All posts by Craig Muir

Minister

Beautiful Human People

There used to be an event at the Greenbelt Festival called the Rolling Magazine. It was a tent filled with youthful exuberance playing silly games, enjoying speakers and music in a rolling programmes aimed at 14-18 years olds. It was led by a Youth Worker called Pip Wilson who believed that everyone was a Beautiful Human Person and treated them that way. Pip Wilson died in September and every tribute spoke about his inspirational youth work amongst challenging communities usually in the East End of London and his capacity to remind people that they were made in the image of God and that means they are beautiful. 

By the time I found Greenbelt I was already older than that target audience, but over the years I’ve come across many people who were among that target audience who were deeply influenced by Pip Wilson and his insistence in Beautiful Human People. Many of them have gone on to be involved in building a festival that seeks to find goodness and kindness, to be involved in work that begins from the assumption that we are created in the image of God and that is a beautiful thing.

In a recent book to mark Greenbelt’s 50th anniversary , Pip wrote

You are a Beautiful Human Person as you read this.

You are a valuable person,
You are a special person,
You are a unique person,
You are beautiful.

You are unrepeatable, and You are mysterious.
You are a Beautiful Human Person.
No one will ever exist like you.
No one will ever experience the life that you have experienced.

You are a collection of specialness that has never been put together before.

You are loved.

I believe people are beautiful; but many of us do not believe we are. Beautiful is not a word we would ever apply to ourselves. Perhaps we have become trapped in a certain idea of physical beauty and, comparing ourselves to others, decide we are not beautiful.

It’s not difficult to miss the beautiful. … Our instinct in the face of obnoxious behaviour or a threatening attitude is to walk away. But when you see a person’s behaviour you cannot see their journey. You cannot see their upstream. …

But I’ve learned that we have to notice someone’s behaviour, to accept our feelings about it, and then to see beyond that behaviour. This is what the decision to love can do. Love has no off-switch: it’s not about like or dislike. Love can help us see people beyond our feelings of like or dislike. Love can help us see that people are beautiful.” https://www.greenbelt.org.uk/remembering-pip-wilson/

So as we head into November – a month filled with Remembrance, we will remember beautiful human people and the part they have played to create beautiful communities. We will remember particular people known to us and the countless generations who have gone before us and we will celebrate each contribution that has made life good, just as Paul reminded the community in Philippi:-

whatever is true, 

whatever is honourable, 

whatever is just, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is pleasing, 

whatever is commendable, 

if there is any excellence 

and if there is anything worthy of praise, 

think about these things.  [Philippians 4:7-9]

Be blessed, you beautiful human people

Craig

Minister, Outreach & Mission

Open Church

Church life seems to have always been a mix of religious and social. Some of you may even remember the days when all social life revolved around the church and you couldn’t get away from the place!  Many people have life-long friendships that began in church, which is wonderful, so long as these friendships also make space for new people to join in and make their own contribution. At the same time churches are (or should be) places of prayer and worship, places where we encourage one another to follow Jesus and to learn what it is to follow the way of Jesus. Often the social life, can attract someone into church life and they discover Jesus – others come seeking Jesus and discover a great group of people with whom to belong.

There is nothing new about this. We are told that in the early church “Day by day, as they spent much time together in the Temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” You see that mix of the religious and the social at the heart of their life together.

So, we are trying to get a sense of the right mix of social and religious fellowship at our church – and when and how that is best done. One of the places we have tried to mix some social and some prayer time is Open Church on a Thursday morning – but it is often the faithful few who attend and that can be a bit dis-spiriting. So, we have been asking around – some don’t like the prayer/social mix and would prefer a definite prayer time and a more conventional coffee morning. Some don’t like the morning – and would prefer the afternoon, and of course others have just got other things they want to be doing and will never want to meet at church on a week day.  

