Well, I am 3 1/2 days away from finishing my year in London. This week there have been several goodbyes already and people have been generous to me. I have some lovely flowers among other bits and pieces at present!
I have the Haven tomorrow and then just my farewell service on Sunday- after which we are going out for lunch.
The last week has been manic, I visited Queens last week which was great. It was great to see where I am going to be, everyone was really friendly and they seem to have really good resources as well! I am going to do an MA in Applied Theological Studies- which is exciting and scary. I have really missed study this year! Which has surprised me! So I will be moving to Birmingham in early September.
At the weekend I had my final Guy Chester weekend, which I was only there for on the Friday. Last week my Grandma (Dad's Mum) was 80 and there was a big family party on Saturday night. It also conincided with Dad's Birthday. It was a great night and to me really important to celebrate life! It was great to be able to be with family again! I will put a picture up at some point! The last song of the night was "You'll never walk alone." It seems to have become our family theme tune, it was played at my cousins wedding (An avid Liverpool fan!) just after Dad had finished his radiotherapy and Grandma said that those words were for him. So it gets a bit emotional now.
Then back to London on Sunday, yesterday it was nice to see Steve (my university chaplain) who was in London and then last night I had my final women's group. Today I finished my time at the Hospital. I plan on reflecting next week on some of the inspirations of the last year, so will write them here!
Steve asked me yesterday what are the two things I am going to take away from this year?! A good question- i've learn't so much but haven't processed it all yet! I do know that part of me this year has been learning to live with tensions. Whether it be the tension of living and working in the same place! The tensions between social work and Church, between Hospital chaplaincy and circuit ministry! The tension of also not always being able to do much, especially in hospital chaplaincy! I can pray, but physically I cannot relieve the pain, I cannot stop the person from dying. Its hard and there isn't much you can sometimes do apart from be alongisde. Which I guess is part of the incarnation. The tensions also of the Criminal justice system.
I am already starting to realise just how much I have gained- now I need some time to process!
Any way, need to get some rest! So will write again shortly!
Wednesday 25 June 2008
Monday 9 June 2008
The last few weeks!
It’s been a busy few weeks as usual! After receiving the news of where I was going next year I went to Cambridge ready to drive to Cornwall, for Jez and Lois’ wedding! So I then had a 3 day adventure- I drove down to Cornwall on the Friday, spent Friday night in Falmouth and catching up with friends, Saturday was the wedding and then drove back to Cambridge on the Sunday! It was crazy, but great fun! Some of us from Uni and other friends of Lois’ stayed at a Christian retreat centre, just outside Falmouth. It was really cheap and great to stay with friends who I haven’t seen for a while! What was slightly fun was finding the place! Lois’ Dad went and lined the route with balloons! I arrived to collect people staying at the centre and Lois kindly offered for us to drive in convoy! So off we went, the centre was on a farm, so we kept following and following, going down a single track! When we got to the last bit some people had to get out of the cars in order that the cars didn’t scrape on the bottom! It was all good fun! When friends arrived at midnight me and Jon (one of my friends from College) went out to meet them to bring them back! It was easier than trying to work out where they were once lost!
So the Saturday was the wedding itself, it was wonderful and really special to be able to share in such times with friends! It was good to see friends again and catch up! The reception was lovely, after the meal and speeches we all went down onto the beach for a bit- which was fun! Then back to the Hotel for the evening reception which was a Ceilidh! Great fun and a day to remember!
On the Sunday I drove back to Cambridge via Stansted to drop Ali off! (Another uni friend!) It was good to have some company on the long journey back after only about 8 hours sleep over 2 nights- and it wasn’t for not trying to sleep!!!
I love being with my friends! It was good last week to be able to offer hospitality to Adam and Kristi in London. They spent Thursday in London and stayed with me over night before heading to Paris for the weekend. Then today Adam and Kristi came for lunch- we had rolls and cakes from Harrods!
