Singing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land

What do we grieve the loss of?

What do we need to let go of?

What needs to die within church?

Fresh signs of hope

Things God might grow in me

Signs of hope within the church?

What do we grieve the loss of?

• Loss of close community formed through the natural contact of everyday life, lifelong neighbourhood, working, worshipping and playing with the same group of people.
• A sense of respect and trust.
• Loss of respect and courtesy in community.
• Loss of community and sense of belonging, connectedness, togetherness.
• Sense of community lost.
• Common sense of goodness, purity, safety of community for bringing children up in.
• Loss of people's identity with the local churches.
• Politeness, manners, community spirit.
• Community.
• That a number of people do not go to church and do not seem to care about Christian matters.
• Shared culture.
• Respectability.
• Respect for Christian values, church as a moral authority.
• Loss of community cohesion, loss of shared vision/purpose, loss of interdependence.
• Family worship, religious instruction in schools.
• Loss of trust.
• Consensus on the basis of right and wrong.
• I grieve the loss of innocence in our young people.
• Innocence of the appreciation of the natural world.
• I miss the class crossing opportunity that Church provided.
• The loss of some prophetic voices that were open and courageous.
• Visiting.
• A day of rest.
• An awareness of God's story within the community as a whole and the impact that relationship with God should have.
• So few Christian programmes on TV that witness to testimonies, people's faith, e.g. the Old Songs of Praise.
• Gentleness.
• A high standard of morality in the general population and in our leaders in particular.
• Stability, factionalism and judgmental attitudes regarding the former.
• I grieve the loss of good neighbourliness and the growth of individualism.
• Loss of structure and form, loss of reverence.
• Praying together - with and for each other. Fellowship - see people only on a Sunday.
• Respect for God's name.
• Loss of reverence and respect (for God, for parents, for elderly, for purity).
• Trust.
• Community - interaction with real people, we have become facades.
• In the wider community what is lost is a sense of community.
• Trust, friendship, time.
• Innocence but not naivety.
• The gradual inexorable decline of Constantinian thought patterns.
• Dear God, certainty is being killed in me.
• Church as the centre of society, moral superiority.
• Loss of shame, loss of Christian values, loss of social capital and community.
• Knowledge.
• Community.
• Freedom - there is no sense that you can be yourself, that you can practice your faith, that you will be open to ridicule and tension, more so in the South, greater religious freedom in the North!
• Sense of courtesy and consideration, sense of communal good over emphasis on individual rights.
• Shared morality.
• Respect for human life.
• Compassion for human frailty.
• Loss of respect for Christian teaching and morality. Apparent irrelevance of the Church and Christianity.
• Trust.
• The loss of community and general concern for others.
• Children's innocence - growing old before their time.
• Sense of neighbourliness, dormitory towns, people living next door to virtual strangers who maybe don't speak from one end of week to next.
• Sense of community/knowing the people who live around you.
• I grieve the loss of neighbourliness in my community.
• The loss of our people, the loss of the chance to influence for good, the loss of hope.
• Family values.
• Respect, kindness, contentment, hospitality.
• Respect.
• In the wider community I grieve the loss of a sense of compassion and mutual aide. It seems as though our pluralistic and increasingly self-centred ethos are leading us away from a compassionate socialism toward a ruthless and uncompassionate capitalist materialism.

What Do We Need To Let Go Of?

