Thursday 21 February 2013

The Servant


He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it at all. ‘Had I completely forgotten that Christ was the PRINCE OF PEACE!?’ he yelled with saliva heading in my direction on each P. I hadn’t, but I also hadn’t forgotten that Jesus said ‘blessed are the peacemakers’, so I stood and listened as five minutes of vitriol was poured out upon me. Me, a vicar in the Church of England (yes, for some reason I was wearing a clerical collar that morning) allowing skateboarders in a 12th century abbey, which should rightly be silent. SILENT! I wanted to say his theology was pretty hopeless and that Christ was the Prince of Peace not the Prince of Quietness; that the shalom of Jesus was the reconciliation of humanity to God, not a quiet nap in front of a fire. I wanted to ask how many empty silent cold churches God needed that day in North Wiltshire to reach the lost; I estimated that we had provided about 40-50 and thought that that was probably enough. But instead I asked if he would object to the noise of a symphony orchestra playing Handel’s Messiah in the Abbey. He said he would, conversation over, pass the straight jacket.

I liked it. I liked it a lot. It wasn’t just that over 500 young people were at home and enjoyed themselves in the Church of England. It wasn’t just that families that don’t say grace at mealtimes had prayer at the start of skate sessions; ‘this is Your skatepark, we will rejoice and be glad on it.’ It wasn’t just the joy of a young person giving their life to Christ or some seriously tattooed Tetbury skaters hanging out in the Abbey with their new Christian mates. Our partnership with Christian Skaters UK has born so much fruit over 5 years, and this year was no exception. For me the compelling vision was of the body of Christ, the church, serving. Sometimes the church is blinded to the fact that our acts of service are simply ones keeping the show on the road, essentially serving ourselves. To see over 100 volunteers giving their time and energy and peace of mind (did I mention how NOISY! the abbey was?) to serve others really looked like church. ‘After that Jesus poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped round him.’ (John 13:5)

To all that served in Malmesbury Abbey Skate 2013 in whatever capacity, administrator or manual labourer, IT or H&S, café or intercessor, my sincere thanks. As you served, we looked like Christ.

Tuesday 19 February 2013

Leadership & the Art of Fugue


No machine has been designed to accurately count the number of books on leadership emerging each week. So, with a deep desire to proliferate with the rest of them I thought I’d see how easy it was to write (aka ‘make stuff up’) about leadership from Johann Sebastian Bach’s fugues, for instance the Fugue in G Minor, BWV 578. In a gathering of your Mozarts and Beethovens, along with lesser lights like Brahms and Puccini, when JS Bach walks into the room everybody else stands up. He is the master. So go and listen to a JS Bach fugue, then read on for a thesis in fugal leadership, set to become the next big thing:


1. Somebody has to go first
Leadership has never been about following. Exposed, alone the fugue begins with one voice, often in the right hand, rarely in the pedals. The leader takes the idea public and experiences the thrill and vulnerability of being that voice. Richard Branson runs in the room with ‘I believe I can fly, I believe I can touch the sky’, James Dyson declares ‘this really sucks.’ The leader articulates the vision, the leader goes first, the fugue begins somewhere.

2. If your vision is inspired it will come back at you
‘Nobody understands me’ generally means you’re an idiot. A well articulated and inspiring vision will normally be re-voiced in your direction by trusted friends and leadership teams. They know that they’re going to be on this tune for some time, and it won’t come back with added value if it’s nonsense – it will be an embarrassing solo. In BWV 578, as in all fugues, it comes back identically but in a different key, the personality of the second and third voices allowed to re-voice the tune. The fugue underscores the value of ownership, corporate clarity and vision development; the leader lets go, the church or organisation holds on and to a degree reworks the vision.

3. Leadership sets the tone
Now go and listen to the Fugue in G major BWV 577. It’s called the ‘Gigue’ Fugue and is one of the happiest pieces Johann Sebastian Bach ever composed; the sun shone on Weimar when he wrote it, we had it on our wedding day. The happiness pervades from the very first phrase. Don’t be miserable on my watch; leadership (the first voice) sets the tone.

