Well what a night! My life for the past year has been increasingly wrapped up in the Christ the King Celebration to mark the end of the Canterbury Diocesan Year of Discipleship. The actual shape of the event was much debated along the way, and at some stage I must have had the idea of inviting Graham Kendrick to lead some worship. That was a contribution I grew to regret bitterly as the actual logistical problems of organising the event became more and more complicated. There was also the lurking fear that no-one would actually turn up.

So what an absolutely incredible evening it turned out to be! I watched from the front as people just kept coming and coming as the three Archdeaconries merged together into a Diocese from their different venues into the nave. I didn't actually count but there must have been around 900 people there. the sheer crowds, and the amount of time it took to get people seated heralded an event which was upbeat, exciting and inspiring. For me the absolute highlight was flugelhorn-player Raul D'Olivera's amazingly powerful solo: I could almost see Jesus returning on the clouds as he played what I believe was a prophetic trumpet-call for the Diocese. And Bishop Trevor's call to action, along with his prayers for us and our dedication to live it 24/7 brought the evening to a triupmphant close, at least for those who then didn't have to stay and derig the PA system. An amazing event! Im so glad i thought of inviting Graham!

Following my Psalms/Warfare epiphany, been doing a lot of thinking about what church is for, or rather what we think church is for. We had a major discussion at our VAT meeting for Homegroup Leaders about this, and there's still a lot more thinking to be done. Clearly there are many different names/titles/pictures of 'church' in the New Testament: is there a 'right' one? Or does each church tend towards a prevailing model? And if a new leader turns up bringing a different model ...

So I'm planning to preach on this to start off 2012, but I'm finding the exercise of thinking it through a very challenging and helpful one. By nature I'm an activist 'achievement-driven' kind of person, and I struggle with a church which doesn't do anything or make any eternal difference to anyone. But I'm also aware that at difficult times in their lives people need church as a warm and welcoming place just to be, and to be accepted for what they are. So can we pick the best bits of different models, as long as we're aware that each has a downside and a danger too? That's what we'll be thinking about in January, assuming the Lord doesn't return during A

During the recent 24 hours of Prayer I decided I would spend some of my three-hour slot praying through the Psalms - I would read a Psalm, then ask myself 'How do these words make me want to pray for St John's?' We all know, of course, that there are several different types of Psalm: thanksgivings, laments, praises and so on. But what really struck me as I made my way through the book was the degree to which 'enemies' featured.

Psalm 1 set the scene with its stark contrast between those who live life God's way and those who don't, but then it continued: Psalm 2 talks about those who plot together to rise up against God and his people, Psalm 3 is a prayer for God to break the teeth of the psalmist's many foes, Psalm 4 is a distressed prayer for relief from those who worship false gods, Psalm 5 is a lament for arrogant, deceitful and bloodthirsty men ... And so it went on. I reached as far as Psalm 26, and every single one had something about enemies, rejection of God, violence towards his people, and so on. Even the famous ones: Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise for God's creation and our place within it, but he is worshipped as the God who silences foes and avengers. Even everyone's favourite Psalm 23 is about the presence of his enemies. A couple (19, 24) sense that the foe might be internal, and that our own hearts can be our worst enemies, but the effect all this had on me was incredibly surprising. Further study revealed that the Book of Psalms contains the words 'enemies' and 'foes' over 130 times. If it is true that the Psalter is the hymn and prayer book not just of Judaism but also of the Christian Church, and you want to know what we are therefore praying about, it seems very clearly to be warfare.

A few weeks ago I confessed that my model of church has always been that of an army: a bunch of people with a mission to accomplish, enemies to defeat, people to rescue, and victory to be won. Different Christians, though, would see the church in different ways: as a safe harbour in the storms of life, as the unchanging fixed point in a world of bewildering change, or as a kind of warm, fuzzy group-hug. My reading of the Psalms has made me feel pretty vindicated in seeing the Christian life as a life of conflict, battle and warfare rather than comfort, safety and general niceness. My job, therefore, is to get myself fighting fit (I have just re-signed on at the gym after a few months backsliding!), to endure hardship, and to press in and press on to see God's victory.

Recently we held a Quiet Day which was open to anyone in the church, where we thought about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We talked about the fact that God always intended his Spirit to illuminate his Word, and how the two need to go hand in hand for balanced Christian life. We asked what sorts of things the Spirit might want to do in our lives, and in our physical bodies, and we took a few first tentative steps in learning to pray for one another. It was a well-received weekend, and people seemed very grateful for the invitation. It was especially good to see people offering and receiving prayer ministry at the services the next morning.

But as always on these occasions, and I have led many many of them over the years, I learnt as much as I taught. I noticed with great interest that there was something going on quite apart from the contents I was trying to teach, and I noticed it particularly at the lovely meal we shared together on the Friday evening. I think it was simply about being together with a purpose.

Most of us will know that the Greek word in the New Testament for 'fellowship' is koinonia, but it is less well-known that the word rarely appears on its own. It is always fellowship in something - the gospel, suffering, and so on. The idea of fellowship as something stand-alone, and nice warm, comfy, fuzzy kind of thing, but with no purpose other than itself, is foreign to the NT. So at the weekend we enjoyed fellowship in learning about and experiencing the Spirit, and it really was good fellowship. That is also why the most successful Homegroups are those with a purpose outside their own life.

This autumn we have a series of working parties to improve the quality of our Hall. That may not sound quite a spiritual as  a Quiet Day or prayer ministry, but I have every expectation that the fellowship will be every bit as deep, loving, and upbuilding. See you there?

You know how sometimes chance comments turn out to have significant meaning? This week I was thinking and talking about a particular job which needs doing in the life of St John's, and I heard myself saying 'We don't just want someone to do this job: we want to see it as part of the bigger picture, and therefore done accordingly'.
I was reminded of the story in which the Queen of some mythical country was visiting a building site, and engaged some of the brickies in conversation.

‘What are you doing, my man?’ she asked the first.
‘I'm laying bricks’ he replied.

The Queen then asked a second man ‘What are you doing?’
‘I'm building a wall, your Majesty.’

She asked a third man ‘And what are you doing?’
He replied ‘I'm building a cathedral.’

So often we go about our jobs in the church faithfully and effectively, but with a bit of a sense of disconnectedness from the whole life of the church. 'You in your small corner, and I in mine' can easily become the watchword. so the big question is 'How can I make coffee/wash teatowels/dust the church/preach ... in a way which is helping us to become the best church in Canterb

See also our Socials page for other events this autumn.