"Homiletic" Free Online Journal

Homiletic, the journal of the American Academy of Homiletics, is now freely available online right here.

It has good articles, usually one or two per edition and lots of good book reviews. The American Academy is where it's at when it comes to homiletics.

Smells Like Holy Spirit

Nostrils after
Originally uploaded by jeffandmandyg

In my last post I said that I was all for the use of incense in worship. Tim F commented saying he wasn't so sure.
Set me thinking.

How have / would you use smell in worship? And what smells in particular?

Not what does worship smell like - for me that's definitely wood varnish and dusty books with distinct undertones of old lady. No, what I'm interested in is not those evocative olfactory inspired memories but rather the deliberate, intentional use of scent as an aid to worship.

What do you reckon?

Baptists, Status and Clerical Trappings

What is it with Baptists, clerical garb, dog collars, the title reverend and our fascination with the trappings of priestly office?

I was moved to write by two pictures in last week’s Baptist Times. One showed a Baptist minister taking part in an ecclesiastical haute couture fashion show and another at an ecumenical act of worship, wildly underdressed in comparison with the lovely Gary on page three, but still in a special vicar get-up. Surely something’s gone wrong.

Now, don’t misunderstand me, I’m not some kind of traditionalist free church reactionary. I’m all for being nice to the C of E. Some of my best friends are vicars. I approve of written liturgy – up to a point. I would vote in favour of the weekly celebration of the eucharist (see, I even called it eucharist). I really like the idea of incense in worship - just love that smell.

Nor do I have a problem with symbolism, we are fools if we think we can do church without it, so let’s make sure we know what we are doing and that we do it well. I like the idea of more colour, drama and theatre in church - we worship God as whole beings, bodily beings, sensuous beings, so if it’s colour we’re after let’s all dress up - party frocks for everyone!

Also, while we are at it, let’s recognise the low church versions of this kind of ministerial one-upmanship. These are often to be found at conferences and more widely in Pentecostal, New Church and too many Baptist circles. You know the kind of thing, consider for instance the platform party, “We might dress like you but we’re stuck up here like lemons all through the service because we’re special”. Preachers should step forward from the congregation rather than rising from the line up of dignitaries or emerging from the vestry for that matter. Consider also the fondness for using the word, “pastor” as a title. No one calls my wife “teacher Kathy” or my son “engineer Steve”, so please, just call me “Glen”.

It’s not that I’m questioning the conscious motivation of some of my friends. (Unconscious motivation is a different matter.) I do worry though about the unintended messages we transmit about the ecclesiastical caste system. Ministers have an important representative role with regard to the church and they are unquestionably seen in such a way by those beyond the church. So do we really want our titles and our dress code to reinforce stereotypes about establishment and the love of status? Surely we should be doing all we can to subvert the tendency towards hierarchy and deference. Apparently dog collars and the title, reverend, “help us slide under the red tape when visiting hospitals” (though in 25 years of ministry I’ve never found it necessary) but they also put us at a distance from, in a different category to, the very people for whom we are seeking to care. It’s not worth it.

I thought we were supposed to be nonconformists. Offering a different way of doing community to the still class-ridden, status-hungry society around us and standing out against those parts of the church who seek to introduce such worldly posturing into the body of Christ.

I worry above all though about the underlying theology. At heart the problem is that playing these ecclesiastical status games runs counter to the ethos of Jesus, the teaching of Jesus and the incarnation itself which is all about God setting aside privilege and position and becoming one of us. So as well as being unhelpful and misleading, it’s just not right.

My turn to do a month's worth of opinion pieces for the Baptist Times' "Outside Edge" column has come round again.  With the agreement of the editor I'm posting my BT article here. To check out the Baptist times as a whole click here.

Breaking News

This just in from The Provisional BBC.

PM IS "VERY ANGRY"

Gordon Brown is "very angry" about proposed bank bonuses, according to his press team. He said executives should "think of the children" and reconsider whether they really wanted more money.

The Prime Minister's spokesperson warned Brown could get "even angrier" if executives do not heed his advice, and risks getting "monumentally peeved" if they award themselves higher bonuses than last year. It is not known at what point the Prime Minister might burst. Brown said "We are leading the world in criticising the bankers, and in making them think very hard about the consequences of their actions." He refused to rule out putting bankers on the naughty step.