One of the things I really miss about Lancaster is the craziness and fellowship I had there! Friends if you are reading this know that I miss you all!
So its been busy, I have only 20 days before leaving WLM and MCH. We had our MCH leavers BBQ last weekend. Leavers all received Mugs that say “I lived at Methodist Chaplaincy House”! I shall treasure mine. I am visiting Queens next week, which I am looking forward to! Apparently Queens is in the posh part of Birmingham- will suit me very well!
Any way, best go and try and rest. Its extremely hot in my room, so am currently sat on the roof top garden trying to cool down! An early start in the morning!
So the Saturday was the wedding itself, it was wonderful and really special to be able to share in such times with friends! It was good to see friends again and catch up! The reception was lovely, after the meal and speeches we all went down onto the beach for a bit- which was fun! Then back to the Hotel for the evening reception which was a Ceilidh! Great fun and a day to remember!
On the Sunday I drove back to Cambridge via Stansted to drop Ali off! (Another uni friend!) It was good to have some company on the long journey back after only about 8 hours sleep over 2 nights- and it wasn’t for not trying to sleep!!!
I love being with my friends! It was good last week to be able to offer hospitality to Adam and Kristi in London. They spent Thursday in London and stayed with me over night before heading to Paris for the weekend. Then today Adam and Kristi came for lunch- we had rolls and cakes from Harrods!
One of the things I really miss about Lancaster is the craziness and fellowship I had there! Friends if you are reading this know that I miss you all!
So its been busy, I have only 20 days before leaving WLM and MCH. We had our MCH leavers BBQ last weekend. Leavers all received Mugs that say “I lived at Methodist Chaplaincy House”! I shall treasure mine. I am visiting Queens next week, which I am looking forward to! Apparently Queens is in the posh part of Birmingham- will suit me very well!
Any way, best go and try and rest. Its extremely hot in my room, so am currently sat on the roof top garden trying to cool down! An early start in the morning!
Saturday 7 June 2008
Hinde Street Sermon
I am preaching at the 11am service at Hinde Street tommorow, which is quite scary! Here is the sermon.
Sermon for Hinde Street Methodist Church Sunday 8th June
Karen Hilsden
Readings: Genesis 12:1-9, Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26
Today, after this service, will see the competitive football match between the church and communities! Football was my reason for starting to go to church! I come from a family of football fanatics and started going to church because on a Sunday morning I had the choice of standing on the touch line watching my brother play football in all weathers or going to Church with my Nana and Uncle! Church was a much warmer place and thus won! This was really the beginning of my journey of Christian faith.
Today‟s readings give us the stories of people of faith and parts of their journey. We have Abram: called by God to set out to a new place; to leave behind his home, relatives and so on. We have the call of Matthew: a tax collector. We also have the story of Jesus being touched by a woman who then is healed. This encounter with Jesus brings her a new identity: a new journey. Prior to this, the woman would have been excluded from society because she would have been seen as ritually unclean. Finally, we have the story of a girl being taken by the hand by Jesus and re-awoken.
So today we hear words from Scripture about relationships with God and Jesus: about encounters and journeys of life. Each of us has our own journey and story to tell. Some of us might identify with different characters in our readings for our own journeys. This morning I am going to share with you a part of my story.
For me, hearing the story of Jairus‟ daughter as we have just done brings back memories of a musical that I was in when I was 11. In it there was quite a cheesy song, but it was profound to me and the words were:
Jesus friend of little children be a friend to me,
take my hand and ever keep me close to thee.
Teach me how to grow in goodness daily as I grow,
you have been a child and surely you will know.
Step by step oh lead me onward upwards into youth,
wiser stronger still becoming in your truth
never leave me nor forsake me ever be my friend.
Never leave me from life‟s dawning to its end.
These words for me were words that spoke clearly to me as a child, and I suggest that they were words of commitment. They are also words that are applicable to all of us in our journey of life: the call to follow Jesus is a call to go on a journey with him. Those words “Step by step, lead me onward” are words that challenge us all, whatever stage we are at in our lives to follow where God calls. God‟s call on lives comes in different ways: through religious experiences, other people, situations we find ourselves in and at different times. Abram was 75 when he responded to his call.
