Tom & Fiona's final Timetable & Rota

Provided in two format's a PDF version and the original Word version.

Dates and locations of sessions:
FormationProgramme 2010-11 Final - February2011.doc

Formation Programme 2010-11 Final - February 2011.pdf

Who's doing Homilies, Thoughts & Prayers:
Rota 2010-2011.doc

Rota 2010-2011.pdf

On Holiday

by Bogdan Wasylkiw

I'm on holiday having done the sightseeing trips, taken photographs, and bought the postcards. I'm back in the hotel at the end of the day and I start to write postcards to family and friends.

Dear Mum,
Having a wonderful time, weather is great, super location.
See you soon

Dear Jonathan,
Having a wonderful time, weather is great, super location, thanks for looking after the dog.
See you soon

Dear Damien,
Having a wonderful time, weather is great, super location, thanks for looking after the house.
See you soon

Dear Luke,
Having a wonderful time, weather is great, super location, thanks for driving us to the airport.
See you soon

Then walking out onto the balcony, and looking at the view, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the air is clean, the view of the mountains and the valleys is absolutely superb, what a wonderful place.
I wonder if I have forgotten anybody?

There was plenty of grass there

Based partially on John 6:10 and partially on the packaging from a pair of socks this is a lovely reflection on the feeding of the five thousand and it's relevance to us today. Bodgen wrote this if I remember correctly after struggling with writers block as we all do. Rosalind his wife suggested looking at the reflections that came printed on the packaging of a pair of Holy Socks (http://www.holysocks.co.uk/) he had had for Christmas. Enjoy...

There Was Plenty of Grass There by Bogdan Wasylkiw
JOHN 6:10 ...There was plenty of grass there.
Fancy John remembering that!
And he was right, there was much grass in the place, and never has such grass hosted such a picnic.
I had followed Jesus because I had heard about all the amazing things that he had done and I was curious.
I really didn’t want to get involved. I just wanted to look from the outside.
Anyway he told us all to sit down and we did (well it was a good start in obedience).
I hadn’t brought any food – I didn’t expect to stay – it wasn’t a planned day out.
Jesus was there and I just wanted to see him.
I didn’t even notice that I was hungry.
But Jesus must have known what I needed.
I noticed a small boy talking to Andrew but never thought much about it.
He gave all he had five barley loaves and two fish.
And look what Jesus did with it amazing he fed everyone and yet what the boy gave was so little.
It hardly seemed worth giving.
And I remembered all that I had at home to give.
What if I had brought it and offered it to Jesus.
What could he have done with it?
What could he still do with it?

Because We’re Mortal

This I think was Bodgen's first though for the day. Bogden like me is a huge movie fan and will take most opportunities to talk about them. Here we are asked to consider how we live each day.

Because We're Mortal by Bogdan Wasylkiw

I was watching the film Troy recently and a line from the film struck me, it was said by Achilles to a priestess. "I'll tell you a secret. Something they don't teach you in your temple. The gods envy us. They envy us because we're mortal, because any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we're doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again."
The part of this I would like to note, 'Because we’re mortal.'
As we go through life how do we act?
Do we act as immortals or as mortals?
Do we ever think that what we have today we may lose tomorrow?
When we go through our daily life do we see and take note of everything around us, remembering that everything has its own place and beauty. We seem to spend time planning for this or that, looking at the future, and I’m not saying this is a bad thing, but do we forget about today, do we go though ignoring things because we can do it tomorrow.
We can go though the day like mechanical robots, at the end of the day can we truly give thanks to God and say that we have lived it as he intended, with love and charity. If we go through the day remembering we are mortals. That any moment may be our last, that we will never be here again. What a difference it could make!

Formation Calendar Updated

I have just updated the public Google calendar for Clifton Diaconal Formation. You can see the next five  dates appearing to the right on this blog.  If you want to add this calendar to your own calendar you can as Google supports most calendar formats.

