The Gospel for this Sunday, the 2nd Sunday of Lent Year B, comes from the chapter 9 of St Mark and narrates the transfiguration of Jesus.

Most of the time when we read this Gospel passage we relate to how gob-smacked Peter, James and John were in the presence of Moses and Elijah.

I contend that it is equally likely that Moses and Elijah were awe struck to meet Peter, James and John, even though the Gospel passage doesn’t say that they did anything more than look at these three and speak to Jesus.

When we ourselves get through the pearly gates, who are we going to make a beeline to meet first? It is going to be Peter, James and John, or is it going to be Moses and Elijah? My guess is that Peter makes everyone’s ‘top 5 Saints we want to meet in heaven’, after Mary, Joseph and possibly our name saints and patron saints.

What did they have in common? Moses and Elijah were best friends with God. Peter, James and John are best friends with Jesus. This is Jesus introducing some of His best friends to each other.

What distinguishes a best friend from a regular friend? To a best friend you entrust the most private musings of your heart. To a best friend you entrust your deepest secrets. With a best friend you want to share the most pivotal moments of your life.

To become worthy of such a relationship the price is usually passing through lots of trials and tribulations and remaining faithful.

Sharing and keeping secrets are both the mark and the test of close friendship.

The healed leper we met a few weeks ago failed that test and opportunity. He blabbed everywhere. But Peter, James and John passed this test and faithfully kept the secret of this wondrous event until the appointed time. That’s impressive. It really is. It shows the depth of their friendship.

When we look at the lives of St Bernadette, St Catherine Laboure, and the three seers of Fatima we remember that God entrusted them with momentous secrets too, which they faithfully kept at great personal cost. There is therefore enough evidence to suggest that secrets are part of God’s standard operating procedure for those worthy to be called His friends.

When we recall this amazing moment in salvation history like Peter, James and John we are invited into deeper levels of friendship with God.

May we always be given the grace to say Yes to this invitation, and may we always be given the grace to recognise the secrets God entrusts to us and to be proved worthy of that trust. Amen.
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#GospelReflection

​Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you will have heard talk about God preparing to act in a great and mighty way. This expectation comes from many places and is clothed in all types of language. In Catholic circles we have 'In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph', and talk of the Warning and the Chastisement. There is the 1947 Wigglesworth prophecy that when the Spirit and the Word come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the world has ever seen. Others talk of a promised billion soul harvest.

As Peter Herbeck reminded us back in 2016, 'Did you know that the Church has an infinite capacity for regeneration? Did you know that? Did you know that the Church has right now all the power, every resource it needs, to conquer every enemy strategy the enemy brings against Her.' And it is precisely when the Church is looking the deadest and most bedraggled that we can expect the resurrection power of Jesus to come upon Her.
There are heightened expectations at the moment for something like this to begin before the end of 2019, with Brexit when it actually happens, as some form of a catalyst.

Consider:
https://lanavawser.com/2019/10/30/i-heard-the-lord-say-the-last-few-months-of-2019-are-going-to-be-explosive/
and https://www.openheaven.com/2018/07/10/three-waves-of-a-coming-baby-boom-and-strategies-for-preparation-by-christy-johnston/

Now for the chicken and the egg paradox: Are we in the 'if and when it happens we will deal with it then' camp or are we in the 'is some of this dependent on us being like Noah and taking God at His word and doing some practical stuff in preparation' camp? Is our lack of preparation part of the delay problem?

Consider the following scenario: an act of God causes 1000 consciences to awaken and they all rush to your church community to get themselves right with God. What do you do?

And what if it is 10,000 people? That's a lot of people who will expect us to know what to do to help them all.

When the active presence of God manifests itself in a place, people have life-changing encounters with God, and no one, but no one, wants to leave a place that is experiencing divine visitation. So expecting people to go down the shops to get supplies just isn't going to work, you need to have the supplies stockpiled already. Call it 'The Noah Storeroom' or the 'When God Shows Up Cache' or similar, expect to get laughed at like Noah was, but do it anyway. Also think long term, God is wanting to add these people to your community permanently. There is also no guarantee that you won't be overwhelmed by God and unable to function as a leader, marshal or administrator, so talk to your teams and make them aware of what your strategy is for when the Flood of Grace comes. Ask God what that strategy should be.  

So here are some thoughts, just looking at things from a practical perspective and a decidedly Catholic one because we need to do more preparation than anyone else.

