Rediscovering

Breadth is achievable. Just think for a moment about the diverse life of Malmesbury Abbey in the last month. A visit from HRH the Prince of Wales for a concert by the London Chamber Orchestra. The moving funeral of a well-loved pigeon whisperer with choir singing ‘Cuckoo.’ A soft-play party for young children to celebrate the birthday of our new café. Each day the quiet rhythm of Morning Prayer at 9am. Refresh serving croissants and St Paul for the women of our community. A love-filled Vision Sunday last weekend with a fresh vision for 21^st century church. A pop-in in for the elderly. And the Healing in the Streets team finally getting answered prayer about the weather.  And that’s just scratching the surface. It takes a lot of work together, but breadth is achievable.

Depth is harder. Nearly 30 years ago, the author Eugene Peterson presented his latest book on the psalms of ascent, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, for publication. This devotional classic on discipleship was rejected by seventeen publishers because apparently there wasn’t a niche market in Christian publishing for obedience, or for spiritual growth that wasn’t instant. Depth is harder.

Discipleship is about listening and re-listening to God. Read Jonah (yes, today.) You’ll notice that God says something (1:2) and Jonah ignores (1:3), then God says the same thing (3:2) and Jonah re-listens and obeys (3:3). And there’s a large fish as well. The direction didn’t change, the obedience did. Depth is harder because we scoop the earth with our hands, not with a shovel.

For the rest of the year at Malmesbury Abbey we are re-listening. Eight months of Rediscovering together. Month after month we will get the earth on our hands as we rediscover what it is to share our faith, or what it is to be called to serve God. In July we will be asking what does it mean to worship God, and on Sunday 5^th May at 4pm we get a taster of that as Paul Langham, vicar of Christ Church, Clifton, speaks from Psalm 40. Next week we begin with Rediscovering Evangelism. Details below.