The link for iCal is (if you need something different speak to me):

http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/gc4ls5emqmaephnjn2tf7qlrkk%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics

 

Just cut and paste this into your calendar somewhere in the settings section :-)

The Pope's comments on Blogging and Social Networks

I read on the train this morning that the Pope has been speaking about Catholics blogging, Tweating and Facebooking. Right here on this web site I do two out of those three so I feel I need to go and findout for myself what he has infact said. According to the paper the paper this morning two things were mentioned. First that people using community areas of the internet should not be afraid to represent there Christian and Catholic viewpoint. I think this is very valid not just on-line but in any form of communication. The second point was very interesting for me personally, and it was that, Catholics blogging or tweating should be concerned not with the number of followers or hits they get but in what they choose to say. It's very easy when using the internet to get distracted, to keep score, of how many freinds or followers you have. I have 9 followers on twitter. One person I know at work, two deacons in formation who write blogs like this that interested me, so I started following them and I guess I interested them and they started following me. The others that follow me I dont know at all. They range from a man that likes to say thank you, to a computer games company and there is even a national newspaper report. Should I be proud of my 9 followers? should I be pleased this website has been read be people from 11 different countries? No, I think the Popes right, I think the only thing I should worry about is what I say here and what others care to add here as well.

When I get back home I think I'll take a look at what the Pope has really said, and see how much more wisdom I can find there.

Before and After Christmas Thoughts

The first thought here was written in advent 2009 and the second in early Jan 2011 so they are a year apart, the Christmas spirit though is strong in both. The second though also begins to look forward to Easter and the saving act of the cruxifiction and resurection.

You may also notice, as I only just have, the similarity in the last line of each thought.

Preparing for Christams - What's really Important
Last night I got home from work feeling very tired and worn out after a long hard week. I got home before Gail so I had time to lay the fire and get our advent calendar and crib down from the loft. When she got in we ate, we had fish and chips, eating on our laps in front of the fire. We put on some Christmas music and just looked into the dancing flames. Neither of us felt the need to talk. After an hour or so we roasted some chestnuts a friend had gathered from his garden for us. They were warm and sweet, the very taste of Victorian winter. During the course of the evening both our Mums rang for a chat. As the fire died down towards the end of the evening we enjoyed a glass of wine, a little cheese and a slice of soft crusty bread. We finished the evening sitting in bed, with a red advent candle burning slowly down to 4, I was reading Delia Smith's a feast for advent, and reflecting on the short amount of time before we celebrate Christmas. Advent is a time for preparing, we have less than three weeks now, to prepare for the coming our our Lord. So, should I be thinking about, the presents I have to buy, the meals to be prepared, the visits we have to make, the people coming to stay with us, what time Doctor Who will be on on Christmas day. No that's not the preparation that's needed, although I probably do all that as well. Last night was the preparation that's needed, time spent with a loving family and time spent reflecting on the wonder and love of our Lord.

I wish you all a happy and Holy Christmas, may God Bless us one and all.


A Christmas Carol
For the first time this Christmas I actual read 'A Christmas Carol'. Like all of you, I know the story well. I have watched it many times over the years in many different forms. Classic versions with Albert Finney, George C. Scott, and Patrick Stewart. Fun versions with Mickey Mouse & Kermit the Frog. Even re-worked version with Doctor Who or Jimmy Stewart in 'It's a wonderful life'.

For me the story captures the Christmas spirit. It's bitter sweet. There is joy but also sadness. Christmas is much more than Coke-a-Cola's “holidays are coming”, paint the world red, happy family Christmas images. I think we need to feel a little sadness at Christmas, to let us relish the joy.

At Christmas our Lord came into the world, and because of that wonder we rejoice, but if we look at his first Christmas presents we see his life mapped out. Gold for a king, Frankincense for the priest, and Myrrh for his death. Just listen to the lyrics of the hymn We three Kings. Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying. Sealed in the stone-cold tomb. But His death was His gift to us, the gift that secures our salvation. You can see why I think Christmas needs to feel bitter sweet, but when it does we must relish the sweetness.

And it's one of those moments of sweetness I want to leave you with. As I read “A Christmas Carol” I came across a sentence I hadn't heard before. It read :

“But they didn't devote the whole evening to music. After a while they played at forfeits; for it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.”

I wish you all a happy new year, and in the words of Tiny Tim, “May God Bless us, Everyone”

Become one body one spirit in Christ

A link to the DVD resource FR. Michael has been showing us at Ammerdown Become one body one spirit in Christ.