• Need to let go of my reliance on the Church establishment.
• Dependence on my own wisdom.
• Fear of the unknown.
• Understanding of mission.
• Impatience.
• Human control and over organisation.
• The sense that the church has control. To let go of the notion that as a servant of God I should be shown respect.
• Desire for social status/recognition.
• My concern about my pension! (Professional churches are under threat)
• Self-satisfaction that we are strong.
• Hurt.
• Off the screen or off the wall singing!
• Personally I need to let go of my desire to control my ministry and fully allow God to shape His ministry that I am part of.
• Control.
• Fears, perfectionism.
• I need to let go of control.
• I need to let go of my inhibitions and enjoy the freedom of the Spirit.
• Hankering after community that is lost – in church and in the wider world.
• I need to let go of my past ministry.
• Need to be less defensive.
• What we did in the past.
• The past, false busyness, ‘I’ centeredness, independence.
• Self.
• As a servant of the church I need to let go of resistance to new models for being the church.
• I am holding on to being comfortable not having my world upset and not having to change too many of my ideas.
• Problems can be solved by turning the clock back.
• Possessions.
• I have nothing to give attitude, criticism, staying silent.
• A sense of callousness in wider society.
• Fear of engaging in the process of worship, fear of total participation – singing etc., fear of being fully identified as a servant of Christ.
• Dear God, let us let go of our illusions that we own you, that we define you.
• A grasp of truth which issues in vibrancy of living for God and others. What I want for my church I want for myself.
• The ache or longing (sometimes) to be accepted.
• The clutter of the years that are gone.
• Reluctance to come to the Lord’s Table.
• Self and prominence and position.
• Fear of other people’s disapproval and restrictions.
• Conformity with the world around.
• The bits of me I don’t like.
• Need for security, to be in control of my future.
• Let go of over involvement in own congregation to free me for wider involvement in a variety of new contexts.
• Need to let go of fear of what others think of me even when I know I’m doing what God wants.
• Reluctance to get involved with people.
• Control and fear, pride, reliance on understanding and learning.
• Need to let go of fear.
• Let go of our assumed position of authority.
• Security.
• Fear of moving forward.
• A job with a church organisation that makes me a “professional Christian”.
• Only leadership by highly trained highly theologically educated individuals.
• The need to be in control or things and always be making progress.
• I need to let go of being involved in so much and step back.
• Not to feel threatened by the many other nations that are here now.
• Need to let go of the discouragement and seize the opportunity.
• The myth that the establishment will survive regardless. Church as we know it?
• Let go of negativity, let go of anger, let go of desire to control.
• Let go of fear of commitment to help bring about change and arrogance that I know something others don’t.
• Old structures, painful memories, feelings of inadequacy.
• Security.
• Self-reliance, fear, cynicism, lack of trust.

What Needs To Die Within Church?

• Discrimination within churches needs to go or die.
• Robes, formality, ways of doing things.
• Pride, self-prominence.
• Dependence on hymns.
• Things in church have to change and not stay the same.
• In our church our pastors need to control or do everything.
• Status of “Minister”.
• A maintenance mentality, reliance on professionals, static institutional structures.
• Allegiance to state and tradition and the need to please people rather than God.
• The marginalisation of women, the hierarchical structures that favour men, the use of the term Father.
• Holding on to past traditions or ways of being, need to be allowed to die for fresh ideas to emerge.
• The arrogance that one church has all the truth.
• Legalism in our churches should be allowed to die. It’s not what we’re about.
• The conviction that a particular understanding of peripheral issues is the only true understanding.
• Nothing needs to die. Much needs to grow.
• Younger people feel intimidated by individuals in church therefore being lost.
• There is a need for certainty.
• The way in which laity and the religious are separate. This is changing. More participation.
• The need to believe we are right.
• Exclusion.
• Loss of commitment to mission – content with own experience. Need to lose arrogance of own confidence and ignoring those outside.
• Adherence to tradition for the sake of it needs to die.
• In my church the concept of entitlement and the mindset of focusing exclusively on the inward agenda needs to die. This death needs to give way to a rebirth of a church looking outward to where God is at work.
• Committee work.
• In the church the attitude of smugness and arrogance needs to die.
• The structure of control from a clerical/hierarchical power hungry church. The exclusion of certain section of our society.
• A grasp of truth which issues in vibrancy of living for God and others. What I want for my church I want for myself.
• Dominance/power of clergy/hierarchical structures (to allow laity to exercise God given ministries).
• Denominational pride.
• Anger with hierarchy’s attitudes towards others within church setting.
• Busyness and highly organised and controlled projects “for” God.
• Formality (in dress, language, etc.), divisions (between denominational groups in our community).
• In our church the old traditions need to be allowed to die, especially “we’ve always done it this way”.
• The belief that there is one right solution to our situation.
• Hierarchy.
• Control of people through doctrine.
• Traditional ways of doing church.
• Sense of decorum, control and fear, individualism versus community.
• An innate Christendom mentality – from maintenance to mission outlook.
• The sense that someone else has the solution.
• As a church aspirations of growth need to die.
• Tradition (that’s not the way we do things!!)
• Focus on revival rather than survival.
• The desire for success, the desire to be big.
• Traditionalism needs to be allowed to die. The humanness of the church.
• Hankering after the good days.
• In my church a discipleship which is mainly intellectual needs to die to give way to a living faith which encounters the world around in mission.
• Formality in dress and language, overdependence on the organ for music, fixed pews, robes, the gap between clergy and lay people.
• The impression that life revolves around church and activity.
• Clericalism – divide between clergy and laity.
• The use of religious and Christian language to justify the nation we are making.
• Lack of authenticity, we project an image of what we think others expect.
• The need to act from the top down.
• Social status, hypocrisy, coldness.
• The rigidity of the use of Sunday especially the insistence on 2 sermons.
• In church I grieve the loss of prayer and connected with that I long for church to lose its dependence on human methods for way forward.
• The church is losing or perhaps never had critical insight into the needs of society.
• Dear God, I am not sure I grieve anything in our changing church. I’m not sure I ever belonged.
• Not sure

