Twists and turns

I spent a good part of yesterday taking a small tree out of our back garden...all seemed a bit of a shame in some ways but it needed to come out. Anyway, it was fascinating to see just how twisted the trunk and branches were, and how all the branches seemed to cross over and intertwine; and it didn't exactly make taking it out any easier! But it was a vivid reminder of the power of life. While that tree was alive it would grow, and if there were obstructions in the way it would grow round them; be shaped by them, yes, but keep growing. Life and growth are two sides of the same coin. Where there is spiritual life, whether at an individual or congregational level, we should expect to see growth. But that growth won't be in neat straight lines - it will be twisted and hard to untangle, and won't look like it's going anywhere at times. Let's hope I remember that.

O...

I had the joy of being interviewed by an Ofsted inspector yesterday afternoon. It was all painless enough in the end, it was a "monitoring visit" to make sure the school where I'm Chair of Governors has made sufficient progress since the last full inspection. And the feedback was positive, which was encouraging. The overall process is still dominated by statistics, proving with data that the children are making progress etc. Seems to reflect the obsession of some parts of our society with measuring things, then labelling them. "If we can't put a number on it, how can we know it's really happening" seems to be the attitude. And there's a danger that creeps into church life too. Not just in the obvious ways (bums on seats), but in subtle ways too as we try to "measure" where we're at spiritually and assess it against others. This approach definetely has value and can be helpful; but let's get it in a bigger perspective, in education and in church!