It's humbling to see how many hits this blog still gets even though I myself haven't been near it in months - despite promises every now and again that I will return! So no more promises - but we'll see how it goes.
I've just returned from a few days in London where I was starting yet another module (number 5!) of my everlasting MTh, at Spurgeons College. (Not that I've actually finished module 4!) This module was really a preparation for starting my dissertation. Having just finished my 15,000 word dissertation for my MSc (which looked at the work of Chaplaincy in prisons in relation to current research on desistance) the thought of starting a 20,000 word dissertation does not greatly appeal to me. This time however I'm thinking of asking permission from the prison service to interview both willing prisoners who attend church services and chaplains, in a number of prisons. I want to find out why prisoners actually attend church services in prison, especially when few of these guys would ever attend church in the community - and to try and probe what is behind this. At the same time I want to interview the chaplains who were conducting the services to see what they were trying to achieve through prayers, sermons, songs etc - to see whether prisoners' longings and chaplains' hopes actually coincide. From this of course I will need to theologically reflect to discover the missiological implications for the church (and chaplains!). Lots of big words - but I hope you get the gist!
I love visiting (stress on visiting) London. Yet it never amazes me the sheer number of people (from such a range of multi-racial, -ethnic and -national backgrounds) and yet just how lonely and isolated you can feel, as everyone seems to be such a stranger. I found myself walking along and humming "All the lonely people"... from the Beatles' 'Eleanor Rigby'. All those people whose lives just connect for a moment on a train or tube carriage, who go off their separate ways probably never to meet again. Each with their problems, cares, hopes, loves, dreams. But faceless strangers. Coming from Scotland I want to at least smile at them all if not say hello (a bit like Crocodile Dundee!) but I think it gets you locked up down there! The opportunity for the churches down there to provide a sense of community must be immense, because the need seems so great. Yet at the same time the very concept of 'stranger' builds barriers and walls, and creates fears and suspicions. I recognised this personally as I passed hooded black youth, and was aware of the not-so-sub-conscious concerns as they approached, yet as I deliberately looked beyond the stereotype and into the eyes and faces (in itself a risk!?) I just saw the faces of typical young folk seeking to find meaning in such a sea of concrete.
I ramble! But I do always find visiting London and seeing the multitudes of people, almost like scurrying ants, a poignant and thought-provoking experience. And yet God knows them all by name, and even the hairs on their heads are counted.....
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