4. Everybody needs to get it
There is a moment in the exposition of a fugue when the hands, the manuals, are sharing the theme, normally in 3 parts; but something is missing, the feet. The moment the feet take up the tune this much is clear, everybody gets it; the whole organ(isation) is on board. Bill George of Harvard Business School talks of leadership ‘aligning people, or bringing them together around a common mission and a common set of values.’  The Fugue is a master-class in alignment. In the D-major fugue BWV 532 the repetitive complexity of the theme begs the question ‘will everybody ever get this?’ Then the pedals come in in bar 20, yes even the pedals get it, everybody gets it.

5. Leaders refresh and repeat vision
After the opening section of any fugue you’ll hear the developmental, conversational Bach, sometimes leading the fugue to a new key, sometimes there will be counter-melodies, but always the initial theme will return holding everything together. Clarity and security through repetition. After a year or so Christ’s disciples must have been entirely unsurprised when he started talking yet again about ‘the Kingdom of Heaven’. In one of his final recorded conversations with a perplexed Pilate he is still revisiting His life’s work, His death’s work, with the words ‘my kingdom is not of this world.’ (John 18:36) Listen out for a final (pedal) articulation of the theme in all Bach’s fugues. The theme is what it’s about, and always will be.

6. Leaders point with enthusiasm to the next chapter
The leader needs to signal when an organisational phase or period is coming to an end and a new beginning is coming. Take the Toccata& Fugue in D minor BWV 565 – yes the really famous one. As it gets near to the end of its 10 minutes it’s clearly ending, but when Bach throws in a Bb major chord in the final bars it’s clear that there is absolutely no loss of creative energy or imagination, and we can be excited about the next chapter. Things end, life doesn’t, and leadership points to new life.

7. Soli Deo Gloria
Even the dimmest student of history, and I count myself among them, can see with ease that leadership can be used destructively and calamitously. Humanity is diminished by unconsecrated leadership. Interestingly JS Bach’s fugues don’t end with a chord, they all end with three letters, S.D.G., Soli Deo Gloria, alone to God’s glory. You’ll find the same letters at the end of Handel’s Messiah. We lead for others, we lead for God, or we lead badly.


So that’s my thesis for now. I'm expecting to be flown to conferences to speak on fugal leadership principles, first class travel and a nice hotel to tell people what the writer to Ecclesiastes has already said: there is nothing new under the sun. JS Bach got there first.

Monday 4 February 2013

Holy Week Preview


Innovation is at the heart of Malmesbury Abbey; James Dyson doesn't have all the fun. And it’s not just skate parks, cafés, holidays at home or stained glass in our toilets that dries your hands as you pray. Our Holy Week Festival, now in its seventh year, fires our imaginations spiritually as it allows the creative and performing arts, prayer and teaching, to inspire us and to prepare us for our reflections together on the death and resurrection of Jesus.

This year our café, labyrinth and Stations of the Cross art exhibition will return in a slightly different configuration – we hope you don’t fall over anything. The festival opens early as the Riding Lights Theatre Company bring us their new play ‘A Different Drum’ on Wednesday 20th March. Our daily rhythm of prayer begins on Friday 22nd March and that evening Revd Si Jones, vicar of St Michael’s Stoke Gifford and a New Wine speaker, is with us to speak on Passion for Jesus, followed by a late night concert from Tristan Cork. On Saturday 23rd March we meet the young artists from Malmesbury School in the morning and that night the blues/folk/rock sound of Josh Flowers and the Wild is supported by the contemporary soul of Sally Archer at 8pm.

Palm Sunday, weather permitting, takes us outside for Holy Communion and then on the Monday evening the international organist Anthony Hammond improvises a ‘Stations of the Cross’ around the poetry of the French poet Paul Claudel. During the day on Tuesday & Wednesday of Holy Week Springs Dance Company are with us to lead four dance workshops for young people based on Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Selfish Giant.’ On the evening of Tuesday 26th March the Peter James Jazz trio return with music from their new CD Soul Story, reflecting on themes of death and resurrection, and then on Wednesday 27th March  Andrew Halestrap, Professor of Biochemistry at Bristol University, is with us to ask Does Science disprove God?  (Given my career choice I'm hoping for a 'no' answer to be honest.) Sandwiched between the Vaughan Williams Mass in G Minor on Good Friday and our Easter Day worship, on Easter Eve BBC Wiltshire are with us in the evening for a special recording of Easter at Malmesbury Abbey.

10 days to take our imaginations out of the cupboard, to meet with God and to meet with one another. The full brochure and detailed programme will be available in early March.