I stand here this morning as the result of a response to a call. The Methodist Church accepted me to train as a minister as long as I spent my first year at WLM. I first sensed God calling me to be a minister at the age of 16 or 17: it was during a healing service and I sensed a call to celebrate Holy Communion. I thought God must have been having a funny five minutes! A few weeks later however, a minister was talking to me about my future and my University career and said to me, “Have you thought about becoming a minister?” I began to think back to the healing service. I hadn‟t mentioned my experience and what I sensed to anyone, but now someone else‟s suggestion to me made me think twice! When we reflect upon God calling people, we find ourselves looking not as individuals but as communities. People can play a big part in helping people discern what God might be calling them to do. Part of our work is to help one another in discerning this and encourage people! Just remember: you don‟t know what‟s going on in somebody‟s life and your encouragement could help them!
We believe and have faith in the God who calls; but how do we respond? For a while I kept trying to come up with excuses why I couldn‟t be a minister: number 1 I hadn‟t experienced bereavement. How on earth could I cope with doing a funeral or helping people that were bereaved? My answer to God was „I can‟t do it‟ and I continued to argue with God over why I couldn‟t be a minister. This was my excuse and remained my excuse for a while. Meanwhile my Aunt was ill. Eventually she died and I was asked to speak at her funeral. I had just gone on note – that‟s the first stage for those of you that don‟t know! – as a local preacher and hadn‟t yet preached in Sunday worship let alone at a family funeral. I managed to speak at the funeral and the only way I managed, I am quite sure, was with God‟s strength. That night I was at midweek worship: again it was a healing service. This time, during the service I realised that what for so long had been my excuse could no longer be! Now what was my excuse?!
When God calls us, we can sometimes try arguing with God, but actually God can be quite persistent! Eventually there needs to be an active response to a call. I went to University in Lancaster to study Christian ministry, initially as part of my response to my call. I wasn‟t convinced that I would cope being 244 miles away from home, but 2 weeks after I‟d been at University I found myself reflecting back: I was having a great time. Prior to going I thought I would be back, but along the way I sensed that that was where God was calling me to be. As we look at the story of Abram this morning we see God calling Abram to new places. Just as God called Abram to new places, so we can be called to new places: this might be geographically, or vocationally. Is God perhaps calling you to new places? Are you resisting responding?
One of the things I have found with calling is that it‟s always tempting to leave it or for it always to be in the future. For me there was a temptation to leave candidating. When I went to University I thought that beginning the process of offering for Methodist ministry, if that‟s what I was to do, would come much later. However, towards the end of my first term I discovered that my University Chaplain had been in conversation with the Methodist Church who had decided that Foundation Training could be done whilst I was at University! So, instead of beginning to think about doing it all once I‟d finished University I found myself offering for ministry in my final year at Lancaster.
I once heard a sermon on priesthood, vocation and motherhood which was really inspirational and helpful to me! One of the things that the preacher said was that just as you cannot stay pregnant forever with a baby, neither can you stay pregnant, as it were, with vocation! The process can be painful and involve vulnerability. At some point, our response to vocation has to come out: in whatever form that might be. For some people, it could perhaps be asking for a note to preach; for others, volunteering to help out with jobs that need doing in church. Is there an area where you are being nudged to respond?
Our Old Testament reading ends today with us seeing that Abram journeyed in stages. Our response can be made in little steps. “Step by step oh lead me onwards”. Looking at our calling is an ongoing task: we discern the big brush strokes, as it were, but we then have to discern the finer details. Responding to a call is not a momentary action: it‟s a journey, a process. Shortly my journey will move on yet another stage as I move to Queen‟s College in Birmingham for a further 2 years of training.