Lego Nativity

I was shown this by Sam, a colleague at work. Her sons homework recently was to make a nativity out of anything they choose. He choose Lego and this is the result.

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus in the Crib. Angels, camels, donkeys and even a King with a chest contain Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. I just had to ask for a copy to share with you here. Well done to Sam and the whole family who spent ages looking for the right bits of lego to do this.

Pope Benedict XVI - Thought For The Day

Taken from the BBC website you can find and listen to a recording of the Pope's Thought for the Day from Christmas Eve's Radio 4 Today program. ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/today/pope-thought-for-the-day/ ) We on the diaconal formation program in Clifton are encouraged to write and deliver thoughts for the day as if we were preparing them for the radio. So it's wonderful to hear and re-read the Pope's first ever radio though and to take his message to us this Christmas into our hearts. Heart speaks unto Heart.

Pope Benedict XVI - Thought For The Day



Recalling with great fondness my four-day visit to the United Kingdom last September, I am glad to have the opportunity to greet you once again, and indeed to greet listeners everywhere as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. Our thoughts turn back to a moment in history when God's chosen people, the children of Israel, were living in intense expectation. They were waiting for the Messiah that God had promised to send, and they pictured him as a great leader who would rescue them from foreign domination and restore their freedom.

God is always faithful to his promises, but he often surprises us in the way he fulfils them. The child that was born in Bethlehem did indeed bring liberation, but not only for the people of that time and place - he was to be the Saviour of all people throughout the world and throughout history. And it was not a political liberation that he brought, achieved through military means: rather, Christ destroyed death for ever and restored life by means of his shameful death on the Cross. And while he was born in poverty and obscurity, far from the centres of earthly power, he was none other than the Son of God. Out of love for us he took upon himself our human condition, our fragility, our vulnerability, and he opened up for us the path that leads to the fullness of life, to a share in the life of God himself. As we ponder this great mystery in our hearts this Christmas, let us give thanks to God for his goodness to us, and let us joyfully proclaim to those around us the good news that God offers us freedom from whatever weighs us down: he gives us hope, he brings us life.

Dear Friends from Scotland, England, Wales and indeed every part of the English-speaking world, I want you to know that I keep all of you very much in my prayers during this Holy Season. I pray for your families, for your children, for those who are sick, and for those who are going through any form of hardship at this time. I pray especially for the elderly and for those who are approaching the end of their days. I ask Christ, the light of the nations, to dispel whatever darkness there may be in your lives and to grant to every one of you the grace of a peaceful joyful Christmas. May God bless all of you!

Dreams

This though got heavily edited. On first writting I was way over the two minute target. Re-reading it now a year and a half later it seems a little disjointed. Maybe it was edited a little to hard and maybe I need to just add a little more back in. However, it still brings a smile to my face when I read it.

Dreams

Our recent holiday has got me thinking a lot about dreams, different types of dreams. 

We have just got back from Florida, where we visited Disney world, the place where dreams come true. Every girls a princess, every boy a pirate or space ranger. A place where after a small queue you can fly to Mars, sail with pirates, visit a haunted house, go on safari, journey to Neverland and save the galaxy from Zurg. Its a place of fantasy where boys and girls of every age suspend the real world and believe in magic for a while.

A few minutes away is another theme park called Sea World, there I had one of my dreams come true. We were able to go behind the scenes of the penguin encounter and meet the penguins, I held a small rock hopper penguin on my lap. He was slightly damp, warm and smelled of fish, it was great.

An hour further on is Kennedy Space Centre, where the men who went to the moon were lunched from. Going to the moon was a dream in 1961 when president Kennedy announced to the world that America was going to send men to the moon within the decade. For the men that went and the 400,000 people that collaborated to make it happen there was no suspending reality and wishing it to happen like the rides at Disney World. It was hard work, and belief in the dream.

The bible to speaks of dreams too. Joseph, of coloured coat fame, had dreams and interpreted dreams that lead him to do Gods work and lead his family to Egypt. In the new testament Joseph, husband of Mary, also had a dreams one about marrying Mary and another about going to Egypt to avoid Herod. God sometimes uses our dreams to direct us.