• That an awareness is growing that NI is not the centre of the world and that our problems are not the focus of the world’s attention. A new generation is beginning (!) to look outside itself and examine the system in which we live.
• A new awareness of how things might be.
• Effective interaction/service with the local community.
• Openness and desire for reality.
• Fresh signs of hope in new Christians arriving from other cultures.
• New honesty of the unchurched, devoid of the stranglehold of tradition and what their forebearers did in a Church sense.
• Influx of many people from abroad brings many believers and many more unbelievers with whom we may share the Jesus story.
• New energy of churches working together.
• Some people are finding material prosperity does not bring peace of mind. They are open to spiritual debate.
• New signs of peace.
• Mutual support in times of trouble.
• Recognition of need for community/relationships. Self-centredness equivalent to loneliness. Need to receive as well as give.
• In the wider community I sense a fresh sign of hope in the desire for reality in spiritual things.
• Organisations like CCCI or Restoration Ministries growing in terms of number, but also an acceptance of their radical challenge to step outside our traditional thinking box.
• More space and time for God in my life.
• A grassroots movement in certain areas towards ecumenical dialogue among Christians. There is a need to listen to each other and it’s happening but it needs to be on a larger scale.
• Fresh signs are to be found amongst the marginalised in Dublin especially the “new Irish” from Africa.
• More environmental awareness and more awareness of other communities/minorities.
• Young people ready to serve in Christ’s name.
• Inclusiveness.
• A desire in the wider Irish culture not to go back to days of unaccountable authority, corruption and abuse of power.
• Paramilitaries beginning to demobilise.
• Imminent establishment of a community youth group for unchurched children.
• Becoming less satisfied with materialism.
• Young people interested in church as community not institution.
• Conversion, connectivity, evidence that God is at work through the most diverse communities, me being here today.
• Accountability and transparency.
• There is a new kind of church in our area and a new one being built, which will also be used as a community centre.
• We celebrate and give thanks for social justice initiatives, social rights, art and films that humanise and explore diversity and difference. We are glad for social evolution.
• I see great signs of hope seeing children play with each other, especially kids from different nations.
• Fresh signs of hope are in people coming to God through Alpha courses and other outreach.
• Our minister has started a monthly praise service in a hall in another area of our parish.
• Work of CCCI. Evidence of grace. Generosity of Spirit.
• Fresh creativity in mission and worship. Risk takers. Recognition that failure isn’t always bad.
• Youth involvement.
• I need to get to know my community in order to hope.
• In the twenty something’s who are passionate about their faith even while they wrestle with the idea and institution of church.
• The discussion of newness. The freshness of opportunity.
• Real search for someone greater than ourselves.
• Recognition of the need for change.
• Willingness to change, openness.
• An openness to exploring Spiritual issues.
• Search for spirituality.
• A deep hunger (not always conscious) for God but not necessarily for church, as we have known it.
• Embracing differences.

Things God Might Grow in Me

• Patience when things change slower than I would hope; wisdom to see how I can be part of change.
• God growing in me. A deeper understanding of God’s plan for my life. Trust; being able to recognise when God is working in my life towards specific goals.
• More clearly defined times of prayer.
• The ability to go on despite no political resolution, decommissioning and an uncertain future!
• A new courage to “follow the star” of a new (yet ancient) epiphany.
• A great image of Jesus and be a peace builder within the community.
• Taking a risky new step in my career.
• Vision, wisdom, discernment, patience, encouragement.
• That God would help me to take risks, to offer the incomplete.
• Patience, the little sister of hope.
• Presence and blessing to all.
• Risk taking, pioneering.
• Patience, humility, greater love for others, better sensitivity to and understanding of God’s plan for my life (and helping those around me sense theirs).
• Faith that captures spirit and senses.
• Courage to step outside the box.
• I desire that God would grow in me a greater prayerful dependence in uncertain times.
• A willingness to let go of control.
• A new spirit of freedom and boldness in prayer.
• God might want to grow in me joy and acceptance in a time of waiting and vision for planting seeds.
• Deeper spiritualism.
• An understanding of other Christian faiths and an openness to look in a deep way at the work they do.
• Reliance on his Holy Spirit and the courage to go where he leads.
• Spirituality – of being conformed to the image of Jesus.
• A fresh rhythm of life and fresh purpose. What field to buy in anticipation?
• Growth in spirituality rather than religiosity.
• God might want to grow a passion for witnessing to others.
• A new freedom and willingness to simply know Him and follow Him.
• Honesty.
• A new desire for mission.
• Grace and patience for those in my church who have hurt and wounded me.
• Boldness.
• God to grow a role model in me that others can work off!!
• Patience and willingness to take risks.
• To take more risks.
• Patience.
• Love.
• A new pair of rainbow coloured lens.
• God may be asking me to let go of my tradition while challenging me to retain my heritage.
• Grow in me wisdom, discernment and encouragement.
• A newness of concern for those in third world, fair trade, social justice issues. For us to actively participate in seeing an end to these things.
• Time to listen to Him before doing what I think I ought to do. Being responsive to God, to others. Being teachable. Prepared to be surprised.
• A deeper, more personal walk with God. Not so much busyness within congregational life, but preparing and equipping myself for change, being dormant, so He can work new things through me.
• A greater awareness of the diverse community we now live in. Also grace and love in me to reach out to them.
• More space and time for God in my life.
• An ability to remain where I am, an ability to go to new places, an ability to celebrate, grieve, be loyal, be new, be the same, be different. To let the basilea bloom.
• Peace and mutual respect.