Abram set out to respond to God‟s call and the following passages show that times were not easy. For my journey there have been some hard times. Half way through my first year at University, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. Times were hard: I was in Lancaster whilst everyone else was at home, there was nowhere else I wanted to be but at home, yet this wasn‟t possible. There were things that needed to be done in Lancaster.
Trying to work out what we are called to do can be a struggle. For me, whilst I was exploring vocation I used to go down to Manchester every 6 weeks or so for vocational exploration evenings. The number of times I left Hartley Victoria thinking „Can this really be me?‟ or „Has God really got this right? Me a Presbyter?‟ I quite often say to friends that God must have been having a funny five minutes when he called me to be a Methodist minister and that this certainly illustrates God‟s sense of humour!
God calls unexpected people to do unexpected things: Abram at 75 and Matthew, a tax collector, someone not to have been very popular. God calls me, and you, to share in the mission of Jesus Christ: living lives of love in action. Living out the message of the incarnation of the God who dwells among the people. How do we respond? Are we prepared to give our "yes‟?
So to conclude:
Call needs encouragement! We can all encourage one another in helping to discern God‟s will for our lives.
Call cannot be in the future forever: at some point we have to respond actively.
Call isn‟t easy! There can be challenges and it can be hard!
When we make a response to God, to whatever it might be, we make it in the knowledge that the God who calls us is the God who is faithful; and in the promise of Jesus “I am with you always till the end
of the age”. So may we have grace to respond to God‟s call on our lives to follow Jesus but also to tend to those things that God calls us to.
Sermon for Hinde Street Methodist Church Sunday 8th June
Karen Hilsden
Readings: Genesis 12:1-9, Matthew 9: 9-13, 18-26
Today, after this service, will see the competitive football match between the church and communities! Football was my reason for starting to go to church! I come from a family of football fanatics and started going to church because on a Sunday morning I had the choice of standing on the touch line watching my brother play football in all weathers or going to Church with my Nana and Uncle! Church was a much warmer place and thus won! This was really the beginning of my journey of Christian faith.
Today‟s readings give us the stories of people of faith and parts of their journey. We have Abram: called by God to set out to a new place; to leave behind his home, relatives and so on. We have the call of Matthew: a tax collector. We also have the story of Jesus being touched by a woman who then is healed. This encounter with Jesus brings her a new identity: a new journey. Prior to this, the woman would have been excluded from society because she would have been seen as ritually unclean. Finally, we have the story of a girl being taken by the hand by Jesus and re-awoken.
So today we hear words from Scripture about relationships with God and Jesus: about encounters and journeys of life. Each of us has our own journey and story to tell. Some of us might identify with different characters in our readings for our own journeys. This morning I am going to share with you a part of my story.
For me, hearing the story of Jairus‟ daughter as we have just done brings back memories of a musical that I was in when I was 11. In it there was quite a cheesy song, but it was profound to me and the words were:
Jesus friend of little children be a friend to me,
take my hand and ever keep me close to thee.
Teach me how to grow in goodness daily as I grow,
you have been a child and surely you will know.
Step by step oh lead me onward upwards into youth,
wiser stronger still becoming in your truth
never leave me nor forsake me ever be my friend.
Never leave me from life‟s dawning to its end.
These words for me were words that spoke clearly to me as a child, and I suggest that they were words of commitment. They are also words that are applicable to all of us in our journey of life: the call to follow Jesus is a call to go on a journey with him. Those words “Step by step, lead me onward” are words that challenge us all, whatever stage we are at in our lives to follow where God calls. God‟s call on lives comes in different ways: through religious experiences, other people, situations we find ourselves in and at different times. Abram was 75 when he responded to his call.
