Us... 12th Century Beauty 21st Century Church

Love God. Love your neighbour. 

Baptise. Make disciples. 

Nobody could accuse Jesus of lacking clarity. There it is, in the DNA of every church for the last 2000 years. If we’re not doing the above we should look ourselves in the mirror and say is this really church? Are we disciples or distracted? A few Christians in hiding in North Korea, an orthodox church on a Greek island or a mega-church with plasma screens and Stetsons in the southern USA - what will you see? Love God. Love your neighbour. Baptise. Make disciples. That’s we do.

           

But the two billion of us on the planet are doing it differently. Just as the Old Testament psalms don’t have original tunes prescribed, the New Testament church doesn’t have a defining culture or methodology, and each church has a unique beauty and character that sets it apart, and a unique context and challenges to face.  So we’ve been asking a question to help shape our next few years together; what is God doing here at Malmesbury Abbey? Who are we?

           

We meet in 12th century beauty. We’ve inherited a breathtaking place or worship and mission from the generations which have gone before us. We love it, we’re less excited by the utility bills, but we are grateful for our turn to be stewards of an icon of the Christian faith I the South West. 12th century beauty. But we are also passionate about being a grace-filled 21st century church. Movement not monument; revival not relic. And three clarifying core values have emerged from my conversations and reflections, which say an awful lot about us, draw together our passions and actually find their roots in the monastic tradition.

           

‘This is what the LORD says: ‘Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.’ Jeremiah 6:16

           

If we look back to through 1300 year history of the abbey we will find Hospitality, Stability and Creativity. If we look around us right now, these three values are still forming us. Who can I welcome in Christ’s name? How can I grow as I follow Christ? What is the Spirit doing among us? Three questions that really matter to each of us. A few answers follow

Hospitality

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me. (Matthew 25:35-36)

Hospitality was right at the heart of the early monastic communities—as Benedict wrote in his Rule ‘Let all guests be received like Christ...let fitting honour be shown to all.’  The kitchen was kept close to the altar. Hospitality is an attitude that allows people to receive the love of Christ and then potentially belong to His community.

           

Key Areas & Developments in Hospitality

Welcome Teams, Bookshop & Stewards

Sports  Ministries (2004, 2009)

Diverse Spirituality, multiple Congregations (2005)

Healing in the Streets (2008)

New Toilets & Crèche (2009 & 2010)

Abbey Café (2012)

New Website (Summer 2013)

Alpha (September 2013)

Clearly a key development at the Abbey in 2012 was our great new café with astonishing cakes, now officially approved by the diocese (the facilities that is, not the cakes.) Clare and the team offer a warm welcome to tourists and local people, working alongside Pam and her faithful team of stewards opening the doors to 60,000 visitors each year.

           

Sunday is also hospitable by design, and less calorific. A deliberately diverse, multi-generational culture of worship and ministry that helps people of all shapes and sizes to meet and adore God - you will find worship that inspires you, and possibly worship that irritates you too.

           

With congregations totalling around 350 people we perpetually encourage everybody to get involved in mid-week small community life of some sort, whether it’s Bible study or basketball, Café Theology or Women Alive. We also have new groups up and running for those inquiring about faith and those new to our church. Later this year we will be studying ‘vocation’ together so that people can find deeper belonging in our community through serving others.

           

We want the Abbey to be a place where you’ll encounter a culture of warmth, joy and honour; where implicit in loving God is loving your neighbour. And where, in the midst of a culture of hospitality, many will find opportunities to grow deeper in faith and wholeness in Christ. 

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Stability

Yet the house did not fall because it had it’s foundations upon rock. (Matthew 7:25)

Stability. Not a particularly exciting word, but when you consider images like building a house upon rock (Matthew 7:24-27) or a flourishing tree planted by streams of water (Psalm 1:3) you start to get to the heart of it. With a decent appetite for theology and life transformation, St Aldhelm, the first inspirational Abbot of Malmesbury, built Abbeys and churches on the foundation of a community shaped and inspired by the Bible. His pioneering street evangelism and church planting had stability and longevity.

