Saturday 24 November 2018

Non-compliance


I am really looking forward to worship tomorrow, at our little chapel at Pett. I personally have absolutely no preaching or leading duties tomorrow, so get the chance to enjoy some else's input.

And tomorrow morning — that's November 25th at 10.45am — our preacher is Buzzfloyd who often comments here. In the Methodist Church, when we talk about a preacher we don't just mean the person who gives the address. The preacher is responsible for crafting the entire act of worship.

I am specially looking forward to tomorrow's worship for four reasons.

Firstly, Buzzfloyd is a cracking good preacher — engaging, unfailingly interesting and thought-provoking, kind and full of faith.

Secondly, I know she has recently been thinking about non-compliance as a social skill — as an asset rather than a problem — and I am hoping she may be sharing some of her thoughts about that tomorrow.

Thirdly, it is all-age worship, which suits our congregation at Pett very well. We are genuinely all-age, ranging from toddlers to grannies, and everyone is full of good ideas and they all offer brilliant insights and contributions when given the chance. And I know that Buzzfloyd can be trusted to ask honest questions in search of real answers — as opposed to the tired ruse of asking leading questions to oblige the people to second-guess the answer the preacher prepared earlier.

Fourthly, Buzzfloyd has a substantial praise section lined up for us, and as the word of God goes forth upon the praises of the people, we know that this is just the best way to enable the flow of the Spirit in our midst; which after all is why we go to church.

So it's going to be brilliant and good fun and interesting and I've been looking forward to it all week, and if you live in East Sussex your journey to join us would not be wasted. If you live in the US you may be just in time to catch a flight but if you're in Australia you might be cutting it a bit fine even if you start out now.

10 comments:

Bean said...

I will be there in spirit ;)

Peace be with you,

Bean

greta said...

i really want to hear more about non-compliance as a social skill! that sounds very interesting . . . .

Pen Wilcock said...

Bean — yes! A bit too far to come. But you'd fit right in.

Greta — me too. I am so looking forward to it!

Fiona said...

What a great pity that Durham is so far away! Please report back afterwards. I too am fascinated by the concept of non-compliance as a social skill! Wishing you a lovely time of worshipping together.

Pen Wilcock said...

Thank you! Yes, I think you and Buzzfloyd would be the best of friends. In case we need any visual aids for the topic in hand, my grandchildren may be there.

greta said...

wouldn't it be lovely if all those who gather here with you could worship together in person? there is such a feeling of 'kindred spirit' amongst us : )

Rebecca said...

I will read Buzzfloyd's comments here with fresh eyes! 😀

Pen Wilcock said...

Hi Greta — Yes!

Hi Rebecca — Buzzfloyd is just the best preacher — you'd love her! She did speak on non-compliance. I sat and explained to her neurologically a-typical son in words of one syllable, having taken pains to secure his attention, that today we would be talking about saying "No". And I showed him the picture Buzz had got ready — a colourful red "NO."
"Er . . . no, thank you," he said politely, and left to play in the adjacent room. We have non-compliance down to a fine art in our church.

Rebecca said...

I WOULD fit into your church quite nicely!

Pen Wilcock said...

:0D

xx