St. Joseph’s Church, Merry Hill, Wolverhampton

As part of the process of seeking and selecting a new Resident Minister, we’ve put together a terrific statement on what St Jo’s is all about in all dimensions. I’ve added a page for this and associated material.

The very very observant will notice that the link above is to http://saintjosephs.co.uk/pp – for “parish profile” – which is what we should use when quoting the link. Please don’t use the complicated version you’ll see in your browser. Thanks.

A small group of us were having an intense theological discussion last week over refreshing beverages and snacks – including McCoy’s Sweet Thai Chicken crisps – courtesy of Ed Tobin. In a pause in the debate I happened to look at the ingredient list and was surprised to see “Chicken Powder” listed.

Intrigued, I asked the McCoy’s consumer advice folk – actually at unitedbiscuits.com, which is rather less appetising crisp manufacturer name than I might like – what this actually is. Back came the answer:

Dear Mr Oldham
Further to your enquiry, we can now advise you that the Chicken Powder is as described, dried powdered chicken.  It is a component of the flavour, we can not give further information due to confidentiality of our flavour supplier.

Which is nice.

What’s this got to do with anything? Well, apart from being rather fun for the St Jo’s clique that was present at the time, this week’s Presence is all about our guardianship of the Earth. There is something rather, well, wrong to me about the notion of dried powdered chicken at all, let alone in my crisps. (Should it be powdered dried chicken?) What would the good folk at A Rocha make of it, I wonder?

McCoy's STC

This week Sue Tilt talks about A People Under God, looking at Nehemiah 9. She includes a short extract from one of my favourite TV programmes, “Yes, Minister” (a copy of the scripts of which I can see from where I am sitting).

I’ve also included in the audio Phil’s introduction of the first children at St Jo’s to take Holy Communion.

Listen here…or pick it up on iTunes.

Apologies, but technical problems prevent us from bringing you this week’s audio. Which is a great shame because Ness Tobin gave us a wonderful talk, and Pat Lewis led very well. (I’m not just saying this because they’re Great People, either!).

The picture we will all take from this week’s talk will be of rebuilding the wall of human relations, with an awareness of Godliness, one brick at a time. Ness’s message – and I hope I am not distorting it – was that each of the actions we take as individual human beings has the potential to place another brick in the wall of equality, fairness and righteousness that is central to Jesus’s message to us. Nehemiah showed the way three millennia ago, rebuilding not just the walls of Jerusalem but  also the walls of spiritual and human togetherness by practising what he preached, not taking what even what he might have done within the letter of the law but rather leading by example in thought, word and deed. But to do these things we have to accept the Spirit, and look at our behaviour in Christ’s light.

Let’s put more bricks in the wall – not a wall of division and separation, but a wall of solidarity and togetherness.  Thanks Ness.

Pentecost, a day of six baptisms at St Jo’s, and Phil speaks on the difference between the world views of Ikea and the Church, and God’s view of his family. Joanne, who was baptised, gives us a heartfelt and moving testiment to her coming to faith.

Listen here…or pick it up on iTunes.

Better late than never, here’s Liz’s sermon on Nehemiah 4. What does it mean when doors are shut to us, or so we think? Liz’s talk also discusses the new Finchfield Lidl store, so shouldn’t be missed.

Listen here…or pick it up on iTunes.

Driving to a meeting today the new La Roux song came on to the radio – “Bulletproof“. (For those unacquainted with La Roux, she’s perhaps the electro-pop diva of the moment, give or take Bat For Lashes or perhaps Miss Kittin, and who came to prominence with the rather great “In for the Kill” which is even better in the Skream remix.) The chorus of this new track is just the lines “This time baby / I’ll be bulletproof” – which in the context of the rest of the song is basically saying that “I won’t let you hurt me like I did last time”.

Given my personal circumstances – more akin to having stepped on an emotional landmine than hit by a bullet – this made me wonder what the value of this sentiment really is. Should we aiming to be bulletproof, or so armoured that we let nothing touch us? When we put on the armour of God, as per Ephesians 6:10-17, are we doing so to protect us from pain, by adding a barrier between us and the possible causes of pain?

My own response to these questions was simply that this isn’t what that armour is for, and the strength of God is not there to avoid the possibility of pain but rather to help us endure it and even more to be healed from it. Sure, deflecting the arrows of the Devil is a good thing – but not hardening our hearts to others in a way that “Bulletproof” seems to imply is a good thing. An open heart, which recognises the possibility of pain, is what we’re asked to have, surely? So we might have our hearts broken, we might lose our emotional limbs, we might be broken and shattered, but we’re still loved and the possibility of healing is there if only we can reach for it. God’s love can heal those things. I personally have found it hard to reach out for it and even harder to understand the purpose behind the pain in the first place – but then I have only a human understanding and so how could I?

Now over to those with some real understanding of His teaching, as I seem to have found four links to electro-pop songs and only one to His Word. Sorry folk.

More of a write-up soon I hope but here’s Eileen talking about St Jo’s, and her baptism last Sunday (31st May – Pentecost).