           

Similarly we’re working together to build an Abbey for the 21st Century and beyond. Sowing faithfully in prayer that the generations that come after us may reap (please join us every morning at 9am), and preserving and developing our 12th century building so that the church in the 22nd century won’t be meeting in a ruin (yes, we need architectural stability too.) We’re committed to a sound financial foundation at the Abbey, but we’re not ungenerous and find that we grow through working in partnership with charities like Music for Autism and Tearfund (in southern Uganda) and being a positive partner in the Diocese of Bristol.

Key Areas & Developments in Stability

Biblical teaching & Discipleship

Ongoing Financial & Property Oversight

Prioritising Emerging Generation ministries

Refresh women’s ministries (2010)

Resonate 19-29 group (2011)

4-5 New small groups (both 2012 & 2013)

Daily Morning Prayer at 9am (2012)

Discipleship Series (2013)

New Youth & Children’s leaders (Sept 2013)

Community of St Aldhelm, London (2013/14)

However Stability is primarily about the formation of people, equipping people to follow Jesus, to live holy, good lives. Small community life is crucial. Two new homegroups, plus Creative Response and Café Theology emerged at the end of 2012, and two new homegroups are currently forming. Beginning in May we have a teaching series (Re)Discovering looking a significant areas of Christian discipleship and in September 2013 our next Alpha course begins for those enquiring or new to the Christian faith.

           

Developing new leaders and ministries for the future and putting resources into the emerging generation is a priority as we build for the future. This dimension of our life together is about to get a whole new injection of energy as John Monaghan joins the staff as curate in June and Revd Alice Monaghan, Sarah McGrory (Youth Minister) and our new Children’s Minister are commissioned in September.

Creativity

In the beginning God created (Genesis 1:1)

Imaginative. Innovative. Inventive. Risk-taking. Pioneering. Brother Eilmer that is, flying off an earlier version of Malmesbury Abbey 1000 years ago. Perhaps we are made in his image. Since the first breath of the Spirit over creation, God has been firing the imaginations of humanity. That there might be a dull church anywhere at anytime feels wrong. The Lord is here; His Spirit is with us.

           

Key Areas & Developments in Creativity

Holy Week Festival (2007)

Advent Carol service (2007)

Malmesbury Abbey Skate (2009)

Anglican Chaplaincy (2010)

Music for Autism (2010)

Holiday in the Home (2012)

Creative Response (2012)

The Malmesbury Nativity (2012)

BBC Easter from Malmesbury Abbey (2013)

The Malmesbury Passion (2014)

At Malmesbury Abbey the journey has been substantial, imaginative and life-giving, as the Spirit has used the courage and creativity of the Abbey community to reach far beyond our immense stone walls. And that Abbot Aldhelm was a creative evangelist, songwriter and poet seems to authenticate our skateparks and our art, our drama and our liturgies.

           

Our creative spirit has also birthed new partnerships: establishing a pioneering chaplaincy at Malmesbury CE Primary School, working with the URC and the May Moore Trust for a genuinely life-enriching Holiday at Home for the Elderly, 5 years of partnership with Christian Skaters UK on the skatepark, 3 years work with the Orchestra of St Johns on the Music for Autism project for local schools, and last Easter the Abbey Choir working with the BBC as a special Easter service from the Abbey was broadcast across Wiltshire.

           

With a foundation of stability and a culture of hospitality, perhaps creativity is inevitable as the Spirit brings new life to a growing, Christ centred community. Life to the full.

