September start-ups

In Florence, the ex-pats are back and are ready to go!
The Italians will reluctantly return from summer retreats in another week or so. School has started, but I think families are still escaping the heat at the weekends, as we also enjoy an "indian summer".

I've tweaked the playgroup blog title to www.caffecaos.blogspot.com to make it a short web address, so please take a look there from time to time.
The new website for the church activities www.firenzechurch.com is thankfully easy to maintain and is a value tool as a first point of contact.

Last night we had an excellent aperitivo-concerto (buffet then concert) with jazz pianist Roberto Andreucci www.robertoandreucci.it offering his interpretations of Theolonius Monk (, includes samples of his music. I recommend you listen as you read!). The music was fantastic - mellow, moving, and joyful. I was particularly interested when Roberto stood up and played the strings themselves, and tweaked something to create an effect with the left pedal that sounded like a snare drum.
The evening was a fundraiser for "Il Sassolino Bianco", a charity for children www.ilsassolinobianco.org. This time, the charity is seeking to provide a green playspace inside the women's prison at Empoli so that when the children come to visit their mums, there is an opportunity to play together in a setting which feels less like a prison.

Sadly, despite the excellent music, tasty food and brilliant cause, we did not attract a large crowd. Our central location is both blessing, because lots of people pass by and curse, because the music from the surrounding bars is much louder on the street than jazz piano playing! Publicising concerts in Florence is difficult, there are many listings and little co-ordination. Next time we will have to work harder.

I am still dreaming dreams for the church here: we are starting discussions about a closer working relationship with the Waldensian Church (Chiesa Valdese), after all we are already the "Union of the Methodist and Waldensian Churches" www.chiesavaldese.org. I'm talking about starting an after-school "Messy Church & Mum's Coffee" for 3-6 year olds. And I'd love to see a team of Street Pastors reaching out to the very lively Via de' Benci, with its pubs, nightclubs and bars. Please keep praying for these new initiatives.

International Fellowship and Worship in English: Godly Play Italia

International Fellowship and Worship in English: Godly Play Italia: "On Sunday, in competition with the Firenze Half Marathon, we will be for the second time holding Sunday School on a Sunday! What a novelty!..."

Belated post: Harvest worship in the heart of Florence

I wrote this post in the autumn, but clearly forgot to actually put it on the blog. The last few weeks have been full of moments to reflect on the work here, in preparation for our mini UK tour in May. Some of you have been asking if we are still available - the answer is "we are" but it may be difficult to work out how to get around the UK as we are already booked up every weekend.

Anyhow, with the soft spring sunshine (and in the middle of removing mildew from the terrace), here is a reminder of Harvest time:

One Sunday in October (2010) we joined the forces of Florence Methodist Church (Chiesa Evangelica Metodista di Firenze), the nascent Tuesday night international english methodist worship and Florence Gospel Fellowship International for a unique harvest worship and supper.

Harvest celebrations are unusual but not unknown in Italian Protestant Churches, but this time the bilingual service, which attracted around 90 people, involved music, dance and creative prayer. The Florence Gospel Fellowship International is one of six churches that rent the premises each week, on Via de’ Benci, close to Santa Croce Church. The Fellowship works mostly with American students, offering a “church from church” experience to any english speakers. The Methodist Church is trying to re-attract its lapsed members and hearing frequent feedback that Sunday mornings (10:30am) are a difficult time for families to attend together, decided to offer an evening service. Not wanting to “evict” the Fellowship from their regular 6:30pm slot, we met the greater challenge of bilingual worship and a mix of worship styles, bringing together the traditional Methodist chiesa with the informal Fellowship. The response was excellent, with great willingness to sing in each other’s language and to heed the challenge to care for the earth and to view our faith-sharing as part of our desire for justice, peace and the integrity of creation,

It is entirely true that Italians are passionate about food and the chiesa embraced the challenge of feeding 60 people from a small kitchen, serving up pasta e sugo (with a meat sauce), arrosti (different roast meats), and even puddings, including the autumnal schiacciata (literally meaning ‘crushed’)a bread pudding made with squashed freshly harvested grapes. And of course, a couple of bottles of Chianti did appear.

Worship, laughter, conversation across generations, cultures and languages, all helped down by good food. That’s my kind of Church!