The number one thing people will want is the sacrament of penance, and lengthy confessions. There might be a humungous crowd, but they each need to hear the blessed words of absolution personally. While they wait for their turn they are going to need some refresher teaching on how the sacrament works, how to prepare, what to confess, why the given penance is important etc. Many of them will be in a blubbering mess, before, during and after they get into the confessional.

A practical thing to do is for dioceses and parishes to audit how many non-active priests are within their diocesan and parish boundaries, get in contact with them, and have them on some kind of group alert system. They may be retired, if so, keep in regular contact with them. They may have been laicised for various reasons, but in emergencies, and this would qualify for an emergency, they can exercise priestly faculties. You are going to need them hearing confessions. If you are a bishop, then you should start working out what needs to be done canonically now to get laicised priests as sacramentally active as possible, as quickly as possible, in such a scenario.

The best people to do the refresher teaching on the sacrament of penance will be those who are already on the parish sacramental preparation teams. Parish priests should talk with the parish sacramental preparation co-ordinator about how to handle such a scenario. They would already have some experience in ushering primary school children for their first confessions.

Do you have brochures for people returning to the sacrament of penance after a long absence? Start looking for good examples of them online, or get new ones written. Have them ready to print. Put all the links and files you need in a special folder on your computer, so that you can quickly find them all in one place. Have a back-up paper version in your filing cabinet.

Begin a stockpile of tissues, a stockpile of scripture booklets (like the ones they provide for World Youth Day pilgrims, with a Gospel, another book from the Bible and a Psalm or two) and a stockpile of toilet paper.

Talk to your parish team about setting up triage protocols, because you are going to need to quickly ascertain who has never been baptised, who can't remember if they were baptised, those baptised under other traditions, lapsed Catholics, fringe Catholics and committed Catholics. Baptism (and conditional Baptism), could reduce the strain on the confessionals, but you will need a diocesan approved video presentation on what living out the Nicene Creed means as a minimum preparation for the baptism of those who have reached the age of reason and beyond.

Purchase additional baptismal registers and baptismal certificates at both parish and diocesan levels.

Space is going to be at a premium, so as quickly as possible, get all the cars out of the parish car parks and make them pedestrian access only. You could have several groups learning from different group leaders across the car park - weather permitting. 

People are going to want Jesus. Setting up a monstrance with a consecrated host in the church will help with that. If you have a spare or secondary monstrance, set up an additional adoration space in the parish hall as well. You may need to set up wardens or guards from the ranks of acolytes and senior altar servers around those monstrances to keep order. People under the influence of religious zeal have been known to do some mighty crazy things, especially if that zeal is coupled with ignorance. 

People are going to need to learn how to pray. Having an area set aside with a Marian shrine/statue and a continuous Rosary being prayed with scripture meditations prior to each decade mystery will help. Stockpile inexpensive sets of rosary beads.

If the repentance is Holy Spirit genuine, then practical steps to change lives will be needed. Wherever you normally have the paschal fire for the Easter Vigil can be the place people can bring unholy objects to have them burned, bad magazines, bad books, crystals, occult items etc.

People in non-married relationships may come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to get married. You will need teams of people to listen to them, to ascertain if they are free to enter into sacramental marriage, and then organise groups of couples for marriage ceremonies and renewal of vow ceremonies.

Purchase additional marriage registers and marriage certificates, at both parish and diocesan levels.

Under a move of God of such a magnitude, people are going to start manifesting the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit. Make sure you have literature and links on hand for them to be able to begin to understand what the Holy Spirit is doing in them, and how to co-operate with it. You are going to need protocols for how to discern and release prophetic words.

Some people may also manifest demonic influence. To deal with that, the diocesan bishop should have a plan in place. He is the chief exorcist of the diocese, and should have already appointed other exorcists. Training should begin now to enable more priestly exorcists to be appointed, and for all diocesan priests to be trained in what they are already authorised to do in such circumstances, and in what must be referred to those with specialist training.

Once the Holy Spirit activates hearts in repentance, then they will experience a hunger for catechesis. Start researching now to discover what good programmes are out there, and purchase or subscribe to them. Then when God's grace hits, get a quality video series set up for viewing in a large meeting room with automatic repeat.

Mobilise those who have been on team for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) to be the 'go to' people for those that have specific theological questions or hurdles that they need to overcome in order to take the next step on their journey of faith.

You will need printed and laminated lists of good books for people to download on their mobile phones and similar devices on topics such as prayer, sacraments, catechism, charisms, scripture, conversion testimonies that are highly recommended. The last thing you want is for people hungry for catechesis to find online teaching resources that contain doctrinal errors.