So let me list some options – 

1 Keep things as they are.

2 Prayers in church at 10:15 am on Thursday, Coffee Morning in Vestibule (around tables from 10:30am-12noon) 

3 Coffee Morning in Vestibule on Thursday 10:30am – 12noon, Prayers in Church at 12 noon.

4 Tea and Cake in Vestibule on Thursday 2:00pm – 4:00pm

5 Tea and Cake in Vestibule 2:00pm -4:00pm another day in the week. (Bearing in mind that the choir practice is on Tuesdays and Nature & Nurture walks tend to use Wednesday.)

6 Midweek Prayers at some other time, but probably before or after the Tea & Cake. 

7 Stop having a regular midweek gathering.

We will look at these options at our Church Meeting on 28 September, but it would be useful to narrow down the options before that. So please contact myself or Daphne to let us know your own thoughts and we will feed those into the discussion.

In the meantime, I wonder what Bible story I can share about cakes. It could be Ezekial’s Barley cake baked over human dung, or it could be David’s revival of an Egyptian left behind by a raiding party  “They gave him bread and he ate; they gave him water to drink; they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit revived; for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.” That seems like a good way to share cake – even if it did lead to the raiding party being discovered and destroyed. We promise to be much friendlier and eat cake in peace. 

be blessed

Craig

Outreach & Mission, Worship

AV FUND

Dear Friends

For some time now we have been frustrated by our attempts to provide a live video of our Sunday Morning service for those who need to worship with us from home. Zoom has been inadequate and we do not have the right equipment to use any other platform. – or to be able to record and save a video to our website.

The Church Meeting in July agreed that we should go ahead with installing the right equipment to allow us to produce good quality streaming of our service, We know this is important for those who are housebound, but it is also good to be able to offer for funerals, weddings and other occasions where people want to or need to join from home. In addition, the ability to save our recording so that it can be viewed on the website at a different time can be a good way of advertising – some people do like a “sneak peak”. 

In talking through our needs we also realised that it was a good opportunity to upgrade the microphone cables, speakers in church and most importantly the sound desk to a digital model that will output good quality sound, but can also have a number of presets – making it fiddle proof. The cost is a little bit more than we anticipated at Church Meeting, however the Elders have agreed to go ahead with the work to ensure that we are ready to begin in the Autumn.

The total cost will be £12,500. We have that money available in our Legacy Fund because of those who remembered the church in their wills. However, Church Meeting also felt that as we are needing to use our reserves (including the Legacy Fund) to supplement our regular income, that we should put out an appeal to members to recover some of these costs from amongst ourselves. 

I do hope some of us will feel able to support this project and if you feel that you would like to make a contribution then the easiest way would be by Bank Transfer into our usual account 

Sort Code 601410 

A/c no 89245423 

with a Reference AVFUND. 

Otherwise a cheque to church For the Attention of Peter Rippon.

Be blessed

Craig Muir

Peter Rippon

Minister

The reign of heaven is like …

’I’ve been learning about yeast – what it is and what it does.

It all began with the parable found at Matthew 13:33. The reign of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’ I began to imagine the bread that would be produced from that dough – about 50 loaves, according to one commentator, and the community that all those loaves would feed and sustain. I was reminded of God’s generosity and abundance.

Then I remembered the work of this woman who had taken the yeast, added it to the flour, worked it hard to create a dough that once proved and baked could sustain a whole community, and was reminded of the many people whose hard work feeds and sustains the communities I value and rely upon. Thank you to everyone who contributes to the life of our church in so many ways, we can do what we do without everyone hard work. 

Then I had a think about yeast, I had assumed that in being mixed into the flour it lost itself in the new creation and became something more than it had been as simply yeast. I was reminded of the way in which we can become subsumed in something bigger than ourselves and that sometimes can be good – like when without our presence the dough will not be leavened; but that sometimes that is disempowering when our contribution is lost, forgotten, disregarded – that can be hard. I don’t think was ever the point of this story, but it’s truth must also be noted and remembered. 

