Last night I dropped in on David’s Tent, a bank holiday weekend of “adventure in worship” that draws thousands (including my own Beth, Sim & Tess) to a country estate 20 minutes away from us.

Clearly I was meant to be there - unbeknown to me Jonathan Helser was leading part of the night (complete with impressive band & hipster beard as noted earlier)

He led off with an extended “We have come to Mount Zion”, the very song which in my opening post I wanted to set the scene for this spiritual exploration. (You’ll find it buried on the next page of the blog, which you reach by clicking “next” in the bottom corner of this opening screen)

Either I’m just so on trend, or perhaps God may quite possibly be saying something here …

David’s Tent (part of an international movement of 24/7 prayer called “Burn”) is essentially about soaking in God’s presence. It’s an annual 72 hour non-stop...

Community life can get pretty intense at times, and I remember that during our own time at Lee Abbey it often helped to climb South Cleeve, and look down on it from a great height …

I pray these sessions will grant a similar sense of divine perspective over our lives, for the guests this week & all who may read these words

Adopting an intentional Rule of Life is about sustaining that healthy perspective, and positioning ourselves to pursue & reflect holiness by the grace of God

To be effective it will need spiritual disciplines of abstinence (talk 2) as well as disciplines of engagement (talk 4) … both what has been called the “via negativa” & also the “via positiva”

To sum up talk 5 :

consider the benefits of a Rule of Life - and use a simple tool to construct your own

aim for balance, but also build in “practices of excess”

remember from Philippians how our own...

Take the coastal path from Woody Bay to Hunter’s Inn … and it’s easy to see our lives at Lee Abbey surrounded by the glory of God

We’re daring to ask God to make saints this week - and here are some He made earlier …

It was an immense pleasure sharing such wonders with Liz and Maureen from our own congregation in Horsham - not least since they themselves are also clear visual aids of the Beauty of Holiness … here nature itself decided to celebrate them with an unexpected bouquet!

To sum up talk 4 :

Jesus gives sight to the blind (from John chapter 9)

4 common causes of spiritual blindness

the secret of the saints : as you & I do the beholding, God does the transforming by the power of His Spirit

the “Yes but How of Contemplative Prayer : 101”

Click to download Talk 4 : Low at his feet lay thy burden of prayerfulness

As we have sung several times this week, with ever...

Castle Rock here (in the spectacular glacial valley approaching Lee Abbey) is where the family Bridgewater spent the turn of the millennium.

Perched atop it at midnight, with our crackly radio tuned to Big Ben, we said a family prayer - and let off the biggest rocket I’d been able to find anywhere …

Later in that year 2000 I also have another vivid memory of a “mountain top experience”. This time the scene is Rome on a sunny autumn day, where Jebs & I had gone for my 40th Birthday treat - and we stumbled across a big open-air service outside St. Peter’s for the feast of All Saints (led by a very frail John Paul II)

I can readily picture the glorious sunshine & bright blue skies, with vast crowds assembling in their tens of thousands … but above all what sticks & shines in my memory is the grand procession as the service began …

Many, many huge white banners joined us as we...

When it rains on Exmoor there is nothing better than a wooded valley walk, especially if it leads to a cream tea cottage …

The path to Watersmeet lodge up the beautiful and sheltered Lyn valley is a time honoured favourite, without which no visit to Lee Abbey is complete.

(Of course it is also necessary to make a careful consumer comparison with the community’s own wonderful tea cottage, which came later in the week)

Meanwhile talk 2 on the Beauty of Holiness explored the Christian’s path of joyful obedience …

From Psalm 19 we saw how delight in God’s way is like that of a walker leaving behind slippery paths. No more false short cuts through mud & brambles, at last this is our firm & glorious path to freedom :

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to...

It has been a precious gift for Jebs and I to be back at Lee Abbey this week (a Christian community & conference centre that has hugged the stunning coast of North Devon for nearly 70 years)

The theme for the week has been “Happy Holy Days” - which pretty much sums up our own memories of raising a family there in the 90’s

I gave 5 talks on the Beauty of Holiness - this opening session introduced God’s call “to be holy, just as I am holy”

Click to download Talk 1 : O Worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness

To sum up talk 1 :

God’s overarching purpose is “to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (as Paul puts it in Ephesians)

The call to holiness is about much more than mere self improvement

The message of the Scriptures is that God is preparing the Church as a beautiful Bride for His Son

You and I are invited to be fitted for our...

As friends will know, the search for great music is also something of a personal obsession. For well over a decade now I’ve been making playlists on iTunes, avidly collecting songs I love of all genres, & then printing them off as a CD when ready … “Songs for Guy” 65 is currently in preparation.

(Sharing these new & old musical discoveries is also an absolutely favourite pleasure, so do ask if you’d like to brave some samples to borrow!)

Guilty favourites (catchy pop anthems I’m far too cool to own up to) also get their own separate series called “Toasted Cheese”, which has now reached volume 8.

The Cheese series is also known as “Songs for Jebs”, who has rather more mainstream musical tastes than her husband. As in so many other ways, she is wonderfully long-suffering of all the Jazz, Blues, Reggae, Alt-Country, Afro-Funk (whatever the latest fad may be) blaring out around the...

Today I’ve been working up talks on “The Beauty of Holiness” for Lee Abbey next week - which I hope to link here as they are given.

Meanwhile the Anglican Collect (theme prayer for this week) is helpfully about grace, obedience & spiritual treasure hunting :

“O God, you declare your almighty power
most chiefly in showing mercy and pity:
mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace,
that we, running the way of your commandments,
may receive your gracious promises,
and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.”

Seeking the treasure of holiness was what first challenged me to become a Christian, as an unchurched & unwashed sixth former in the Summer of ‘79.

Ever since it has been something of a personal obsession. Today I looked...

Café Church at St. Mary’s tonight included worship & reflection based on Psalm 84 (using fave Matt Redman song “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere” from Ps 84 v10)

Here the Psalmist famously majors on the joy of worship in Temple & Church, with the first 4 verses crying out :

How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God ….
Blessed are those who dwell in thy house, ever singing thy praise!

But then notice the verse that follows, adding this fascinating counterpoint to worship in buildings & services :

Blessed are those whose strength is in thee,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion (Ps 84 v5)

What a promise for us to pray into as we begin this journey : oh for there to be “Highways to Zion” paving the way to Him in our hearts! Thank God for...

Moved by the beautiful wedding today of Simon & Rebecca (our very lovely niece) - & by this as the special dedication after their vows :

“I lay my all before you now, in royal robes I don’t deserve I live to serve your majesty”

May every line characterise S & R’s marriage all their days, and our own lives too

PS I notice this clip I found has a thing about mountains …. is that a theme developing already, maybe?

If so, some opening words of Isaiah come readily to mind :

It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”...