It is our duty to help people get to the best sources of teaching quickly. Many people have mobile phones with internet capability, help them use that technology to help them get the recommended teaching that they need.

People on fire with the Holy Spirit are going to want to be active in evangelisation, immediately. Remind them that even St Paul went off to pray, fast and study first. Work out in advance a way to get them into teams to do the necessary preparation, preferably each with an experienced evangelist as a leader, and then send them out in teams. Each sent out team should return together for debriefing, further teaching based on their experiences, and prayer for those they reached out to.

Real repentance will want to express itself in acts of penance, viz prayer, fasting, almsgiving, service to the poor. It will be far better to give people direction on how to respond to this call to penance and reparation, than to leave them without guidance. Think now about how best such holy responses could be channelled to the greatest good, and pray for divine wisdom as you work on that. Consider where the greatest needs in your community are, and which local service organisations are the best ones with track records of integrity and effectiveness. Some people will want to go beyond what prudence suggests, and they will need to be helped so that they bank that fire a bit so as to become sustainable rather than flaming out quickly.

People are going to need to tell their stories about how God's grace rescued them. So you will need teams of listeners and recorders. The better stories should be publicly told, as ongoing encouragement to the church community and in praise to God. Discernment will be needed for who, when, and how such stories are to be released, and whether his/her conversion has deepened enough for it to withstand notoriety.

When such moves of God happen, it can get very chaotic and messy in a good way. The more we can help people ground the profound God experiences they have had in daily prayer, reading of scripture, and frequent recourse to the sacraments, and in the accountability of regular sharing of experiences in small to medium groups, the more fruitful and lasting that grace will be within them. But it takes all hands on deck to steward extraordinary moves of the Holy Spirit like this, far more than just the priest and a handful of helpers. Training up people now who could be effective leaders of small to medium groups would be very prudent.

Many ministry teams will need to go on 24/7 rostering initially, in shifts, especially the music ministry teams. Whatever normal was will have to be suspended for a while until a new normal settles.

The chances of big increases in people asking questions about the validity of past marriages are significant. Beginning to train extra people for the diocesan marriage tribunals would be a wise thing to do.

What needs to be prevented is a decision making bottle-neck focused on the person of the parish priest. Start thinking carefully about what decisions can be devolved to trusted people in senior parish leadership positions and which decisions absolutely must go to the parish priest, and what kind of communication structures would facilitate that. For common requests maybe a pre-prepared checklist of requirements for approval could be very useful. 

The more preparation gets done, the fewer people will dissipate the extraordinary grace and slip through the cracks unchanged and without being incorporated into the parish community of faith and into the mission of Jesus.

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​I will add to this when I can, especially useful links and file downloads.
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​Examples of small booklets of scripture:

Act of Contrition
Three versions suitable for Sacrament of Penance
4 per A4 page

Prayer for a Good Confession
6 per A4 page

How to start (or re-start) praying the Rosary
With a crowd of people hungry for God, helping them learn to pray by learning to pray the Rosary and meditate on the various scenes in the life of Jesus is a good idea. This is also good as an inexpensive follow-up, for how to pray the Rosary at home.
Double sided, tri-fold A4 page

Miracle Prayer
This is a good prayer to lead people into a re-commitment to God with, or to recommend as a follow-up daily prayer for anyone who has just had a life changing encounter with God.
4 per A4 page  

Encouragement to return to the Sacrament of Penance
includes simple examination of conscience
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

More encouragement to return to the Sacrament of Penance
includes excerpts from the diary of St Faustina
about how much God wants us to come and receive His mercy.
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

Well known prayers in common use
Including most of the prayers required to pray the Rosary,
and other prayers that Catholics assume everyone knows 'off-by-heart'. i.e. this is a cheat sheet to help new converts and reverts get up to speed.
Single-sided A4 page

Stations of the Cross, Passionist version
True conversion is accompanied by a desire to reparate for sin, and praying the Stations of the Cross (any version) is useful as a start for satisfying that desire.
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

Stations of the Cross, Everyman version
​In this version, Jesus talks to us as 'His other self' and encourages us to see how we can be united to His Passion in the regular events of every day life.
​Double-sided, tri-fold A4 page

