Anam~Cara Community Mission

05/07/2025

Dear Friends currently off work due to my cancer treatment and likely to out off work for weeks possibly even months as I recover.

Getting access to government support is proving to be slow and complicated so I've set upn a go fund page that you can donate to.

If you can share this with you networks that would be great .
Blessings

Brad

I am Brad (otherwise nicknamed TANK around my martial arts community).… Bradley Bessell needs your support for Fighting Forward Through Cancer Treatment

18/04/2025

Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers.

For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes.

There is his commission, his work. 'The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people.

Deirtrich Bonheoffer

O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared' (Luther)

18/04/2025

Since the death of the Christ everything has been transformed and renewed.

From his torn body comes a new hope as the power of sin has been and the powers of evil have been put on notice.

This reality now defines our existence, our true life before God, and in God and for God, as people of the cross.

If someone were to ask, What is the one certainty in life and death, so firm that everything else can be secure in it?

The answer is this: the love of Christ poured on the cross.

Life itself teaches us that this is the only true and real answer.

Not people—not even the best or our dearest loved ones . Not science, philosophy, or art, nor any achievement of human genius, as wonderful, as these things are, compare to the divine reality revealed by the cross.

Not even nature, which, for all its beauty, but is also filled with profound illusions and destructive cruelty, does not compare to the reality of the cross.

Neither time nor fate offers ant certainty only, the cross.

We cannot even say, in the fullest sense, that we know God’s love apart from Christ's crucified. Without the cross, God is hidden from us.

For though we might sense that God loves us, love alone can be relentless—demanding, inexorable. The nobler it is, the greater its claim upon us.

Only in Christ do we see that God’s love is forgiving, merciful, and kind.

The only true certainty and reality is what was revealed on the cross, all else fades away like a withering flower.

The heart of Jesus Christ revealed on the cross is the alpha and omega of all things.

18/09/2024

Our vision in the Evangelical Episcopal Communion is
"To Know Christ and, being united in Him, make Him known globally through the celebration of our diversity."

Unity in worship styles does not have to mean uniformity. When we recognize the gifts and value in the diverse worship expressions within the church universal we open our hearts and spirits to the vastness of the Life of God. Orthodox Christ centered life and doctrine may be expressed in various styles of worship. Each of the Evangelical, Charismatic and Sacramental "wells" of the Church have reflected apart of the wonder of the vastness of God. May we draw from the best of the "wells" Christ has given to us that we may drink of Him, the living water, in His fullness.

19/05/2024

The Holy Spirit is not a tame bird, kept in a clean cage, to be released for short bursts of charismatic meetings. The Holy Spirit makes his habitation in some of the wildest, darkest places this world has to offer. . . . The Holy Spirit is wonderfully free, able to go to the dark places of our own lives, for healing to the dark unvisited places of our churches, and to the dark and demon-infested places of our society.”

Micheal Mitton

05/01/2024

14/12/2023

Just some thoughts on Advent drawn from R.E Webber .

To be an Advent Christian: Exploring the tradition.

“The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come." ~

Dietrich Bonhoeffer”

"God of hope, I look to you with an open heart and yearning spirit. During this Advent season, I will keep alert and awake, listening for your word and keeping to your precepts. My hope is in you."

~ Matthew Kelly

"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."

Advent is a season observed in most Christian Churches as a season of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the birth of Christ and at Christmas and the return of Christ in the second coming at the end of the age.

The name was adopted from the Latin adventus "coming; arrival", translated from the Greek word parousia in the New Testament.

Liturgical historians believe that it was developed during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul ( France ) .

Initially the purpose of Advent was as a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany, ancthe celebration of God’s incarnation represented by the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:1), his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist (John 1:29), and his first miracle at Cana (John 2:1).

During this season of preparation, Christians would spend 40 days in penance, prayer, and fasting to prepare for this celebration; originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas but over time it became linked to Christmas.