But, when I began to read up about yeast – I realised I was wrong about it becoming subsumed in the dough. Yeast is a fungus, and was one of the first domesticated organisms. Humans have used it in baking and brewing for at least 5000 years. When ancient brewing vessels have been found the yeast colonies had survived – so I’m reminded that even when mixed into the dough the reign of heaven continues to be active and to grow. However, when the dough is baked the yeast dies and the air pockets it has created are “set”, giving the baked product a soft and spongy texture. In that death comes the life-sustaining goodness of bread and I’m reminded that in Jesus we follow the one whose death brings new life and whose risen life brings goodness and abundance. 

So, what might this little story about yeast tell you about the reign of heaven?

be blessed

Craig

Minister

Gather Us In

I am writing this on 16 May. According to the test kit I have Covid, and so does Chris. Her symptoms are a bit more obvious – but mine  are so similar to my usual asthma when the rape seed is in bloom, that once I had taken a test and found it to be negative, I just assumed it was asthma and carried on as normal. It was only when Chris tested positive that I checked again and found that we were both infected. So we hope we have not infected others and I’m annoyed because I’m stuck at home and even though we have learned that so much of life can move online – it’s just not the same as being amongst people. 

As I use some of this enforced time at home to advance plan some of the worship for June, I realise that three years ago I was using this same material to plan worship that would only be delivered by post or online. It includes the great story from Genesis where Abraham welcomes three visitors to his encampment – I noted that welcoming strangers was not allowed! To live through a pandemic brought great changes and it has continued to do so. For me, at the moment, Covid is an irritant. But for many people it has brought immense grief and totally re-shaped the way they imagined these years would be lived. There seems to be a lack of confidence amongst us, an intense harking back to how things used to be (or at least how we wish-remember those days). Yet some things will not change – still the stranger seeks a welcome and God continues to visit with purpose.

As I flick between 2020 and 2023, the tune I’m singing is a favourite one:-

Here in this place, new light is streaming,
now is the darkness vanished away. …

Gather us in – the lost and forsaken,
gather us in – the blind and the lame.
Call to us now, and we shall awaken,
we shall arise at the sound of our name. 

I love the hope within it, even as we recognise our different abilities. The image of new light streaming into a place creating new images and perceptions. And as the hymn comes to a close it takes us out of our buildings and heavenly dreams to concentrate on the here and now, the places we are set, the communities we are called to love. 

Not in the dark of buildings confining,
not in some heaven, light years away,
but here in this place, the new light is shining;
now is the Kingdom, now is the day.
Gather us in – and hold us forever,
gather us in – and make us your own.
Gather us in – all peoples together,
fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

© Marty Haughan, GIA Publications, Inc, 1982

May we each know God’s light streaming into our lives. 

be blessed

Minister

A Place for each of us

We spent the last weekend of our holiday in London. It combined a long promised visit to Kew Gardens, a visit to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final (that was me, not Chris – she continued to enjoy Kew for the afternoon) and then on Sunday morning joining others lining the streets to watch the Marathon runners stride/pound/struggle/wobble along the Embankment. I enjoyed all of it, but have been particularly reflecting upon the process of running a marathon. Once upon a time I was a decent enough runner, with enough stamina to probably manage a Marathon. But, I was always a lazy trainer, falling back on the excuse of shift work, and then unreliable  hours of ministry as the reason why I just didn’t have time to train. In truth, it was never something I set my mind to, or applied the focus that each of these athletes will have discovered over the long hard winter training runs. And so I admire everyone who has done so and the people who have supported them over those hard months. 

In a couple of weeks time the streets of London will be lined again for the Coronation of a King and Queen. As some may have gathered, I’m at best ambivalent towards royalty. I have serious questions about people who are valued and gain great power and privilege because of their birth rather than any particular gifts and talents they may possess. I’m deeply suspicious of a system where power is gifted so unquestionably. At the same time, I have different reservations about a republican system of government – all forms of power come with limitations for those of us who are governed. However, I like to take note of historical events and as the first Coronation in my lifetime I’m interested in how it plays out, what and who is included/excluded and the narrative that will accompany these events. So I will watch and listen with interest (whilst making my way to Manchester for a home match).