Help for understanding charisms and manifestations of the Holy Spirit, and practical guidance in their use and ongoing development
If there has been a major movement of God, then the natural consequence is people receiving charisms of healing, prophecy, words of knowledge, discernment, speaking in tongues, deliverance etc. Chances are you will have significant numbers of people needing help to understand what God is doing in them and through them, and what is OK and what is not OK. This document which distills 50 years of wisdom from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal will help you get lots of people 'on the same page' quickly, and it will also reassure them that what they are experiencing is normal for the Holy Spirit.
If you haven't read it yet, read it now, so that you are familiar with the contents. That way you will be able to point specific people to the specific parts of the content that they need - when the time comes.
32 x A4 pages

Bible Study - Gospel of Mark
This is the shortest of the Gospels, and is particularly useful for helping people come to a decision about who Jesus is.
At the link below you will find a simple 16 week Bible Study of this Gospel with discussion starters.  
Resources - Study Group

Because it could be many weeks until the evening session is transcribed, it seems like a good idea to not hold up sharing the testimonies until the rest of the 2 hours' worth of transcriptions are done. These are the testimonies given prior to the evening plenary session at the 2016 Divine Renovation Conference #DR16 together with the update given on the development of Divine Renovation Ministries and information on how to support it.

Music lyrics:
'In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Spirit, Lord we come. Our God saves. Our God saves. There is hope in Your name.'
'I believe in the Son, I believe in the Risen One, I believe I overcome by the power of His blood. Let my song join the one that never ends. Because He lives.'

Testimonies
Fr James Mallon (FJM): God our Father, we thank You and bless You for these days together. Lord we thank You for the life You give us, the life You pour into us each day. Lord we pray that we may continue to experience the resurrected life of Jesus this night. We pray through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 'I am alive because He lives' and that's something we've been witnessing these days, especially in our testimonies. People have said, you know, the talks have been good and all that, but those testimonies are…. – and I absolutely 100% agree. It's absolutely amazing, and I'd like to invite Mike to come up. Let's give Mike a welcome. (clapping)

FJM: So Mike, tell us, where were you spiritually 4 years ago?

Mike: 4 years ago I wouldn't be anywhere close to a conference like this. Just to back up a bit, I was raised in the United Church, we went to church maybe an hour a week, but that was it, like church meant nothing besides that. So as I grew up, I maybe left the church a bit, until I was a little older and I met this nice Catholic girl. And eventually, not only did I marry a very beautiful girl, I married into a very Catholic family, very Catholic. So I was around it, but it didn't mean anything to me.

FJM: So what happened?

M: Well I can remember. I think I was sitting right out there probably about 3 years ago, and you mentioned this Alpha course, and I'm thinking, 'O yeah, there's no way I'm doing that. Like, no way.

FJM: Ok, ok, so even before that, how did you end up in a pew of a church to begin with?

M: Well, when I became married, my wife, it was very important for her to take the kids to church, and her and my daughter used to go all the time. But it wasn't until my daughter was just a little girl, big curls and all that, and I can remember her saying to me, 'Daddy, I really wish you would go to church with us.' I'm hooked. So you got me in the pew. Mind you, when I was here I was probably looking at the watch to see when the hour was up. So that was basically it. But then, as I said, I was over there, I heard about Alpha and I never thought I would take it, but my lovely wife was nice enough to sign me up. So, like a coup was like hitting. So when I went to Alpha, at first it was great, the people were nice, the talks were good, food was good, but that's all it was. And then the big weekend away, great. And I can remember being a little freaked out, and all these people were praying over each other, and I'm thinking, you know, 'I could probably use the prayers, but there's no way I'm going up there. I'm not putting myself out there'. So I can remember leaving and I can remember driving home with my wife saying, 'You know, I don’t think I'm ever going to have a relationship with God.' But that week I just had this feeling like I needed to be prayed with, and I was kind of, I was almost beating myself up because I didn't go, but lo and behold Alpha comes around that week and they're doing the prayer ministry again. And I decide, I'm sitting there, 'Do I go up? Do I not?' And after what seemed like a while I said, 'Yes, I'm going to do up', and you know, I had a lot of pain and hurt inside, and I went up, and I just felt this, like immense, just peace flow right through me, as if God's love was just flowing right through me. And it was at that moment I knew that I was going to have a relationship with Jesus.

FJM: What difference has Jesus made in your life?

M: Well let me see, ah, after taking Alpha I've been on team I think 5 times. I'm in a connect group. I'm involved in the youth ministry. I'm speaking here, which honestly I would never… I would have bet the firm that this would have never happened to me. So I really thank God because I think I was at a time in my life where I really did need His love, and I just feel blessed.