Abbey Advance Diary

What follows is a simple advanced diary for many of the extra events happening at Malmesbury Abbey in the coming year, and a few elsewhere. This is not exhaustive, and more details will follow, but this is to make space in your diary for The African Children’s Choir, Abby Guiness returning with great theatre, WOMAD, visiting speakers, prayer and arriving new staff members:

April 25^th        Abbey Café Birthday Party – cake and soft play

April 27^th        Refresh Breakfast at 9am

April 28^th        Vision Sunday & AGM (begins 10.30am with coffee)

May 3^rd/4^th      Music in Country Churches at Abbey with

                        HRH the Prince of Wales

May 5^th           Revd Paul Langham (Christ Church Clifton)

                        speaking at 4pm

May 12^th         (Re)Discovering  teaching series begins

May 22^nd        Workers Prayer (7.30pm)

May 29^th         Monaghans move to Malmesbury

June 7^th          Abby Guiness – The God Particle

June 18^th        Prayer evening with Bishop Mike (Lea Church)

June 26^th        Music for Autism workshops and evening concert

June 29^th        Ordination of John Monaghan (10.30am

                        Bristol Cathedral)

June 30^th        Festival Communion at 11am (Preacher John                                                      Monaghan); Followed by Hog Roast

July 2^nd           Refresh – Humility before Christ

July 8^th            Schools/WOMAD Art Project in the Abbey all week

July 16^th          WOMAD concert at the Abbey

July 24^th          Workers Prayer (7.30-9pm)

Aug 4^th-10^th    New Wine Festival at Shepton Mallet

Sept 1^st           4pm Carnival Service

Sept 8^th          6.30pm Deanery Choral Evensong

Sept 17^th        Refresh – Exaltation of Christ

Sept 25^th        Intercessory Prayer (7.30pm)

Sept 29^th        11am Licensing of Revd Alice Monaghan,

                        Commissioning of Sarah McGrory (Youth Minister)

& new Children’s Minister

Oct 13^th          Abbey Choir singing at Gloucester Cathedral

Oct 18^th          The African Children’s Choir at the Abbey

Oct 23^rd          Workers Prayer (7.30-9pm)

Oct 27^th          Bible Sunday, preacher ay 10.30am & 4pm: Tim Hastie-Smith, National Director Scripture Union

Oct 29^th          Confirmation Service with Bishop George Cassidy (7.30pm)

Nov 12^th          Refresh – Purity in Christ

Nov 27^th          Intercessory Prayer (7.30pm)

Dec 1^st            Advent Carol Service (6.30pm)

Dec 7^th           Handel’s Messiah (Orchestra of St John)

Dec 13^th         Sir James Galway Christmas Concert (Orchestra of St John)

Dec 20^th         The Malmesbury Nativity – performances begin

Dec 22^nd        Nine Lessons & Carols (6.30pm)

Dec 24^th         Midnight Communion

Dec 25^th         Services at 8am, 9.30am & 11am

Jan 5^th 2014  Baptisms at the Pool (4pm)

The Shepherd

People all over our county of Wiltshire are used to singing Psalm 23 at both weddings and funerals. ‘The Lord’s my Shepherd’ is a familiar and comforting phrase, and the old tune has a simple beauty as well as a large dollop of nostalgia. As marriages begin we prophecy ‘pastures green’ on the good days and ‘thou art with me’ for the tough times. And at funerals we declare with poignant faith that ‘in God’s house for evermore my dwelling place shall be.’

But why would any of us sing this 3000 year old Jewish song, a shepherd longing for the safety of the Jerusalem temple, as if it’s our own? Frankly, I don’t particularly want to lie down in a green pasture, unless we have the glorious long hot summer some of us are optimistically predicting. And perhaps we should fear the worst when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death; it doesn’t sound a particularly hopeful place to travel through. However, the shepherd king, David, that wrote or inspired this song, had a simple testimony that continues to resonate with the faith of the church and our knowledge of God: in death’s shadow God is with me, God brings back my life (a closer translation of ‘restores my soul’), all my days I will dwell with God in his temple. The Christian themes of crucifixion, resurrection and ascension are just below the surface; the Cross, the Tomb and the Throne.

Holy Week is difficult because in it God makes us lie down in profoundly challenging human pastures: the short-lived exuberance of Palm Sunday, the betrayal of Judas Iscariot, the denial of Peter, the sleeping sorrow of the disciples, the malevolence of the religious leaders, the lottery for Christ’s clothes and the inhuman execution of Christ. None of this makes us particularly proud of our humanity; in their worst we see our worst. In Adam we all die. But Holy Week ends. Easter Day brings humanity back to the temple, back to God’s house forevermore. In Christ we all are made alive.