The season of Advent in the Christian calendar anticipates the "coming of Christ" from three different perspectives: the incarnation of Son of God in his physical birth, the reception of Christ by the power of Spirit, in the heart of the believer and in the sacrament of Eucharist, and the eschatological coming in Second Coming and the final judgment.

Practices associated with Advent include advent Calendars, the lighting of candles in a ‘ advent wreath and daily devotions, prayer, fasting and giving to the poor.

The theme of the daily readings and teachings during Advent is often the preparation for the Second Comming and the Last Judgment and the Sunday readings relate to the first coming of Jesus Christ as saviour as well as to his Second Coming as judge, traditions vary in the relative importance of repentance and expectation during the weeks in Advent.

Advent is a time when we ask, even plead with God not to leave us alone, for when God leaves us to our own choices and turns us over to our own ways, we are certain to drift from him . . . . If we would break away from a spiritual life growing cold and a Christ who is becoming distant, we must be attentive to our spiritual discipline and long for God to break in on us with new life. When we do this, we experience the true meaning of Advent spirituality.
Robert Webber, Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2004), 43, 53.

The season of Advent celebrates three comings of Christ: one future, one past, and one present.

Advent prepares our hearts for the second coming of Christ as we express gratitude to Christ for his first coming. Our hearts must be prepared and ready for his return.

Advent is a season of repentance for we know that Christ comes again in holiness, power, and judgment.
Advent leads us into deeper repentance: Christ comes now into our hearts by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Advent is a season of joy for we are grateful for Christs coming in the manger: the incarnation made the way for our salvation.

Advent can be summarized as life of repentance leading to a present joy-filled, fresh experience of the risen Christ.

In preparation for the coming church year, we yearn for the transformation of our hearts.

Advent waiting is the prayerful longing to see Jesus face-to-face and experience afresh God’s Holy Spirit pouring upon us in love and grace. Â Advent waiting is thankfulness for Christs first coming while eagerly expecting Christs second coming in glorious majesty.

Advent waiting cleanses, converts and renews our hearts as we await Christs physical appearance in the skies.

In this present world, we endure while calmly trusting the Holy Spirit to be Christ in us in the midst of a fallen and decadent world. In hope, we look forward to seeing our blessed Savior face-to-face.

A summary of Robert Webber’s thoughts on Advent from his book, Ancient-Future Time:

In his book Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year, Robert E. Webber shares this concerning the meaning of the season of Advent:
Advent is the time when God breaks in on us with new surprises and touches us with a renewing and restoring power. In Christian-year worship and spirituality we call upon God for a new breaking in, a fresh outpouring of his Spirit. (p. 38)

The Advent Season is a profound reminder to us that God is not remote, aloof or uninvolved. Advent tells us that God has come, is coming, and will come again ("advent" means "coming" or "arrival").

This glorious truth helps offset a message that is prevalent in our me-centered, self-sufficient, individualistic culture: I can do it on my own, thank you!

The ultimate word in history is the triumph of God, the reign of God's kingdom, the eternal and lasting rule of the good.... We are promised that evil will be judged and done away with and all will be made whole.

This is the vision we want to carry with us as we view the news and visit hospitals, psychiatric wards, and prisons of our world. Christian hope is an optimism about life that is grounded in Christ and celebrated again and again in the liturgy of the church. (p. 50)

This is no idle exercise, for it reminds us precisely of what the incarnate Son of God accomplished by taking upon himself our diseased, sin-sick humanity and redeeming (healing) it.

Advent is a time for us to be reminded of why the coming of Jesus is so important, to meditate on that in such a way that Christ is birthed anew in our hearts by the power of his indwelling Spirit. Advent is the season during which longing for and trust in Jesus is renewed, as Webber notes:

What is at stake during Advent is an assessment of our current state of faith and living and our commitment to keep on living in the hope to which we have been called. (p.52)

02/06/2023

Awesome 😎

22/01/2023

A great article

https://biologos.org/articles/the-art-and-liturgy-of-creation?fbclid=IwAR0HzCgYXhbarniYYxkIVobIMnc-TkFn5nF_iFldVO4JNXoMk8WOpGcYFo0&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

03/01/2023

Something else for the new year, and not only for clergy.

