It's interesting how a different perspective changes things.
The trains at New Wine on each day off are a particular highlight, especially if you have young children to entertain...
A rather curtailed day at New Wine today brought on by some commitments next week that need considerable preparation.
I'm clean.
I've had a bath and a shower and a shave. It's not that there aren't showers and opportunities to shave at New Wine, but there's nothing quite like having a shower and a shave in your own home.
Today began with another excellent talk from Kenny. Then I got the car and began packing it. The children were a little upset when they came back from their groups to find that we really were leaving and so they would miss their final session this evening. It's not a decision I like to take - we've always stayed to the end before and will do so again next year, but we really did have to get home (I know- excuses, excuses!)
The journey home was fine, unpacking smooth and getting clean highly satisfying. All that's left to do know is to reflect on my notes a little bit more and, err, put it all into action. 24/7.
But what really struck me was the truth that it is important not to over-elaborate or exaggerate my testimony. Real people don't need whizz bang, they just need to know that there's a different way to live. We don't need over-dramatic testimony.
One of the ten commandments says: "Don't bear false witness against each other." how much worse would it be to bear false witness against God. And then there's Eve committing the first sin by exaggerating to the serpent about what God had really said about the Tree of Life.
I guess it's important to tell it. And tell it true.
While both of them have been translated as 'word' the Greek behind them is quite different. One of then indicates knowledge from heaven, the other, the unalterable truth of the gospels.
It is this latter 'logos' that struck me the most and that inspired the quote from Kenny in the title above.
We live in an age in the church when there had sometimes been an over-emphasis on grace. Kenny mentioned various gurus and leaders on the forefront of the emerging church and speedily growing movements who have said that 'doctrine doesn't matter anymore - it is only grace.'
Yet it is doctrine, coming from the Bible and so elegantly framed in much of the liturgy of the Anglican church that speaks of repentance and coming to the cross. It is those words of saying sorry for our sins that open up the whole world of gave that we don't actually deserve. The gospel does matter.
As Kenny put it, God has His arms of love, but you still need to walk into them.
I wonder if it would be worth having a corporate repentance for this attitude at New Wine - we may not have been personally or corporately responsible for these sort of wrong attitudes ourselves - but there may still be a place for saying sorry on behalf of others.
I suppose I've always been impressed at how Paul was a tentmaker, working hard by his own hands (1 Corinthians 4). The assumption I've always made is that he (at least) paid part of his way through his own trade. It's encouraging for those of us not in full-time ministry to see how effective Paul was.
I looked through the list of speakers and, not knowing much about them, I had written down the above title, presuming that all of the speakers would be full time ministers of some kind. Now I've since learned that I'm wrong in that - Caroline Cox, the speaker on Tuesday is clearly not in full time ministry, and there's been quite a few seminars addressing Christianity in business.
But what was interesting was when I met an old-friend who's recently left a secure full-time vicar position to plant a church in deprived part of Cardiff. It's been a calling on his and his wife's life for a few years and they've finally got the right timing from God to do it. A brave move.
What I found especially encouraging was that he will be training as a science teacher next year to support the mission financially. He even used the phrase 'tent-making'.
And as I reflected on this and other things - like words that have been spoken over me this week, and the way the New Wine leadership are always encouraging us to step out o the boat - I realised that I had answered my own question. The tent makers are all around me. We are the tent makers. I am a tent maker.
Many of use are much better at our tent-making than our following Jesus. We out our time and effort into our careers, sometimes at the detriment of everything else. It is only at events like New Wine where we realise what the balance could look like. But as Bishop Zac said last night, we need to get out of the 'garage service' and get used to being 'in Jesus' 24/7.
There are only 2 verses in the Bible which refer to Paul's trade - his tentmaking. There are many more that detail his wisdom, his exposition, his reasoning and his deeds that furthers the Kingdom. Maybe I need to think on that when I'm looking at the choices I make about how I spend my time.
My day has been dominated by that hayfever feeling today. Sneezing, itchy eyes, irritable ears and a bleary head.
Kenny was brilliant this morning, speaking further in John 17. We returned straight back to the caravan to clean and tidy as we will be leaving slightly early tomorrow afternoon.
A journey to the marketplace made us richer in 2 ways - a CD containing some of the songs that the children have enjoyed this week and a book that Mary Pytches recommended.
And that was about it really. I'm now listening to Anne Coles speaking from Venue 1 on New Wine Fm on growing stronger in the Lord.
I may manage a glass of wine later sitting with friends, especially considering that tonight will be our last night here.
Sent from my thingamajig
The walk to groups first thing was a slog, but it was worth it - the children had a treat time again and Kenny preached a great message in Venue 1 on Chapter 17 of John.
I spent the next couple of hours wondering around with our smallest child, who was quite content to sit in the pushchair, underneath the rain cover, singing to herself and shaking her shaker that she had made in Gems. I tried to get my phone charged at the Tearfund Cafe during this time although it was slightly delayed because hey had got some water into their electrics.