As we sing our songs of resurrection this Easter, may the Spirit of God impart to you a hope based squarely on this, and this alone: He is risen. May you look at each area of disappointment or sin or sickness or sorrow or brokenness in your life and say three words: He is risen. And may the life of Christ surge through death’s valley and bring us to His temple.

Music in Country Churches 2013

We are delighted to be welcoming back Music in Country Churches to Malmesbury Abbey on May 3rd and 4th 2013.

Founded in 1989, Music in Country Churches was set up with the active support of the Prince of Wales, with the specific aim of bringing world-class musicians to country churches of particular beauty and importance. The concerts they arrange, over three weekends annually, are designed to raise funds to help these churches with maintenance and upkeep of their fabric.

This year on Friday 3rd May at 7.30pm the featured musicians will be The Nash Ensemble in a performance of Schubert, Berwald and Beethoven. On Saturday 4th May at 11am Caroline Cerasi (fortepiano) will be performing CPE Bach, Mozart and Haydn. And then on Saturday 4th at 7.30pm the London Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, will be performing music by Mozart, Wieniawski, Saint-Saens and Beethoven.

Full programmes and ticketing information can be found here. NB Tickets can not be bought in advance from Malmesbury Abbey, although on the day unsold tickets may be available and on the Saturday morning young people are welcome to attend for the price of a programme.

A Different Drum

Last Wednesday 150 of us packed around a 6m x 6m square stage, up close to the five actors of Riding Lights as they performed a different drum – truly riveting, inspirational theatre. Having lived in Derbyshire when I was a curate I was pleased that the story focused on the villagers of Eyam in north Derbyshire, where in 1665 the village decided to sit out the plague, which had arrived unnoticed with a cloth merchant from London, carried by the fleas in his overpriced cloth. In order to protect surrounding villages, and even the nearby city of Sheffield, from the plague, the villagers decided to live in a self-enforced isolation for a year, and in 1666 the plague was gone and one third of the village had died. There has been no major outbreak of the plague in the UK since.

With this story at the heart of the evening we heard other stories of how inspired by the teachings of Jesus people and communities defied convention, oppression and even laws to demonstrate their love for God and others – people prepared to walk to the sound of a different drum:

Revd ‘Woodbine Willie’ Kennedy with his faith and cigarettes in the WWI trenches; Archbishop Oscar Romero standing up against the torture, assassinations and injustice of the government of El Salvador; the Catholic monks of the Notre-Dame de L’Atlas monastery dying with, rather than deserting, their Muslim neighbours; and contemporary stories of Katie Davis working selflessly with Ugandan Children and Anna and Chris Hembury working with CMS in the most troubled areas of Hull. All walking to the sound of a different drum. His drum. Christ the drummer.

As we mark Jesus riding into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday with our ‘sweet hosannas’, perhaps our perception of this event has become a bit house-trained; domesticated by repetition and familiar ritual. We might miss this one man riding against the efficient brutality of the Roman Empire and the political scheming of the religious establishment. We might miss one man dying that others may live. We might forget that for many to take up their cross and follow Christ is more than a philosophy. Palm Sunday reminds us that because Christ entered Jerusalem to the sound of a different drum, we are forever called to live and speak differently. Words from Archbishop to lead us to the cross:

“We have never preached violence, except the violence of love, which left Christ nailed to a cross, the violence that we must each do to ourselves to overcome our selfishness and such cruel inequalities among us.”

Open Minded

I recently heard in a lecture the phrase ‘open minded space.’ I immediately started bouncing in my chair because as we prepare to put jazz, café, prayer, science and art in Malmesbury Abbey for our Holy Week Festival I felt that 'open minded' might describe something of our communal life in North Wiltshire.  We are certainly a space and a half, and there is something open minded about the approach we are taking in it. I dug deeper.