FJM: Chris, come on up. I'm going to ask Chris to come up. Where were you spiritually 7 months ago?

Christopher: Not very far. I went to church for the first time in 30 years last summer. I had a lot of questions and absolutely no answers. A good friend answered every question I'd asked her with 'You have to go to Alpha' and finally – I didn't even tell her – I just went. The first face I saw was Mike's wife, ironically. I started out a skeptic and kind of grew from there.

FJM: So what happened on Alpha?

C: The big point for me was the weekend. A few weeks in I was still skeptical and growing and I started feeling something, I didn't really know what it was. And on the weekend away I heard about all these people having these amazing experiences and the leader said to me, right before the big moment, 'Have a good snack, you're going to need your strength'. And I looked at her like she was crazy and then I realised, I wanted to have an experience, and I was really scared that I wasn't going to.

FJM: So you're on the Holy Spirit weekend, and what was it that happens?

C: So we got to the moment we were calling the Holy Spirit to fill people up, and I just started shaking. I was, I didn't know what I was feeling. I can't even explain it, and the girl beside me from my group kept elbowing me, 'You have to go and get prayed over', ''Give me a minute'.

FM: That's not in the Alpha training, to elbow the guests. You'll have to take note of that name Ron.

C: I'm not giving names. And I get ready to go up and I was walking up and I only saw one face I recognised, and it was Mike. I didn't really know him well, but I just made a beeline.

FJM: This guy was doing the prayer? (pointing back to Mike)

C: Scary thought, but yeah.

FJM: So tell us what happened? Obviously I knew that, right? I knew that. Do you know what I didn't know? I found out 2 days ago, that his prayer partner was Alan, Laurie's boyfriend, from this morning. He was the other prayer partner that prayed over Chris. So what happened?

C: It's interesting. I got up there and I was a mess. I was a mess and I'm surprised Mike hasn't mentioned it yet. I was leaned over and there was a puddle of tears on the floor underneath my face. And it's funny, they asked me if I wanted to be prayed over, and I thought I knew and I said it, and then all of a sudden Mike started to pray for something else entirely – which is how I knew there was something going on because he had no idea what I needed, but He knew what I needed.

FJM: What difference has Jesus made in your life?

C: I'm still working on that. It's early for me, but it's more this parish and this family and these people. I think I needed that, that feeling, that community, that open arms. I really needed that.

FJM: We're going to have another testimony, a different kind of testimony. Where's Lee? Come on up. This is pastor Lee Kricher, and he is from a particular city in the US that is the envy of many Canadians these days. The Sidney that now lights Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia.

LK: I'm pastor of Amplify Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I would like to say from the bottom of my heart, thank you for Sidney Crosby. Thank you for sharing Sidney Crosby. (a professional ice hockey player).

FJM: So tell us Lee, what has brought you here from Pittsburgh to a conference here in a Catholic church in Halifax?

LK: Well, I mean, 6 months ago we had Matt Maher at our church. He wrote the song we just sang. In our church we have 600 evangelicals lifting our hands singing, 'Because He Lives I'm alive' and here 600 evangelical Catholics with their hands up in the air doing the same. And so the idea of us worshipping together makes so much sense but also because of our goal of changed lives. As we've been seeing all week long here, and making a difference in our community for Jesus Christ. Learning together and learning from one another makes all the sense in the world. So I found out about the conference. Our church in 2003 was on its last legs. We were under 200 people. The average age was well over 50, and we were one of the fastest dying churches in the city. And we had to make a decision whether we were going to close our doors or to try and do something we had lost the ability to do, and that was re-connect with the next generation. And so because of our commitment to not lose our faith to our children and our grandchildren, we made a lot of changes that are so similar to what you heard about in Divine Renovation.

FJM: And the incredible thing for me is when we start to get some feedback from evangelical pastors about the book. I thought this was a Catholic problem only, and I've found out it's not. It's really a human problem, isn't it?

LK: Yes, very much so. We made some dramatic changes. Some people stayed; some people left. But this many years later, our average attendance – we have 3 campuses – we have about 1800 people. And what's most exciting (clapping), what's most exciting is that every generation is well represented again in our church. So I'm very blessed about that and having been called upon by other pastors saying, 'We need to re-connect with the next generation'. And so I was recently with a Catholic collaborative in Pittsburgh, 5 different parishes. I'll be with Parish Catalyst in September in Los Angeles, and I thought one reason to come is I need to understand better the context of church revitalisation and renewal, from a great place to learn it from, but I also found… I just talked to our board of directors and to my associate senior pastor, I said, there's some things we're going to be working on learning here at the conference. So it's been absolutely amazing.