Signs of hope within the Church

• New openness to different ways of doing church.
• Greater trust and abandonment in God. Increased leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives and church activities.
• Life arising from genuine spirituality and not just memory. Moving towards the future and engaging – not going off at tangents.
• Joint training/worship, lay leadership, youth involvement.
• Warmer, deeper relationships and mutual support. Greater interest in prayer and counter culture.
• New sense of God’s love and leading. New acceptance of selves and others.
  Church newness; real community.
• That we would discover what Jesus was saying, that we could find ways of releasing ourselves from the shackles of our theologies, and discover a man/God saying real things to real people.
• New depths of relationships.
• A new generation where allegiance to the things of God comes before allegiance to denomination and tradition.
• Greater understanding of church and what it means, also to recognise church when I see it.
• A church as a community rather than a bundle of individuals.
• In my church I hope for a new excitement about being involved in God’s kingdom mission.
• The erosion of scepticism.
• We hope and pray for people who feel like they have no voice to feel heard by the church. May we in the church listen, hear, respond, be corrected, celebrate our common hungers and talk deeply, humanly.
• New music, new songs to sing. New informality. More variety.
• Appointment of Youth Development Worker; growth in the process, acceptance and embrace from whole congregation, a point of connection for our young people, making the gospel more relevant to their lives, counter to strong peer pressure away from institutional church.
• I am Anglican and would like the Select Vestry to become a parish council and the Rector not in the chair.
• In my church I hope for the Holy Spirit to renew our enthusiasm for mission.
• In my church I hope for a newness of faith and commitment to Christ that compels people toward a movement from a personal and private Christianity to a personal and public one.
• More openness to new ideas, new ways of doing church yet keeping best of traditions.
• Hoping for a church that celebrates what God is already doing.
• Newness I hope for – a genuine research by my church into looking at reasons for exclusion. Return to Jesus’ message; would he have excluded women or homosexuals or any other group who may be different. We need to ask and answer difficult questions.
• A stronger, more supportive role for our priests, that the community will love and support them, that religious relationships will grow and foster, that children will be loved and valued and the seeds of hope planted.
• More inter-church fellowship and the combined charity support being done, i.e. non-confessional.
• Willingness to engage issues of this world.
• Vision for mission in our community.
• Good relationships. Open opportunities.
• A church in which the love of Christ is experienced and reaches out to a world, which is crying in need.
• A Spirit filled church that is open to the world.
• In church; a vibrant confidence in what God might do among us, in unexpected ways.
• In church relationships; a growing acceptance and trust of each other.
• No exclusion, no judgmentalism Love and peace always between your God and brothers and sisters in Christ.
• A growing realisation of the wounds from the past that need healing.
• Breakdown of denominational boundaries – people going to Church who want to be there.
• Clearer understanding of Christian discipleship – not just church attendance being at the core of Christianity.
• New sensitivity to people, alternatives for corporate worship and less driven leadership.
• Conversations, openness, equality, potential, ideas, variety, diversity.
• Trust, stability, hope, home, faith, courage.
• More than insurance.
• Confidence that God is working his purpose out.
• New awareness of the Holy Trinity at work in all the world.
• Combined vision and hope.
• More refreshing times from the Holy Spirit and more women preaching and teaching and leadership.
• I hope for the newness of the spirit to bring life in all its fullness to those who are lost without hope or purpose.
• Newness will hopefully be in individual commitment and discipleship and growth as dependence on the institution lessens.
• Visionary leadership.