The Lord is my light taize.m4v

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Tonight it feels a bit like "3 down and 4 to go" as the celebrations of the WoP are in full swing, with activities every night. It has been a special week though - on Tuesday for the opening service I preached in the Battistero. As the name suggests, it is still used for baptisms and has been so used for centuries. The first building on the site was a pagan temple. The current building was built in the 11th century (you can spot pieces of Roman marble with a fresco that were recycled to re-use the precious stone). It is an octagonal shape, to remember the "eighth day" of Christ's resurrection is inside is richly decorated with mosaic with an enormous Christ. It is far more beautiful than the Duomo which overshadows it, facing the famous Porta "del Paradiso" (Michelangelo called them the gates of Paradise) by Lorenzo Ghiberti.

Beautiful, historic and important. I was for the first time in ages, nervous about preaching - it would have been a challenge in English with the vast acoustic that seemed to take the words from your mouth and bounce them around the walls as if you are playing squash with an unseen competitor, but in Italian it felt like a rite of passage!

The archbishop went first and by the time I was frozen to the spot and dry-mouthed, I tried to explain about being the Church in but not of the City, and being Church together by recognising each other as fully Christian and fully Church. I had been reading "Love Bade Me Welcome - A British Methodist Perspective on the Church" by David Carter, and he points out the ecumenical spirit of Methodism (although as per usual Wesley veers from acceptance to opposition, in the end he mellows a bit).

Methodists soon after Wesley provide great food for thought:
Benjamin Gregory "The Holy Catholic Church" (1873) speaks of how any community that is orthodox regarding the Trinity, the 2 natures of Christ and the atoning death of Christ must be recognised as Church. For Gregory Church unity is linked to holiness, which is in reach for the church as it is for us and that we should work towards such unity and holiness by friendship, sharing, joint bible study which contribute to steps together and not assimilation. David Carter summarises Gregory's position as one which involved "the generous recognition of the work of the Spirit in other Christian communities, even those with they had ecclesiological or other theological disagreements."

My problem with the WoP is the same this year as with previous years: we all talk about the importance of the meetings during the week, we talk about how we do all recognise and accept each other. We don't talk about the real, large differences that still divide us. Now I've sat next to the archbishop of Florence, and pulpit shared with him and he knows that I am not Catholic, if I go to the cathedral on Sunday and go to him to receive Communion - he would refuse, because roman catholic church order does not accept that I am a Christian. C'mon, let's talk about that - our difference on this point is critical.

Godly Play Italia

Some Fridays I think it's ok to feel just a little smug and pleased. I've set the sunday school programme for the next 5 months and ordered Godly Play resources for the whole 5 months. This is because today I got very wet trying to buy felt in the centre of Florence (pashminas win again as substitutes but they are still more expensive).

I only know of one other person using some GP in Italy, in Italian. Sadly, the American church has stopped runing GP sessions - I had hoped to be able to borrow their resources. GP needs a good name in Italian, something that will appeal to the protestant churches because I have a feeling that "play" could be too frivilous a thing. GP itself could well be viewed as too catholic, as it has a sacramental focus and enjoys exploring traditional symbols. As I (and others that I find to volunteer) translate the language, we will need to try and translate some of the culture too --- and that is what makes working outside your own culture difficult/interesting/entertaining/embarrassing/challenging (delete according to your experience this week!)

Ecumene and Interculturality

I have been fortunate to enjoy a lovely break away for the training organised for "young" ministers and international ministers. (Young as in, in ministry for less than 4 years). I travelled to Rome and quickly left again to the satellite commuter town of Velletri. On the hills outside town is Ecumene, a youth/retreat/conference centre owned and run by the Methodist Church. It is mostly quiet (there's a neighbourhood dog that tends to bark at night and we had an incredible wind storm), with well-kept premises, grounds and wonderful cooking. We were the only group so could occur the snug bar with large wood fire without interrupting anyone else.

The theme of the week was being a pastor in a multicultural church. Italy, like other countries in Europe (including UK) is struggling to adapt to being a country of immigration. For the churches, the challenge is not only how to welcome a handful of migrants, but in some places, how to create an identity for a church that can be bi-cultural, with the Italians in the minority. There was a clear desire for communal worship to be in Italian, with many churches offering free language lessons to the whole community. There are tensions between churches that offer two services (Italian and the English) and churches who experiment with largely Italian worship, but the preaching that re-offered in English, by an African (usually Ghanaian) preacher. So many models, so much to celebrate, and still, many struggles. But who said that the Kingdom of God was going to be easy?