Quite literally have just returned from the Baptist Union of Scotland's annual Assembly. This year it was held in Glasgow, which means returning took only 20mins and ensured last night and tonight I got/get to sleep in my own bed - for which I am grateful!
The theme of the Assembly was 'The DNA of Discipleship'. Catchy title and really there were good things about this weekend. Not least of which was Mark Greene talking 'empire theology' and 'stuff' yesterday morning. Catching up with people was good and helpful. Listening to presentations was sometimes good and sometimes helpful. Worshipping together is always good and always helpful.
Yet, what I enjoyed most about the weekend, what the highlights were if you like, had nothing to do with any of that. There were two and both are all summed up in the word COMMUNITY!
After the college presentation our lecturers (though that is not the right term, as they are more than lecturers) wanted to take us out for coffee. So off we students went, gathering more students and former students and students other (better?) halves along the way. By the time we reached the coffee shop we were many. Yet rather than disperse, we moved furniture to be together. Conversations broke out that very quickly turned deep ... especially (not surprisingly as ministerial students) about 'this journey called ministry', in all its differing senses. Points were discussed, questions asked, opinions shared, thoughts provoked, learning stimulated ... all over coffee, cake and ciabatta. Time passed, quickly, as it does when it is being enjoyed amongst friends. Before we knew it we were late for the next session and so decided to walk leisuely back together, continuing in conversation.
We were doing community together. Not because it was forced, not because it was felt we needed to, or were obligated to ... but because actually that is what we are. We are a community together. Of students yes, but more so as Christians, as people seeking to follow Jesus and learn what it means to come under His rule even more. And in that there is a recognition that we can't do it alone, and so we do it together, becoming part of the shaping forces in each others lives. And that continued even into the dinner with two friends.
That was a highlight of the Assembly for me.
The other came just after communion, as the closing act of worship. Communion is a powerful time, and this was too, as a core leaders and others served the body with the symbols of Christ's body and blood ... and (in my case at least) not silently, but with the words "this is Christ's body given for you ... this is Christ's blood poured out for you." After that onto the platform came a small team. After sharing that their presentation (given at a conference in Germany earlier in the year) was both Scottish in culture and simple in language, images began to appear on the screen. Images of Scottish things ... places, people, history, and information was shared in slow careful language. As the presentation continued the two girls on stage acted freeze style different kinds of greeting before it was shared that in Scotland we greet with a handshake. And so, the woman continued, the delegates (that had been in Germany, standing in black trousers and white tops) were going to pass among people and share the greeting with them. As it was recieved it was to be passed on to as many different people as possible. And so the team began to move among, and from my position in the balconary the most beautiful scene began to unfold.
People greeting each other ... not in the way we sometimes do in church, you know the "turn around and say hello to someone" forced way ... but in genuine greeting. People began to get up naturally and share with others a handshake, and somewhere in the midst of that God was tangibly present. There was a girl singing, though to be honest I didn't hear the words, but in the music and in the handshakes the Spirit was breathing something that seemed like community in some ways. Not in the same way as in the cases above, but something deeper than I'd seen all weekend ... and I sensed in my spirit the real hope of genuine, loving, committed community. And as the handshake made it way to where I was and I got up to greet others I did so with tears in my eyes, that began to stream down my cheeks (and I really don't do public crying!) because it was truely something beautiful, and I mean beautiful that was taking place. For me, the Spirit was resting heavy and this was in deed a holy moment! It took a while for people to make their way back to their seats, because the handshakes were still going on ... genuinely going on ... a feeling of community was being birthed in some way almost.
That was a highlight for me.
And so the conference was good ... but those moments of community were great. That is what I take away from the Assembly. Discipleship is about our whole lives, that came across load and clear from the front ... and its about being disciples in community.
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