I think of when we started our journey, one inspiration was in a story from Exodus, of when Moses sent out the 12 scouts, and all of them saw the exact same opportunities and the exact same obstacles, but 10 of them came back saying, 'We can't do this', 'We can't'. And we had a bunch of 'we can't' people in our church. And they were saying, well, we're not in the bible belt where people just roll out of bed and there's a 1000 people in the church automatically. We're in the North East U.S., churches are dying. We're not even in the fast growing part of town in the northern suburbs. We're in the eastern suburbs where there's no growth, and you know, we don’t have a great music band like this – so we don't have that to attract people. We're not like a Catholic church where people automatically come because there's… I say that because every reason is as crazy as the next, and you can pile them all up as to why we can't do it. But there is a man named Caleb. Joshua had the same attitude. And Caleb said, 'We can', 'We can enter', and you know what? What's funny is the 10 never entered. Caleb and Joshua did. So the ones who said 'We can' and the ones who said 'We can't' both ended up being right. So I would just say, don't be quick to say 'We can't', and the main reason we came is I'm attracted to Caleb types, and that's also who you are Fr Mallon. (clapping)

FJM: Lee has a book being published by Harper Collins on 2 August called 'For a New Generation: a practical guide for revitalising your church' and I was privileged to read it a few months ago and it's a fantastic book. I highly recommend it. But as you were talking Lee, especially with your work in working with other pastors in different churches and helping… And thank you, by the way, for desiring to impart wisdom into Catholic parishes and to helping us, thank you so much. And I just had a sense that we should pray for this man. So Let's stand together for a moment. Let's just extend a hand of prayer.

Lord God, we praise You and we thank You Lord. We thank You for the many manifestations of the life that You wish to give us. And Lord how You move in our midst through the hearts of leaders to lead renewal of Your churches to reach the next generation. Lord, I thank You for Lee. I thank You for his family. Lord we ask that You continue to pour Your Spirit upon him, to continue to anoint him in his ministry. Lord we thank You that You have given him a heart to help other pastors. We thank You for the work that he is doing and we ask that You go before him Lord, and to prepare the way for that work for Your kingdom. And Lee, I'm going to give you a good Catholic blessing here, ok? And we ask that You bless him in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. (hugs and clapping)

FJM: You notice how I snuck that one in? (laughter). We have our ways, you know. I want to take a few minutes, before we launch in tonight, to give you a little update on where we are. The reason we had this conference was because we were simply overwhelmed by incoming stuff. Honest to goodness, we never imagined we…., we had no clue. We just thought we'd write a book and let the book do the work. We didn't realise it would cause us even more work. (laughter) And at first it was really cool, it was like, great, we said Yes to everyone and all of this, and then we realised very quickly that wasn't going to work. We actually talked among our staff team. We found out about a year ago, that adding up everyone's time in any given week, responding to other churches was the equivalent of between 1 and 2 full-time jobs. It was almost a half-time job to say No to people. And in a sense if you've got a plate of French fries and one person wants one French fry, it's no big deal, yeah, no problem. But when 200 people want just one French fry, we've got a bit of a problem unless we've got a steady flow of French fries coming through. So I talked this morning about sustainability. And you know I've been down that path. We've been down the path of working out of models of ministry that are unsustainable, and it's not life giving. It will never, as God is my witness, and as I am free to do so, I will never consciously lead like that again.

And so we really do believe that God is calling us to help other churches – not entirely sure what that means. We know that this conference this year was a part of it. We're thinking there might be…People are saying, is there going to be a DR17? No, there's not! If there were, we're already 6 months behind. But there might be a DR18, we're not sure. But we have a website, we have podcasts that we do that are very, very helpful to people, we have videos, we are looking to build other resources. We have launched a Divine Renovation Coaching Network where we invest heavily in other churches and other pastors. We have an interning program. We've got vacancies for that. We are looking at ways to do this. But, the one thing is that in a sense we are launching a ministry in answer to what we believe is God's call.