Dreams are important, they inspire us, they are part of our future, they give us hope. Your dreams and those of the people around you are worth holding onto, they are worth encouraging. Not all dreams need to be big or seem important. Watch the joy children get being a princess or pirate for the day. For me holding that small penguin filled me with joy, joy is a gift from God, it's worth chasing after, why else would God give us dreams.

Paul's Ministries Mass

Congratulations Paul

My First Soup Run

It's getting wintry out there, the wind is cold and people are wrapping up warm. This time of year often focuses our minds on those less fortunate than ourselves which is wonderful. I read with interest a report by one of my company's VPs recently, she had spent a day sorting blankets for Crisis at Christmas. People feel compelled to do something for others at Christmas, whether this is Christ working through us or just someone doing something nice for someone else it's good to see. It also got me thinking about how I started working on the Soup Run and so I went back to look for this. I wrote it after my first Soup Run ten years ago. Unfortunately with the recession things have got worse for many people, we see 80-100 people now on the streets of Bristol, compared to 40-50 ten years ago. We also see a number of ladies regularly now and we only saw one regularly ten years ago.

If you are like I was before I went out on the soup run and you don't really know how to help someone you see begging or busking on the street, you could try this. Buy them a sandwich or Mars bar, when you give it to them ask how they are today, ask their name. This human contact is often more important than food, and it make you feel pretty good as well.

Any enough of my current waffle, here is my waffling from 10 years back.

My First Soup Run

After what had been an unusually warm few weeks in April, it was a cold and windy night.  I made sure I had a warm coat on, probably to warm, as I don’t normally feel the cold. For the first time I was to help with the soup run, we were to spend the evening giving soup and sandwiches to the homeless of Bristol.

After I was picked up we drove into the centre and set up at Pip n’ Jay’s, a church just off Castle Green. There were already a couple of gentlemen waiting for us so we welcomed them and started to sort the food out.  We had homemade soup, Vegetable, Leek & Potato, Celery and Potato and Carrot. We also had lots of sandwiches and rolls and for once no tuna, apparently Martin is famous for making tuna sandwiches. Desert comprised of wagon wheels and home made cakes, with a special Easter treat of cream eggs.

I guess I didn’t really know what to expect. I felt very honoured in being able to help, even serve, these people. It was a lot of fun running around pouring tea, coffee and soup.  The atmosphere was light hearted with a lot of banter and chat.  This was almost the first time I had been able to treat these homeless gentlemen as people. I pass them almost everyday and struggle to even say hello. I was so very pleased God had found a way of letting me obey my conscience. 

We had three sleeping bags that were very well appreciated, the four gentlemen who wanted them didn’t argue, they just worked it out between themselves. I have seen businessmen argue over much less. To my amazement one man pulled a large Easter egg from his bag and gave it to us asking if we could pass it on to any young kids we found on the street.

After almost an hour and when everyone hand had there fill we moved on to the next stop. I was feeling quite high, what we were doing felt right and I was enjoying myself. I almost had to remind myself I was doing this for them and for God not for myself. Jesus had told me to serve and I felt compelled to do so.

We pulled into a turnoff close to the river and St. Mary’s Redcliff. Again there were a couple of gentlemen waiting and we were quickly joined by several more. One old man had had all his things stolen, blanket, pension book, everything. He was hoping we might have a blanket for him but by this point we had none left. He also had nowhere to go that night, apart from next to a wall with a small fire for warmth. Without thinking Martin solved the problem, at least as well as he could, by taking off is own coat and putting it around the old man. You can see God in many things, never before have I seen Jesus at work so clearly; it was difficult not to weep. Before leaving there we made sure there was firewood and a couple of the other gentlemen stayed with him.

The evening left me feeling exhilarated yet deeply sadden. As I said to Martin it difficult to see how anyone has the strength to help with such a big problem yet it’s impossible not to want to help. It most certainly won’t be the last soup run I help with.