'Five Helps for the New Year given one year by Bishop Michael Ramsey to his clergy.

1. Thank God. Often and always. Thank him carefully and wonderingly for your continuing privileges and for every experience of his goodness. Thankfulness is a soil in which pride does not easily grow.

2. Take care about confession of your sins. As time passes the habit of being critical about people and things grows more than each of us realize. ...[He then gently commends the practice of sacramental confession].

3. Be ready to accept humiliations. They can hurt terribly but they can help to keep you humble. [Whether trivial or big, accept them he says.] All these can be so many chances to be a little nearer to our Lord. There is nothing to fear, if you are near to the Lord and in his hands.

4. Do not worry about status. There is only one status that Our Lord bids us be concerned with, and that is our proximity to Him. "If a man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am there also shall my servant be". (John 12:26) That is our status; to be near our Lord wherever He may ask us to go with him.

5. Use your sense of humour. Laugh at things, laugh at the absurdities of life, laugh at yourself.

Through the year people will thank God for you. And let the reason for their thankfulness be not just that you were a person whom they liked or loved but because you made God real to them.'

31/10/2022

Forgive the long post .

For those interested these are some worship resources for Halloween (with some adaptions by me ) from the Community of Aidan and Hilda in the Celtic Christian tradition.

I like it redemptive approach Celtic Christianity that doesn’t throw out the baby with bath water .

Celtic Christians worship and prayers resources for

Halloween – All Saints (All Hallows) Eve

(Light a candle or a circle of candles if indoors, or a fire surrounded by a circle of stones if outdoors) .

Opening Prayer :

Leader :

Leaves fall.
Dark nears.
Fears assail.
God of the saints, surrounded in light, we journey with you through the years.

Reader :
Psalm:

Psalm 1, 11, 16 or 18:1-3

Creator of the nights and days
Bestow on us this night’s holy graces.

Leader:

Guard our bodies from disease
Guard our souls from despair.
From phantoms, fears and dark deeds

All:

Good Lord deliver us.

Leader

As days of light recede
May treasures of dark draw near.

Reader

Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 43:1-3a.

Leader :

With Christ, to whom the spirits were subject,

All:

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader :

With the desert Christians, from whom the demons fled,

All:

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader :

With hermits who made wild places safe with prayer,

All:

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader :

With martyrs who vaulted over death,

All:

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader :

With Patrick who freed his land of serpent powers,

All :

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader:

With Brigid who turned grim strongholds into homes of peace,

All :

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader :

With Cuthbert, healer and conqueror of the dark places,

All:

We claim the Victory of the Lord

Leader :

With St Micheal and all the host of heaven , and the prophets, healers , and reformers standing for truth and justice .

All:

we claim the victory of the Lord.

Leader :

With the saints of this place,

All :

we claim the victory of the Lord.

(There may be singing) .

Reader :

New Testament reading
Matthew 5:1-10, Luke 10:17-24, Philippians 2:6-11, Hebrews 12:1-2, 22-24, 1 John 3:1-3, Revelation 7:9-17 or Revelation 21:1-8.

( A time of Silence, praying in the Spirit )

Intercessions:

Leader :

We place into your hands the season we leave behind and winter’s patterns which you call us now to live.

We place into your hands the places that will be little used in the season of darkness and cold and the places that will be overused in this season of physical activity

(Night-lights may be lit inside objects such as a pumpkin or a rock.)

May light shine in the bowels of the earth.
May light shine in the ghouls of the air.

(Each person may light and hold a candle) .

May fears diminish and light increase in the people and places we now name . . .

Names of people and places may be spoken spontaneously or in prayers prepared earlier.

The shield of Christ be over them,the shield of the angels guard them, the shield of the saints hearten them, the shield of life eternal.

(Chant or song)

Closing Prayer

Leader :

The God of life go with us
to protect us from ill, to keep our hearts still, to strengthen our will.

(People may walk, with their candles, to a place that attracts dark intercessory prayer )