve just been rocking up to work and trying to find out how things fit together based on what I’ve been dropped in.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with colleagues and sat in on some very long training sessions, much of which I barely grasped. So, in short, I’m finding it frustrating. At the same time, I can see how much more of a difference I could make to organisations that I encounter in the future if I get my head around this stuff. The partners at work are right. It will be extremely good grounding for the future. I’d just like to feel like I had slightly more of a clue in the present moment.

What frustrates me most is that, at the moment, I can’t even see a pathway towards having a consolidated understanding of the things I’m meant to be doing. Some of the other junior staff have advised that it takes a little while for things to sink in. I could really use some more guidance in that direction but I plan to sit tight for the time being. I’ll try to stay positive and motivated. Hopefully I’ll be guided through the wilderness a bit more next week.

Unexpected Holiday

The blogosphere, at least in my feed reader, has been a bit dry for a while… so this is my contribution towards getting things humming along again.

I got a rare and unexpected chance to have a holiday over the last two weeks. I took my camera with me and got a stack of good photos. I’m a bit too lazy to play with online galleries though. Maybe one day.

I start my new job on Tuesday next week and I can say confidently, after having two full weeks off, I’m actually really looking forward to having something structured to do again!

My holiday took me down to the Mornington Penninsula to have a go at surfing with my housemate and some of his friends and family. On the tail end of that I spent a few days checking out some national parks in the same area, spending a night camping on my own in a little town called Flinders on Westernport Bay.

It was good to get away with a group for a bit to do something different, then equally enjoyable to have a bit of time to myself down on the coast. I spent a fair few hours writing in a journal. It was good to get some particular thoughts out of my head and on to paper - and not just the usual logic puzzles or musings that I blog about here - stuff about me. Deeply so. I feel refreshed as a result. The world somehow feels a bit smaller. More manageable maybe?

The adventure concluded with a day and a half stopover at my grandparents’ place in Geelong, via the car ferry, where I was incredibly well fed with consecutive roast dinners, given tours of their church, and taken to the lawn bowling club for an hour of private tuition with my grandfather, bowls coach extraordinaire. I still can’t do it, despite his best efforts (which reminded me somewhat of my dad trying to teach me to drive).

I think I’ve used the time well. I’ve come to a few conclusions about things that are affecting my life, which I’ll post about soon in the hope of starting some discussion in general terms on the issues at play.  Stay tuned.

Stir It Up

I’ve blogged about Stir before here.

It’s a World Vision initiative aimed at involving young people in their work.

They are having another membership drive. Their explanation says it best:

To watch the video, you’ll have to click here to visit the Stir site.