Community lunch followed and it was timed perfectly with the sun coming out. Sixty people or so all sat around eating Chinese food and a pleasant time was had by all - I managed to catch up with a couple of folk who I'd not spoken to all week.
The trip to pastoral prayer was the highlight of my day. A couple of things had really stood out from the morning talk and I went down to pray about them. I came away smiling.
A birthday tea followed, which our children had been invited to - the second birthday of the week. Our youngest was particularly delighted with the pink biscuits.
The evening talk was by Bishop Zac from Uganda - it was really good and have blogged about it elsewhere. On returning, it was our own tea, a chat with friends and I finish with wondering whether I've still got time for a shower before bed.
However, I've not heard the passage applied so relevantly to my own life as Bishop Zac did this evening in Venue 1.
He talked about idolatry in categories that I've not heard before. Where before I've thought of television, money and other concrete things, today Biahop Zac made me think about religion, safety, security and even myself.
The point is that an idol is something I create and then worship. It could be anything - my family, my lifestyle, this blog even. When I say I've Jesus in me just as I am in Him, I may be speaking the truth, but not in equal measure. It's far more I'm in Jesus than the other way around - believing that Jesus can bed boxed up is one of those idols that individuals and even churches create for themselves.
Interesting, powerful stuff. And it musts shows how little of God I really know.
There's nothing quite like rain at New Wine. After four days of heat and sunshine, the rain has been falling heavily since the early hours of the morning.
Nice!
A view from the side of the main stage at Venue 1
"What do you mean?" I enquired.
"Well, Peter denied Jesus, but what were the others doing? Playing it safe."
I too am pleased at the message that Mark gives: 'it is risky to play it safe.' I like it that New Wine encourages us to take risks. I've been warned before that I shouldn't post what I really think on a public blog - people might be offended, might think less of me. By cross-posting onto Facebook, my non-Christian friends who I love might decide to break the contact...
It might not seem like the most risky thing in the world, keeping a blog - but it's my risk for the
moment.
However I couldn't help feeling (for the first time ever) that I was missing out on the communion service being held back at New Wine - the single daytime event that occurs on the day off. I hadn't felt this in previous years, but mainly I'm finally feeling more a part of New Wine - I'll have to reflect on this further.
A trip to Tesco followed, and this wouldn't deserve a mention but for the shenanigans that took place there. Obviously exhausted by the swimming, our youngest had fallen asleep by the time we reached the shop and wasn't going to wake up for anything. I tried putting her in a trolley but the way her head was lolling around really wasn't good, so I picked her up. I soon realised that I wasn't going to be able to carry a sleeping child for very long and push a trolley, so I abandoned the trolley and went to sit down. However my wide didn't realise that and sent back the other two children like outriders to place the required food they had found in the trolley I was supposed to be pushing. I saw them walk past me out of the shop carrying food that was unpaid for. They walked past a security guard also, who didn't even notice. Eventually they did realise that I had given up on the shopping process to sit with the sleeping child and I thought that would be the end of it.
Unfortunately I was wrong. The next thing I knew my son was approaching me, carrying a carton of milk with his trousers completely soaked through. What had escaped me was that he hadn't been able to find his mother to handover the carton of milk, though he had spent considerable time looking. The need to find mum became more desperate when he realised he needed the toilet. The urge became more and more powerful and he had just decided to come and see me about it, when the accident happened. Whoops. Poor parenting there I think...!
The poor boy hadn't had a brilliant night either - he'd fallen out of bed three times and on the third time woken his sister up by trying to get back into the wrong bed. Then, first thing in the morning he had locked himself in the toilet - we had been woken by little cries of "Help! Help!"
Back at camp, we made it down to have a go on the trains - always a highlight of the Day Off if you've got young children.
My evening was dominated by the celebration event at Groundbreakers, 45 minutes of madness which even included a spam eating competition this year. There were some great new songs we heard also.
On the way back I was really struck by the amazing worship I could hear all around from at least three venues. There really are some amazingly powerful songs around at the moment.
Tomorrow brings a return to 'normality' - morning bible study, kids groups and seminars.
"Church does to people what zoos do to animals." I can't help agree with Mark on this one.
We tie ourselves up with structures that limit our creativity and, more importantly, limit the holy spirit.
It seemed to me that Mark was talking about the established church in this, referring to how we've turned Jesus into a synod-loving Jesus and how we're the most over-resourced, over educated, least effective church in Christendom.
Now the Church of England is an easy target in this. It's often caricatured and has been guilty of many wrongs in the past. But it's still the church. And Jesus loves it.
And, as I gaze out upon this tented slope before me, I can't help feeling there's something slightly zoo-ish about New Wine itself.
As a 7 year old attendee of the Dales Bible Week in the 1980s (that dates me), I was impressed at how every church group would have someone strumming a guitar first the morning, as each micro-community would join in their own corporate worship before getting on with the rest of the day. This was an empowering act - each group led by the Spirit - and as Kenny Borthwick reminded us this morning, it was part of the pattern of solitude at night, community in the morning and mission in the afternoon.