The philosopher Michael Walzer writes about ‘single minded’ spaces and ‘open minded’ spaces. A single minded urban space might be a car park, or if it’s an interior space perhaps a dentist’s surgery. These spaces have a clearly identified purpose, you don’t dance in either. There isn’t a flexibility of usage or tolerance from the dental nurse. An open minded urban space would have a more fluid usage, possibly like a park – where you might find resting, exercise, café, art and concerts – or if it’s an interior urban space our bookshops have been morphing for years to include café, IT, community and education (yes, I know that they still want to sell books, but they’re being nice and open minded about it.) The architect Richard Rogers buys into this (in Cities for a Small Planet) and I think if we turn back the clock and consider the ancient multiple usage of our Abbeys – prayer, education, hospitality, shelter, commerce, music – we might claim that there have long been open minded spaces with some pretty awesome architecture across our nation.

One reason why we might have lost this sense of open mindedness, around and in many of our church buildings, is the encumbrance of fixed single minded furniture redefining our space; and also the ground around our churches gradually becoming a single minded space totally focussed on burial. And, as if to reinforce this single mindedness, for many people their experience of church every other year or so is sadly a funeral, sitting in an uncomfortable pew. Death and furniture, that’s what the church is about. Oddly, when churches die and close their moribund buildings are often liberated to become art centres, sheltered housing, community centres and worship spaces, offices and restaurants, as if reclaiming their open mindedness.

Victoria Ward, director of Spark Knowledge, attempts to put open minded space in a 21^st century context and her insights challenge us to create space with

(i) places for prayer and reflection,

(ii) proximity between different usages,

(iii) ritual,

(iv) performance and  creative buzz,

(v) artefacts,

(vi) places to meet and even work, and

(vii) markets, both of ideas and things.

Ha! I enjoyed ticking all her boxes and want to buy her a latte near our 15^th century bibles and contemporary art as we listen to scientists speaking about God and Josh and the Wild singing blues and find a chapel to pray and a dance class to go to. I could then leave her to go on the internet and work near the tomb of the first king of England.

The church knows that we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds, the question is where? 

New Wine 2013

The trouble with you is that you are just too spiritually alive. Go on, admit it. Every moment of every day you are intentionally growing as a disciple. You are hungry to shut the door and sit with the bible open, at the feet of the master, and to simply absorb and change. You are irritating to be with because when you are putting on the kettle or sitting on a bus you keep bursting into abandoned worship. And your faith, well sometimes it just seems limitless. When they were recently selecting the new Archbishop and Pope your name was probably somewhere on that list. A dark horse, but nevertheless a contender to lead the global church.

Or maybe that isn’t quite your 24/7 reality; it isn’t mine. (Although I hope the cardinals considered me for just a moment: ‘What about that Archer chap? He may be Anglican but he can sing in Italian.’) Maybe you are genuinely perplexed by the ordinary challenges of allowing your life and the Kingdom of God to flow together. Maybe your diary and your workplace seem to have too much to say about your spiritual life. Maybe you can’t shake off discouragement in your Christian journey. Maybe the only thing consistent about you is your inconsistency.

This summer, we’re delighted that John and Alice Monaghan and their family (above), will be leading a large group of people from Malmesbury Abbey to the New Wine summer conference at Shepton Mallet (August 4^th-10^th). New Wine Deeper is a space to stop, to spend extended time with friends from church, to learn from inspiring teachers and to meet God, sometimes in the solitude of a tent or a caravan, or sometimes with 3000 worshippers. New Wine is a week to intentionally grow in your faith, young and old, veteran disciple or new Christian. The reality of life meeting the Kingdom of God, and good holy things happening as we go deeper. And also a lot of laughter, late nights outside the tents and food cooked for just too long on the BBQ.

Now is the time to book. There are reduced prices if you book in before April 2^nd, and it’s cheapest to book online at www.new-wine.org. John, our new curate from June 29^th, and the family will be at our 4pm service on March 17^th to introduce themselves and also to speak about New Wine and encourage you to come along. It’s also possible to stay off-site in luxury, one of the Abbey leadership is doing this and she shall be nameless. Another option is to commute down for a day or two – but you don’t quite experience the benefit of stopping for a week to be with God and the church. But however it happens, we’d love you to be part of the Abbey community at New Wine this year.