And tonight we debated whether we should do this or not, but I decided to model for you here what I do with my own parishioners when it comes to making an 'Ask'. And it is simply to give people the freedom to respond to God's call, but not to any other human motive. We know that many of you have invested tremendously to come here, tremendously, you've already made great sacrifices and your presence here is already an enormous support of our ministry, and we thank you for that. And we know that you are praying for us. But we also believe that there may be some people here tonight who might say, you know, we might want to help you, give you a leg up, to launch this ministry so that you can continue to help other churches like us, so that you might be able to provide some staffing and resources behind this so you can get it going. And for that reason we did put envelopes in the pews. Some of you probably already spotted them. And we're just going to take a few minutes and please, please, please hear me say this: we know you have sacrificed greatly to be here, and I fully hope that if it's not the time for that, that you have complete freedom to do so. And if you do feel that you would like to support us in anyway whatsoever, there are envelopes there. We can issue a tax receipt for donations from the U.S. and Canada, as it says on the envelopes. U.S. donations are to be made out to Renewal Ministries, they are able to pass that through so that you can get your tax receipt and it's all legitimate. Canadian donations to John Paul II Media – it's on the envelope. And if you think that you might be able to partner with us beyond a one time offering, we're just going to ask that you give us your email address and we'll be in touch to talk about that. So again, please, no obligation, we know that every single person has made sacrifices to be here and that you are supporting us in that way and with your prayers. But we're going to take a few minutes just for some music, and in about 2 minutes from now some of the ushers will just pass the basket. Ok? Thank you so much.

(instrumental music)
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Perhaps the biggest takeaway from these testimonies for me is the reminder of just how difficult it is for a person (particularly blokes) to get the courage to ask someone else to pray over them for the first time. The next biggest takeaway is the importance of the loving friendly environment that Alpha provides to give people the gentle pace, enough time and space for God's grace to begin to open their hearts sufficiently to let Him in.

And the biggest action point? Particularly in the light of the recent graffiti attack (Halifax Easter 2018), a reminder that we need to pray for ministries like this because spiritual attack and spiritual obstacles are intense for those at the leading edge of what God is doing. I am reminded of the spiritual insight of the desert fathers, and the image of a single demon stationed outside a city, and a whole legion of demons besieging a monastery.
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P.S. The exchange of wisdom and experience and support between the churches, within and without denominational lines, is something we all need to open our hearts wider to.

Write Non Fiction In November : #WNFIN Day 17
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Coming to you live, yes live, from the doldrums. It has been yet another day when we believe that God has been at work doing amazing things, but of which we have seen and experienced nothing.

I read about an image months ago, of times of transition being like going through a birth canal. On the interior side of the birth canal things are good, but growing and limited. However while the transition through the birth canal is happening, it is uncomfortable, there's no perceptible movement, it's dark, and it feels a whole lot longer than it actually is. Once the exterior side of the birth canal is reached, just about everything changes and feels totally different.

If this is true of our time of waiting for God to reveal His hand, His purpose and His direction, how I wish it were over.

Another image crossed my path this morning, this time of a tsunami. The only intimation that something big is coming is that what was once full of water becomes dry, and as this happens all the junk on the sea floor gets exposed. For a while the unexplained dryness becomes the new normal. The longer the dryness, the bigger the wave of water will be, but in that in-between time absolutely nothing appears to be happening except that everything is harder and takes more effort and yields no results. Only those with long memories know what the missing water signifies, and call for urgent preparations to be made and lookouts to be posted. Everyone else finds the promise of more water than we know what to do with extraordinarily hard to comprehend. But it gets very calm and still before the tsunami actually hits because the birds and the animals know better than we do, and they go and hide and find safe places.

Tomorrow is the anniversary of a day that should have been one of great joy, but instead became one of deep bewilderment and profound rejection. It would be a really good day to see something fresh and new begin, to balance all the other stuff, but at present all the seeds of possibility in my life are either completely dead or so dormant that they look dead.

Maybe you are in the same situation. The only good thing about it is that if change does come it will have only God's fingerprints on it, since at this point only He can bring about any positive change at all.

What can we learn from the two images about what we should do?

In the first one, resistance will definitely make things worse. So acceptance, and patience and trust - and consent to let God do whatever must be done – are about the only things that will help.

In the second one some kind of preparation seems necessary. Apart from doing nothing, the choices seems to be to get as grounded as possible (and find something to hang on tightly to) or to build something ark-like and seaworthy that will float above the turbulence to come. Of course, the really wise would be digging and reinforcing furiously so that as much of the new water to come could be kept as possible.

From the pictures we've seen on the news, the aftermath of a tsunami is chaos. Many existing structures get flattened, there's lots of debris, things look completely different and there's lots of rebuilding to be done while at the same time caring for those who got hurt because they were unprepared.

