Day 34 - Getting the process right

I have just returned from a busy 24 hrs with the Bishop's Council, ensconced away at St Stephen's House, Theological College. My head is spinning with all that we have shared together, as well as process questions about where to go next. It's hard to know just what to write.

I confess that there has not been a deliberate practising the presence of God on my part over the last 24 hrs, however there have been plenty of moments when the presence of God was practised! That all seems part and parcel of ministry - being alert to the times when God is present, although it all seems quite routine, mundane and about God anyway.

So God was present quite explicitly in the worship - three different experiences over the 24 hrs. Although, for me in putting together worship for one of the sessions, I sensed God's presence more in the preparation than the delivery (again this so often happens as a minister); God was present through his Word explicitly in the Bible Study and times of prayer and reflection; and God was present in the Building, although some parts reflected that to me better than others.

Then there was the interaction - God's presence being manifested in all the conversations, the plans, the discussion, the aspirations and the questions. But, for me most importantly God was present in the process - it is by creating space for the thinking and the relationship building, with some plans and preparation built in, that brings about the moment in which encounter and transformation can happen.

So much of the God glimpses are about the Kairos moments, which can often only come about if we have an openness to them, or create a space for them. This last 24 hrs helped Bishop's Council have a moment to breathe - when so often it doesn't....and in that space significant movement happened towards God and towards an understanding of one another. My mind may be spinning but I sense God has been at work....hence my determination to continue to get the processes right.