I stand here this morning as the result of a response to a call. The Methodist Church accepted me to train as a minister as long as I spent my first year at WLM. I first sensed God calling me to be a minister at the age of 16 or 17: it was during a healing service and I sensed a call to celebrate Holy Communion. I thought God must have been having a funny five minutes! A few weeks later however, a minister was talking to me about my future and my University career and said to me, “Have you thought about becoming a minister?” I began to think back to the healing service. I hadn‟t mentioned my experience and what I sensed to anyone, but now someone else‟s suggestion to me made me think twice! When we reflect upon God calling people, we find ourselves looking not as individuals but as communities. People can play a big part in helping people discern what God might be calling them to do. Part of our work is to help one another in discerning this and encourage people! Just remember: you don‟t know what‟s going on in somebody‟s life and your encouragement could help them!
We believe and have faith in the God who calls; but how do we respond? For a while I kept trying to come up with excuses why I couldn‟t be a minister: number 1 I hadn‟t experienced bereavement. How on earth could I cope with doing a funeral or helping people that were bereaved? My answer to God was „I can‟t do it‟ and I continued to argue with God over why I couldn‟t be a minister. This was my excuse and remained my excuse for a while. Meanwhile my Aunt was ill. Eventually she died and I was asked to speak at her funeral. I had just gone on note – that‟s the first stage for those of you that don‟t know! – as a local preacher and hadn‟t yet preached in Sunday worship let alone at a family funeral. I managed to speak at the funeral and the only way I managed, I am quite sure, was with God‟s strength. That night I was at midweek worship: again it was a healing service. This time, during the service I realised that what for so long had been my excuse could no longer be! Now what was my excuse?!
When God calls us, we can sometimes try arguing with God, but actually God can be quite persistent! Eventually there needs to be an active response to a call. I went to University in Lancaster to study Christian ministry, initially as part of my response to my call. I wasn‟t convinced that I would cope being 244 miles away from home, but 2 weeks after I‟d been at University I found myself reflecting back: I was having a great time. Prior to going I thought I would be back, but along the way I sensed that that was where God was calling me to be. As we look at the story of Abram this morning we see God calling Abram to new places. Just as God called Abram to new places, so we can be called to new places: this might be geographically, or vocationally. Is God perhaps calling you to new places? Are you resisting responding?
One of the things I have found with calling is that it‟s always tempting to leave it or for it always to be in the future. For me there was a temptation to leave candidating. When I went to University I thought that beginning the process of offering for Methodist ministry, if that‟s what I was to do, would come much later. However, towards the end of my first term I discovered that my University Chaplain had been in conversation with the Methodist Church who had decided that Foundation Training could be done whilst I was at University! So, instead of beginning to think about doing it all once I‟d finished University I found myself offering for ministry in my final year at Lancaster.
I once heard a sermon on priesthood, vocation and motherhood which was really inspirational and helpful to me! One of the things that the preacher said was that just as you cannot stay pregnant forever with a baby, neither can you stay pregnant, as it were, with vocation! The process can be painful and involve vulnerability. At some point, our response to vocation has to come out: in whatever form that might be. For some people, it could perhaps be asking for a note to preach; for others, volunteering to help out with jobs that need doing in church. Is there an area where you are being nudged to respond?
Our Old Testament reading ends today with us seeing that Abram journeyed in stages. Our response can be made in little steps. “Step by step oh lead me onwards”. Looking at our calling is an ongoing task: we discern the big brush strokes, as it were, but we then have to discern the finer details. Responding to a call is not a momentary action: it‟s a journey, a process. Shortly my journey will move on yet another stage as I move to Queen‟s College in Birmingham for a further 2 years of training.
Abram set out to respond to God‟s call and the following passages show that times were not easy. For my journey there have been some hard times. Half way through my first year at University, my Dad was diagnosed with cancer. Times were hard: I was in Lancaster whilst everyone else was at home, there was nowhere else I wanted to be but at home, yet this wasn‟t possible. There were things that needed to be done in Lancaster.
Trying to work out what we are called to do can be a struggle. For me, whilst I was exploring vocation I used to go down to Manchester every 6 weeks or so for vocational exploration evenings. The number of times I left Hartley Victoria thinking „Can this really be me?‟ or „Has God really got this right? Me a Presbyter?‟ I quite often say to friends that God must have been having a funny five minutes when he called me to be a Methodist minister and that this certainly illustrates God‟s sense of humour!