If God's promises are true, then doing nothing in the face of a tsunami of grace is not a sane option. It is probably why He has been so insistent upon us deepening our relationships with Him. The deeper it is, the more we have to cling to, and the more water we can hold. But at this level of magnitude individual reservoirs will not be enough - groups are needed to build communal reservoirs. Maybe that's why God has also been so insistent upon unity: we need to depth our relationship with Him as communities of faith also – and as communities of communities of faith as well.

It might look like a disaster area for a while when the tsunami of grace finally hits, and some may view it as tragic, but we have to look at the upside. Relationships get built at times of what looks like natural disaster that last for generations. New skills get learned and new levels of co-operation happen and new leaders emerge. And something happens that couldn't happen before, the chance to rebuild and to rebuild bigger and better and more community-friendly than ever before.

Who knows how much time we have left until God turns our worlds upside down? Let's use it wisely and do those sensible things He has been begging us to do; deepening our relationship with Him, and deepening our relationships with others.
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All holy apostles, holy Mother of Jesus, holy women and holy disciples who were present at the first tsunami of grace we call Pentecost, pray for us. Amen.

Write Non Fiction In November : #WNFIN Day 8

The topic for today is inspired by last night's initial session of preparation for the Sacrament of Penance. I get why they call it the Sacrament of Reconciliation; it's more meaningful to the people of our time, but technically it is still the Sacrament of Penance, with three Rites of Reconciliation (First Rite, one on one; Second Rite, group preparation with one on one following and group thanksgiving to end it; Third Rite, general, many on one, for emergency use only).

After introductory discussions about God's love and how infinite and for ever it is, came a very frank look at what God expects our response to that love to be. i.e. 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord s our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.' Deuteronomy 6:4.

It is something that we are all supposed to take seriously, and yet it still comes as a bit of a shock when we go behind the familiar words and ponder what they actually mean and think about how to live them.

God's definition of an acceptable response is perfectly logical if we take the time to consider who God is, how completely dependent we are upon Him, and how much He desires our eternal welfare. For God only the best will do, and calling forth the best from us helps us to develop into the best selves we can possibly become. Every parent wants their child to make the most of their unique gifts and talents, and no parent is happy when a child settles for mediocre instead of fulfilling all his/her potential.

If you have had an experience of God's personal love, then such a full and complete response is normal and natural. But if you have been living a rather worldly life with God on the very outer edges of the picture (i.e. in case of emergency only) then such a required response is draconian and totally and unrealistically extreme.

Our personal preferences cannot change God's word. Ignorance of the spiritual laws that govern the universe is no excuse.

We only have to go back to the book of Genesis to see the difference between Abel who offered God in sacrifice the very best of his flock and Cain who offered the produce of his farming. If it had been the best of the produce Cain's offering would have been acceptable. It was a teachable moment where God invited Cain to do better, and Cain decided that getting jealous of his brother was far easier.

This is really radical stuff, especially for a mum looking for the quickest sessions to attend to fulfill her child's preparation for a sacrament.

It is radical for us too, because we have to stop and think whether we are giving to God the first and the best of our selves and all that we have. Most of us, myself included, are quite comfortable in what we have considered to be 'okay' to give to God – conveniently forgetting that God calls for our 'all' and not for our 'some'.

To see what living this 'all' for God, or as holier people have put it, 'all for the greater glory of God', is all about – we turn to the lives of the Saints. We need to pay attention not only to the St Francis of Assisi and the St Mary Magdalene types, but we also need to pay attention to how the holy people around us live.

Spotting them is easy, look for joyful people who are filled with thanksgiving and gratitude and who do not complain.

How would we measure up beside the stewardship challenge of giving God 10% of our time, talent and treasure? Time in prayer and voluntary service; contributing our skills to the welfare of the body of Christ; and the monetary fruits of our labours.

It is better to start small and grow incrementally than to go all in and peter out quickly.

How are we increasing the quality of what we give back to God? In some ways this is the greater challenge. We give, but is it our very best? How could we make it better, more intentional, more conscious and less habitual and routine? Where have we slipped into compromise and mediocrity?

We might rant and rail at this, and probably will – especially in times of feeling aridity and abandonment – but that doesn't change the fact that our long term (temporal and eternal) happiness depends on living 'all for God' and 'all of my best for God'.
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Like St Therese of Lisieux if we try to do our best in the little things and do them with great love, then eventually we will get there.