David Cameron denounced Brown for taking no real action, and said that Conservatives would have taken no action much earlier than Labour. He also suggested nationalising the top 100 UK companies and putting the banks in the hands of workers' communes. However, a report by the Daily Mirror later showed his butler was following him all day with his fingers crossed.

Can't give a proper hat tip to the author as it is crucial that the provisional BBC maintains the anonymity of its reporters so as to protect it from scurrilous accusations of political bias. Suffice it to say that the hack in question used belong to the youth fellowship at my former church. Makes you proud to have been a pastor!

Mack the Knife (Ella Fitzgerald)

Been listening to this a lot recently. Object lesson in how to screw it up and at the same time get it so, so, right. Pure genius! If you can listen to this without smiling, get a shovel, go into the garden and bury yourself ... cos you're dead already. OK so the visuals aren't much to write home about! But who cares.

Biblical Studies Tutor

Here's the new ad for a job at our place. Just imagine, you'd get to work with me!

NORTHERN BAPTIST COLLEGE
www.northern.org.uk

(a member of the ecumenical Partnership for Theological Education in Manchester)

intends to appoint a

Full-Time Tutor in Biblical Studies

with particular experience and skills for the development of education and training within black and minority ethnic groups

Requests for information can be made to the Principal, Revd Dr Richard Kidd
richard.kidd@northern.org.uk

(Applications must arrive by 16th March 2009)

[Northern Baptist College has adopted an Equal Opportunities Policy]

Too Many Ministers?

My turn to do a month's worth of opinion pieces for the Baptist Times' "Outside Edge" column has come round again. With the agreement of the editor I'm posting my BT article here. To check out the Baptist times as a whole click here.

Will God respond to the economic crisis by calling more people into ministry?

A strange question? Well, I’m lead to believe that there is a discernable pattern. During past recessions we saw a marked increase the number seeking recognition and training. If this happens again how should we respond? It’s not straightforward.

Last year, well before the credit went crunch, our colleges enjoyed a boost in the number of students. As for this year, it’s a bit early to say but if the trend continues we will face a number of interesting questions.

To start with, should we put a quota on the numbers we are prepared to accept? Two considerations might lead us in this direction. First there is the potentially painful prospect of a surfeit of people seeking pastorates three or four years into the future. Those who train to be Baptist ministers make great sacrifices in order to test and pursue the call of God. What if, after such sacrifice, there is no invitation to a specific church, which in our Baptist polity is the ultimate test of call? What about the personal cost?

Secondly there’s the quality of ministerial formation. Even Spurgeon’s, the largest of our colleges, is by no means a big institution. All the Baptist colleges are able to take a personal and flexible approach to our work with ministers-in-training. This way of operating relies on a high staff to student ratio. Increasing student numbers would put us under great pressure.
If training Baptist ministers were a money making venture there would be no problem. As numbers increased income would increase and we could employ more staff. Would that it were that simple. The enterprise isn’t set up to maximise per captia profit!

Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the question of centrally funding ministerial training? But doesn’t such an approach run against the Baptist grain? And anyway where would Home Mission raise the extra funding at a time of financial hardship?

Maybe it’s time to get serious about rationalising our ministerial training resources by merging some of our colleges. But the very strength of the current set-up is the close links that colleges have developed in their own regions. We may well release funds but much would also be put at risk.

As well as the practical, personal, educational and financial challenges that an increase in people training for ministry would bring there are bigger strategic questions.

Surely an increase in people hearing the call of God to ordained ministry is reason for rejoicing. If we are to limit access to training how are we to determine who gets in and who doesn’t? Are some more called than others?

Maybe our whole conception of ministry needs an overhaul. What if the blockage is our assumption that we are primarily training pastors to lead churches? At the moment all those who leave colleges have to receive a call to a church.

God knows the release of more experienced, educated and equipped people into the mission field of modern day Britain would be an exciting development. What if God is hollering some into other forms of ministry? Maybe we are being prompted to equip and release more pioneer planters, community ministers and chaplains. Perhaps we a need a shift in our terminology. What if we thought not of being called to a church but being called by a church – and then released into, let loose upon the wider world?

Of course this still leaves the question of who would pay these people to exercise their ministry. Perhaps that notion too needs to be revisited. Could it be time to look again a bi-vocational ministry? Or what about new patterns of communal living with a sharing of resources to release people for ministry?

As I said, lots of questions. And yes, the situation may never come to pass. But surely now is the time prayerfully to consider the issues.