God calls unexpected people to do unexpected things: Abram at 75 and Matthew, a tax collector, someone not to have been very popular. God calls me, and you, to share in the mission of Jesus Christ: living lives of love in action. Living out the message of the incarnation of the God who dwells among the people. How do we respond? Are we prepared to give our "yes‟?
So to conclude:
Call needs encouragement! We can all encourage one another in helping to discern God‟s will for our lives.
Call cannot be in the future forever: at some point we have to respond actively.
Call isn‟t easy! There can be challenges and it can be hard!
When we make a response to God, to whatever it might be, we make it in the knowledge that the God who calls us is the God who is faithful; and in the promise of Jesus “I am with you always till the end
of the age”. So may we have grace to respond to God‟s call on our lives to follow Jesus but also to tend to those things that God calls us to.
Friday 6 June 2008
Some resources from hospital chaplaincy
Here are some prayers written for my hospital chaplaincy placement, to give to someone struggling with prayer and the presence of God.
Lord Jesus Christ your promise is “I am with you always”. Help me to hear these words and to be reassured of your presence.
AMEN
God, in Jesus you became human and experienced joys and pain as we do. Help me to know that in our suffering you are there, that you know what it means to suffer as you journeyed to the cross.
So at this time of pain and suffering, may I know your presence.
In Jesus’ name the suffering servant.
AMEN
God of compassion. You are the God who says:
“Do not be afraid, I am with you. Though you walk through the fire I am with you, you can never be consumed by the fire.”
Right now though I am afraid, life is hard. Feeling your presence is hard.
Reveal yourself to me, in the hands that care, in the cards that carry love. Reassure me of your presence and give me your peace. In Jesus’ name AMEN
Loving God,
As a Mother who cares holds her child.
Hold me in your loving arms.
Help me to know the embrace of your loving arms at this time.
Hold me Lord, hear my cries and help me to know your presence.
AMEN
“Be still and know that I am God”.
Help me to be still.
Call to mind God’s promise “I am with you always”. Help me to reflect on this promise and know own this promise, that you are with me, here and now.
“As a Mother tends her tiny child, so I will care for you says the Lord”
God hear my cry
(take some time to really tell God how you feel).
Know that God hears this,
that God weeps with you as you weep and laughs with you when you laugh.
Lord Jesus Christ, come to me and be with me.
Make your presence real to me.
In Jesus’ name who promises presence.
AMEN
Lord Jesus Christ your promise is “I am with you always”. Help me to hear these words and to be reassured of your presence.
AMEN
God, in Jesus you became human and experienced joys and pain as we do. Help me to know that in our suffering you are there, that you know what it means to suffer as you journeyed to the cross.
So at this time of pain and suffering, may I know your presence.
In Jesus’ name the suffering servant.
AMEN
God of compassion. You are the God who says:
“Do not be afraid, I am with you. Though you walk through the fire I am with you, you can never be consumed by the fire.”
Right now though I am afraid, life is hard. Feeling your presence is hard.
Reveal yourself to me, in the hands that care, in the cards that carry love. Reassure me of your presence and give me your peace. In Jesus’ name AMEN
Loving God,
As a Mother who cares holds her child.
Hold me in your loving arms.
Help me to know the embrace of your loving arms at this time.
Hold me Lord, hear my cries and help me to know your presence.
AMEN
“Be still and know that I am God”.
Help me to be still.
Call to mind God’s promise “I am with you always”. Help me to reflect on this promise and know own this promise, that you are with me, here and now.
“As a Mother tends her tiny child, so I will care for you says the Lord”
God hear my cry
(take some time to really tell God how you feel).
Know that God hears this,
that God weeps with you as you weep and laughs with you when you laugh.
Lord Jesus Christ, come to me and be with me.
Make your presence real to me.
In Jesus’ name who promises presence.
AMEN
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