The Gospel reading on Coronation weekend is John 14:1-14. Jesus invites us into God’s house, where a place has been prepared for us, where we are valued for our presence and faithfulness. It is an invitation that does not seem to rely on either the status of our birth or tour commitment to training runs. It does not give one role value over another, or amplify our inequalities. There is a place for each of us who accepts the invitation. It is a reading well-loved at funeral services as it seems to offer us a place in God’s eternal home, but I think it is also to be seen in the act of being alive, of knowing our value despite all the things we might wish we could do better. Knowing that whether we are in procession, running the race, lining the streets or heading off somewhere else entirely, we can know that we love and are loved the one who invites us into God’s presence. 

be blessed

Craig

Minister

Asylum

Asylum

Two children aged four and sixty-one 

sit on the shiny church hall floor wazzing

a plastic tractor across the busy span

ploughing laughter. In the background 

newly arrived friends discover an arsenal 

of language whilst a bill is broadcast

that will make entertained angels illegal

amongst strangers with forgotten roots.

Is this what we have become? Keepers

of the poisoned well, creators of bitter

metaphor, crafters of ripped canvas?

Who will serenade aliens, play tractors

on the floor, dig the well of flourishing,

and plant flowers amongst muck-rakers?

Craig Muir, Lent 2023

I usually like poems to stand by themselves, and perhaps this one can do so – but I thought it could also stand some context and some biblical background. The first day of our new Learning Together initiative in Loughborough was the same day as the publication of a government bill that seeks to make such activity impossible. I find such an attitude towards those seeking asylum stands against the values of any nation that would like to think of itself as Christian. Time and time again the Biblical texts remind the people of Israel where they have come from, that because they had been slaves they were to treat strangers/aliens with kindness and respect (e.g. Deuteronomy 13). In this poem we draw from the Letter to the Hebrews “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”(13:2).

Time and again the people of God are called to pursue peace and create a culture of welcome. In this poem I remember various stories in which the well is the place of meeting, but in particular Genesis 26 where access to wells was a cause for conflict but became the basis for peace and hospitality. As we find ways to welcome those who seek asylum amongst us, may we also find ways to create beauty, love and peace together – it is the only way we can all flourish and in doing so I believe it is the only way to follow the one who reminds us that once we were in chains but now we are free.

As we move into the season of Easter, may we each know the joy of new life, the hope of resurrection and the excitement of being welcomed into the enriching community of God’s people. 

Be blessed

Craig

Minister

Journey Through lent

How do you advertise Lent? A time to give something up? Or a time to fast? Or a Journey to the Cross? In creating a new banner we played with a number of ideas, a variety of questions and sent words circling like characters who emerge from life to meet with Jesus. The final result was a Word Cloud gathering together the most used words in these encounters that we hope will intrigue and open up fresh 21st century conversations.


I know already that some people don’t quite understand a wordcloud, they prefer a very clear linear text that says what you want it to say, but for others it is fun looking at the various ways the Word Cloud Generator arranges the words and how that draws your eye to notice some and not others. Similarly, playing with the different colour options meant that certain words jump out, others fall back – yet the words one eye notices will be different for each person and for those whose eyes do
not allow them to see the banner at all – then there is a reliance on the way it is described for them.


When words are heard then they also take on different meanings as accents and cadence open up fresh opportunities and wisdom.
So, for you, which words come alive?

  • Do they tell you something about the texts we are going to follow?
  • or invite you to know more?
  • Which words tell your story?
  • or remind you of an experience in your own life?
  • or do you suddenly notice something despite missing it previously?
  • Would you like to come on a journey with us through Lent, or invite someone else along for the ride? We will share words – but may also find ourselves with no words to say. We will hear old stories told in new ways, and perhaps new stories told in traditional ways. And we will invite these
    words to come alive in our own times.
  • be blessed
    Craig