I am going to make you smile

Last night we were out on the soup run. Our church goes out twice every four weeks as part of the Soup Run Trust in Bristol, which send people out every night of the year.  We are very lucky in our parish and we have a group of over 80 people who help by making sandwiches, soup, tea, coffee, rolls, cakes, and hot food. People also contribute things like candles, soap, shampoo, razors, tissues, tooth brushes, under ware, clothes, blankets. Everything we need in fact to make our soup run quite special for the homeless people we meet. But sometimes, on often, they make our soup run particularly special. Last night right at the end of the evening when when had given out all that we had two men turned up late and asked for food. We apologies and gave them some tea, but as we were doing this one of the homeless men we had already served went into his bag and handover a couple of rolls he had been saving for later. This generosity of people who have nothing always amazes me. 

The following thought was written a couple of years ago after I heard this heart touching story while out on the soup run. Enjoy.

I am going to make you smile

I am going to give you a present; I am going to make you smile. I am going to tell you a story that will lift your heart, whenever you remember it or tell it.

You may remember that it rained a lot last summer. A homeless man, Brian, was sitting next to a cash point, hoping to get a few pounds to buy a night in a shelter out of the rain. Sometimes the rain makes people more generous, sometimes it’s so wet they don’t even notice and this day was turning into a ‘not being noticed day’. Around 10 in the morning, a lady walked by in a hurry. Brian asked if she could spare any change and she slowed and apologised that she didn’t have any. Then she stopped and looked at Brian and said, “Could you do me a favour, I am always losing my umbrella at work. Could you look after it for me until about 4 this afternoon when I finish work. I’ll come back for it on my way home.” Brian couldn’t believe is luck and willingly agreed. He spent the day a little drier and when it stopped raining around 4 o’clock he was still sat by the cash point. Shortly after 4 the lady returned, she gave Brian a little money and chatted to him for a few minutes. When Brian returned the umbrella she said, “I am not going to lose this umbrella now, it has a special memory attached to it. Thank you.”
Brian told me this story about a week after it happened; he had made a few pounds, stayed dry for a day and had chatted with someone who cared. But he had also been amazed by this lady, and was telling everyone the story. In one moment, she changed his day, but the way she did it touched his heart, and his story touched mine and I hope yours too. Please feel free to give this story to anyone who needs to smile, and just think for a minute about how much good one amazing moment can bring.

Homlily - Christ The King

My dear brother and Sisters, if you have been reading my tweets over the last 24hours you may be wondering what all the nervousness has been about. Well I gave my first homily at St. Augustine's today. Over the last year I have given several at St John Fisher, but that church has a very different feel to it. It is small and intimate and I feel very much at home there, where as St Augustine's is much bigger and more formal, noisier and I still feel a little out of my deep serving there so stepping up to reflect on today's readings and Christ the King was nerve racking.

Writing this homily was challenging as well. After the homily I gave at Ammerdown with no notes I felt confident but when I sat down with the scripture nothing came easily. Much of the theology was complex and I struggled to find words to explain things. I spent 4-5 hours at the keyboard and typed nothing, than on Thursday evening after 2 hours of nothing it just flowed, 20mins and most of it was written. I guess you have got to give the Holy spirit space to provide you with the words.

So if you are interested this is the homily, or at least near enough, as the exact wording changes as you stand up and start speaking to the congregation. God Bless, J.

Homily – Christ The King

Notes 21^st Nov 2010

Reading

Old Samuel               5:1-3

Psalm                        Ps 121

New Colossians       1:12-20

Gospel Luke            23:35-43

As we reach the end of another year we celebrate today the feast of Christ the King. But I have to admit, after all the press coverage this week of Prince William's engagement to Kate Middleton, I am a little uncomfortable thinking of Christ as a King. Prince William is second in-line to the thrown after his father Prince Charles. He is very likely to be King one day. His Kingdom or commonwealth will stretch across the globe from Canada to Australia. Is this a good comparison to Christ the king?

Personally I think it falls a long way short. So how about we look to the Kings of history, warrior kings ruling their lands. Strong powerful kings like king Richard, or more sinister kings like King John. Well again this doesn't work for me when I read about Jesus.

Jesus had no palace, no robes, no political power, and he wasn't willing to rule through power. When Jesus walked the earth he resisted being made king, for example in John's Gospel when he tells us about Jesus feeding the 5000 we hear “Jesus, who could see they were about to come and take Him by force and make Him king escaped back to the hills by Himself.” And again when Pilate asks him if he is the king of the Jews he replies “It is you who say it”. The only time he wears a crown it is made of thorns and cuts deeply into his head.