Yet I never see or hear those mini-acts of corporate worship at New Wine. Only the big stage stuff. It's almost like the music is of such high quality, that those people who can only bash out a few chords daren't do so. It wouldn't be good enough.
At this point I want to make a joke about jumper-wearing, bearded worship leaders from the past. But Kenny Borthwick today warned us of the trap of coolness - we live in a society where the cool-looking, beautiful people take the stage. Is that also true of New Wine? Is that part of the zoo that Mark Bailey was talking about?
I could go on, but I don't want to spend my time nit-picking over New Wine when I love I here so much. There's a far more constructive approach: individual and corporate repentance - because I think there are two responses to the thought that churches limit the Holy Spirit.
The first is to acknowledge where each of us, as individuals, have imprisoned ourselves. Are there traps of coolness or other things that are barriers to the Holy Spirit? We each need to spend time with God for Him to identify where our own attitudes and behaviours have become blocks to the Wild Goose. The second is to acknowledge that as New Wine churches we are part of the whole church and need to say sorry corporately for the whole church. It's not as though there isn't a biblical precedent for this. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the very words of God written in stone tablets only to find the Israelites had made a golden cow to worship while he'd been away, he later repented for the whole Israel people - he didn't say "they did it" - he said, "we did it."
So how about it, New Wine? A huge corporate act of repentance to get us all out of our cages?
It might even spark a revival.
I thought my shorts had been getting heavy.
I emptied them out this morning and found all this.
The main one has been the heat: it has been a scorcher today. After the morning talk it was all I could do to sit and perspire slowly for much of the afternoon.
Kenny Borthwick's talk was both challenging and encouraging, and I've already referred to it in other posts I've made today. A brief sojourn in the marketplace before the walk back to the caravan, when the heat was really beginning to tell.
Apart from sweating for most of the afternoon, I also spent sometime looking through my notes on the talks I've heard so far, and meeting up with some old friends who were at or church ten years ago. The highlight of the afternoon though, was a water fight with my son, who had previously been getting slightly bored and miserable, especially because a friend he had hoped would be here had not yet arrived.
There's nothing quite like a water fight on a blisteringly hot day, and not only did it provide cool relief, but it was also a joy to re-engage with my son for a good play.
After tea, more amazing worship at Venue One and then a tear-jerking talk from Caroline Cox. I cried at times as she related the stories of faith, tragedy and triumph from different parts of the world where she has visited.
It's the Day Off tomorrow. Swimming, pub lunch and trains are on the cards, I think.
At New Wine, Tear-y Tuesday takes on a whole different meaning. It's the day when the *scary* speaker takes the stage in Venue One.
Jackie Pullinger, Heidi Baker, and this year Caroline Cox. They are all 'doers - people who condense the nonsense' according to Mark Bailey. They offer challenge because they are really out there - far from 'normal jobs' and 'normal church.'
And then there was that one year, 2009 I think, when a pastor from New Zealand preached (apologies - I can't remember his name). He only talked about cost - no successes. He basically told his life story of following Jesus, with all of the good bits cut out. It was powerful, challenging stuff and I remember it caused much debate on our campsite with opinions spread across a wide spectrum from those who had really loved it as a refreshing change, to those who thought it shouldn't have been allowed.
Each year, everyone has a day off on Wednesdays to go and do their own thing. Maybe it's this feature of the week which makes the Tuesday speaker the most challenging - it gives something to think about for the next day. Something to calm down about even.
Or maybe it's just coincidence.
Either way, I've never heard Caroline Cox talk before, and I don't know anything about her. But I'm looking forward to the challenge she will bring.
I know the small matter of some matting in the awning of our caravan shouldn't be something to write home about.
But the fact that the inordinately long grass (over a foot high in places) has been covered up by the generous delivery of some scrim by our caravan provider has given us intense satisfaction.
Suddenly we're organised and even more comfortable than before.
Small things, heh?
One of the perennial problems at New Wine is that many people don't know the songs that are new at the start of the conference. By the time we've learnt them it's time to leave.
That's great for taking fab new songs back into our churches, but can make some of the worship times feel a bit flat.
In education circles new technologies and pedagogies have led to a technique called 'Flipping the classroom." This is where children are introduced to a new concept before they enter the classroom through a YouTube video or online collaboration on Google Docs. The role of the teacher is then to guide the children to applying the concept, learning the skill mote deeply and intervening with this students who haven't grasped the concept so well.
Wouldn't it be great to do that with New Wine worship?
Studio recording sessions could be filmed and placed on YouTube. Chord sheets of new songs shared via Google Docs to worship leaders from participating churches a month or so before.
Then we could be singing the songs on the way down to New Wine and be able to join in much more quickly and deeply with song worship at the start of the week.
Sent from my thingamajig
It rained in the night.
The long grass on our campsite is sodden with the kind of wetness that requires a stout pair of wellies.
The freshness of the field is mirrored by the lightness in my soul that has been accentuated by my First Visit to the New Wine Toilets.
More firsts beckon today: My First Shower; My First Trip to the Tap and (joy of joys) My First Visit to the Elsan Point.
