New Parish Conference

Really excited to be sharing at the New Parish Conference in October. It will be a great time of stories, challenges, worship, discussions and many many missional musings.

News from me

Now seems as good a time as any to announce that at the end of June 2015 my contract as Pioneer Minister of Restore will expire and is not being renewed. My licence to minister also expires at the same time.

It is also pertinent to add that Clare and I had hoped that I would be able to continue as Pioneer Minister of Restore in a Self-Supporting Minister / Non-Stipendiary Minister capacity. However my request to become self-supporting has been denied.

Clare and I look to the future to what we will be doing and where we will be going next. Meanwhile, I continue to work towards my dream of being a successful Beyonce Knowles tribute act.

Your prayers are appreciated at this time.

Moments

In passing seconds
Hours
And glances
Imagined romances
Never-happened-dances
Life works
Its way
Through time's vein
To this day
God's way
With ticking seconds
On big old clocks
Telling stories
With hands on their
Ten thousandth revolve
Hours unfold
Stories are told
Truth's sold
Lives lived bold
Time enthroned
Existence honed
Lived alone
And in the presence
Of hosts
Memory's ghosts
Future's toasts
Words spoken
Shouted uttered and muttered
Tears shed
New life squealing
Leaves falling
Hours passing
Love and mourning
Dust and calling
Growing falling
Moment's passings
Moment's graspings
Moment's callings

#cmpfire

I feel like the following post, probably needs a bit of an introduction. I'm not usually much of a "swearer" in poetry, having only ever used one expletive in one version of one of my other poems. This poem was written as an ongoing response to an intense 24 hour period of reflection with a group of practitioners. It is in some ways, a summation of where we, as a group feel many of the missional and ecclesiological issues of the church are at. The poem was written in the midway point of the conference and shares the deeply held frustrations, limitations and challenges facing the body of Christ. Keep watching for more from #cmpfire.

Fear and Dust: A Hymal for the Wild Vol. 1

I have a new book of poetry coming out. The pdf is available to download now, from http://www.proost.co.uk/fear-and-dust-hymal-wild-vol-1 and the physical books should follow soon after.

A Letter To All Loved Ones

A Letter To All Loved Ones

Dearly Beloved,

Be-Loved and Beheld,

Broken-open and Born-anew

I long for you to heed this truth,

To hold it tightly to your delicate clay facade,

And to know it at the very centre of your being,

To grasp it in the very core of who you are;

The depths beyond which science shares no secrets,

I fitfully long for this word to bleed into your heart,

And plant a truth, a seed, bearing fruit in your understanding of yourself,

You are loved,

Beloved, you are loved,

Beloved,

You are loved, not for your achievements, though they are many,

And you are loved, not for your graciousness and compassion, though they are real also,

You are loved, beloved,

You are loved, not even because you simply, “are”,

The love with which you are loved is beyond quantifying,

And far beyond purport,

You are loved,

Whispered simply, you are loved,

Shouted from mountaintops, you are loved,

You are loved,

Let this truth soak deep into you,

Let it stain your self-respect,

Let it wash clean your notion of grace,

Let it cleanse the areas of your life that you’d rather forget,

You are loved,

Beloved,

I yearn for you to know a fraction of the artisan’s delight,

For you to grasp with unquenchable joy and enchantment, the love which formed you,

And the love which loves you,

For you are loved,

Time does not erode this love,

Disease can neither hinder nor diminish this love,

Guilt and fear and anger and grief and remorse are held by this love,

Not denied or ignored,

But embraced and understood by this love,

The grave shrieks and quakes insight of this love,

And the love knows the cost,

Dearly beloved,

Be-loved and Beheld,

Broken-open and Born-anew,

You are loved,

Beloved, you are loved.

A song of Plate and Cup

a song of plate and cup

there is noise

distractions and distortions

there is complexity

worries and concerns

there are conditions

expectations and stresses

there is fear

of what may be and what might never happen

there are temptations

trials and persistent damaging demands

there is worry

and there is peace

creator and sustainer

pioneer and saviour

give us your peace

held tightly in your love

bear us warmly

strengthen us when shadows lengthen

cultivate in us stability

rooted in your name

rooted in your word

rooted by your voice

give us deep roots

holding us together

keeping us firm

rooting us in our place

rooting us with you

rooted in our centre

help our roots build strong bonds

with the soil and fabric of our lives

strengthen our roots

with the nourishment we need

may our rootedness

interweave our lives together

and keep us ever onward

reaching towards your throne

keep us faithful and persistent

stable in fidelity

keep us creative and flexible

persistent in our searching

may our firm foundations

be yours and yours alone

that our deep entangled roots

would feed our hearts for life

help us to bear witness

to the journey that we take

and as we come to the plate and to the cup

as we have so many times before

feed us once again

with your flesh and with your blood

that plate and cup would root us in your story

rooted in earthly trouble and kingdom glory

build us up to tend your garden

shape our lives to grow for you

for your glory and in your name

to heaven’s son we pray, AMEN.

(c) Tim Watson, 2015

A song of Plate and Cup - a liturgy, used before the Eucharistic prayer, in a service thinking about "rootedness" - sly, unintentional nod to George R. R. Martin in the title!