So what sort of king is he? Where is his kingdom?

Today's readings help us understand why today we we refer to Christ as the Universal King.

Our first reading is about David, the second and possible greatest, King of Israel. It tells of his anointing as king by the tribes of Israel after a civil war and the death of Saul the first King. The prophets who foretold of Jesus' coming said he would be descended from David. And so in human terms Jesus had a claim to the human throne of David, and the ability to unite the people of Israel as David had done, to establish armies and retake Jerusalem, to re-establish it as Gods Kingdom and home for the Jews as Gods chosen people. This was what was expected of him 2000 years ago, but it was not the kingdom he came to establish.

For that we need to look closely at our second reading Paul's letter to the Colossians. Paul was writing to correct a heresy spreading in Colossae, called Gnosticism. And the great thing for us is that Paul choose to do this by telling the Colossians everything the was correct about Christianity, rather than telling them everything that was wrong about Gnosticism. So we are left with a wonderful description of Christ and his kingdom.

Paul uses phases like “join the Saints”, “inherit the light”, “out of darkness” and the phrase I want to talk a little more about “Created a place for us in the kingdom of the Son he loves”.

But Paul didn't write in English, he wrote in Greek and his words may have meant something a little different for people of the time so I am going to try and teach you a little history and a little Greek.

The unusual word I want to explain is meth-is'-tay-mee (methistemi) it means in our translation today “Created a place for” but it was used specifically when a conquering army exiled all the people in a conquered land back to their own land. Just like the Babylonians and Egyptians did to the Jews. So in that one word “Meth-is'-tay-mee” or “created a place for” Paul is showing the readers of his letter a picture of Christ's victory over this world and of them being carried away to kingdom of light to join the saints. It's a lovely image isn't it.

Paul goes on to describe Christ. He was the first born of all creation, through him everything was created, Thrones, Dominations, Sovereignties, powers – everything was created through him and for him.

So if the power of every king, prime minister, emperor and president is given by his kingdom, the kingdom of heaven and earth, the kingdom of everything you can see and everything you can't, that kingdom must be a very different place. Christ is King of something so big and so wonderful we can't imagine it, but that doesn't mean we can't experience it, touch it, feel it. Know it really exists!

So now as we turn to the Gospel we see the sacrifice he made to win this victory for us. And most importantly how we can gain our freedom in His Kingdom.

The gospel scene is familiar to us, but try and picture it now for me. There is a hill a short distance from a big city, on the hill are three simple wooden crosses. Nailed to each is a man, but the man in the centre has also been beaten, he's covered in blood and bruises. He is being mocked by all around him. “IF you are the king of the Jews save yourself” they say. Even one of the men hanging from a cross next to him joins in the abuse.

Placed above his head is a sign “This is the king of the Jews” is this sign also mocking him, or has it been placed there by Pilate because he is beginning to believe that Jesus is something much bigger?

The other criminal next to Jesus then turns to him, admits his crime and asks to be remembered in his kingdom. And Jesus promises him paradise. That's a clear message for us isn't it.

Admit we are wrong and ask to be taken to his kingdom. If you remember nothing more from today's gospel remember that.

You may by now be thinking that Christ's Kingdom is heaven, the paradise we as a people of hope aspire to when our time on earth is done. But if you listen to Paul's letter and this gospel you realise that Christ Kingdom is bigger than heaven, everything seen and unseen, heaven and earth, are part of his kingdom. And you right now are experiencing that kingdom. You are his body, he is present in the people next to you right now, and you are making him present to the people next to you. You want to be part of Christ Kingdom turn and smile at someone next to you...

...how did it feel to see Christ smiling back at you?

The Victory of Christ on the cross is his kingdom, a kingdom we make present every day by accepting Christ as our King. By accepting the tasks he gives us to do. The vocations and ministries he challenges us to complete. Today is a day to be proud of your faith, to be proud of you kingdom, to be proud of of the work you do in His kingdom and most of all today is a day to celebrate and worship our King.