Shakespeare, Jesus and me

I realise the title makes this sound like some kind of mid-eighties Christian devotional for children but I think it genuinely sums up my 2014 Lent plan!

In my last blog post I wrote about how my recent encounter with a Newsnight feature on leadership had prompted me to consider undertaking a Lent project around Shakespeare, gender and leadership. As I've explored over the last few days what that might look like, a few thoughts have begun to crystallise.

Probably the most significant is the fact that I realised that a Lent project probably really ought to have a bit more spiritual content! I mentioned that I was considering some kind of theological reflection on Shakespeare's Henry V but I've made a bit of a leap which could turn out to be totally inspired or utterly ridiculous (or, mostly likely, hover in some theological no-man's land between the two). It occurred to me that perhaps there are some interesting parallels between Jesus at the last supper and Henry V immediately before the battle of Agincourt - they're a similar age, they know that what's about to unfold will have a transformational impact on their leadership, and they're leading others into that experience with them. And, of course, they both give great speeches.

And so my plan essentially goes something like this. I'll be reading and listening to John's account of Jesus' time with his disciples sharing the Passover meal - I'm using Tom Wright's John for Everyone Pt2 and The Bible Experience (which, I'll be honest, is a little too over-produced and American to listen to for actual pleasure, but I plan to have it on in the car on the way to work each day).

I'll also be reading Henry IV Pts1&2 and Henry V (using my parents' copy of The Complete Oxford Shakespeare which I'm not sure has ever been read by anyone in our family before).

To aid the leadership reflection I have James Lawrence's Growing Leaders which - sorry, James! - has sat on my bookcase unread for several years. The book outlines the understanding of leadership, specifically Christian leadership, which is at the heart of the Arrow Leadership Programme so hopefully it will provide me with a familiar but challenging framework for reflecting both on leadership generally and my leadership in particular.

And last, but by no means least, there's The Hollow Crown, the BBC's Cultural Olympiad adaptation of Henry IV Pts1&2 and Henry V, for the days when reading Shakespeare gets a bit much...

But why now and why this?

Because over the last few years I've found Lent a good time to intentionally do something in my life differently. I'll be honest, the idea of giving up chocolate or Facebook feels a bit like jumping on the band wagon (although those things can be a really good thing!), and last year I found that taking things up for Lent was a really helpful way of just thinking differently about how I spend my time.

But I've also realised that with life a little more settled, and no pressing need to look for somewhere to live or for a job, I need something to focus my free time on. And even in the last few weeks I've begun to miss the creative arts bit of my life that was so important for such a long time. Entirely unexpectedly I seem to have stumbled over something that will allow me to reflect on things that on one level seem only very loosely related - Jesus, Shakespeare, leadership - and yet they have something to say about the values at the heart of our national life.

But ultimately, my plan (my prayer?) for the next six weeks is that I'll get just a bit closer to Jesus.

Completer Finisher

Today has been productive. Very productive. In fact, I have some news.

Today I completed every item on my To Do list.

This might not seem a big deal to you but it is to me.

I love a to do list. I can't live without them. My brain has taken on sieve-like qualities and if I don't write stuff down there's no chance it'll get done.

But oddly I have a mental block when it comes to doing everything on my list. I like the sense of accomplishment I get when I cross something off, but most of the time I'll be quite happy just doing about 75-80% of the items on it. That rarely bears any relation to how challenging or time-consuming the tasks are - I just feel no real need to finish.

I had a friend at uni who came round for lunch most Sundays. I quite often ended up cooking and I started to notice that she always left a little bit of food on her plate. It didn't matter what we were eating, there was always just a little bit left at the end. After a few weeks of this I asked her why she never finished her meal. She looked slightly bemused and said she'd never really thought about it, she just did.

A few years ago, when I was on the Arrow Leadership Programme we had to do a whole load of personality inventories. Some I found really helpful, some I don't remember. All I remember from one is that I'm not a Completer Finisher. My housemate is. She has to see a task through from beginning to end - if she can't finish something in one sitting she'd rather not start. She has no problem doing everything on her to do list.

So completing my to do list really is a massive achievement for me. I genuinely don't think I've ever done it before and I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself, if I'm honest!

Question is, can I do it again tomorrow?

Don't retreat, reload

Don't panic - I haven't become a card-carrying member of the Tea Party, the Sarah Palin Fan Club (I hope there isn't one) or the NRA. This afternoon I arrived in Swanwick, Derbyshire for the bi-annual Arrow Reloaded conference, four days of teaching, worship, reflection, socialising, networking, blah, blah, blah and etc.

Actually, I'm really looking forward to it. I took part in the Arrow leadership programme about four years ago and haven't quite been the same since. The programme aims to equip those involved in Christian leadership to "be led more by Jesus, to lead more like Jesus, to lead more to Jesus" (and, yes, that was off the top of my head and I didn't have to scrabble around in my delegate pack to find the vision statement).

I'm aware that I find myself in a slightly interesting position coming into the conference. All through Arrow itself I was employed as a fulltime church-based youth worker, so figuring out how what I was learning applied to my work context wasn't particularly difficult (although working it out in practice very definitely was...). On the first Arrow Reloaded, back in January 2009 I was coming to the end of my time in London and preparing to head off to a new youth work role in Leicestershire, so while I knew the specifics of my circumstances were changing, the wider context of working with young people within a church and a community would stay pretty much the same.

However.

It's now January 2011 and life looks very different for me at the moment. Although I still work in a Christian context, it's for a mission agency (ironically the one which runs Arrow!). And not only am I not employed as a youth worker, I actually have no leadership role within a local church community.

I suspect that the way in which I engage with that set of circumstances will play a fairly major role in how much or how little I get out of these four days. For a start, I'm aware that there are pastoral options available to me here that could enable me to work through some of the challenging events of the last couple of years - if I have the courage to draw meaningfully on those opportunities, I think I might leave here far better equipped to face all that the next few weeks and months may hold than I am as I arrive.

I also want to make the most of the people around me - the key note speaker (who, going by tonight's introductory session, is likely to be phenomenal), those I went through Arrow with but who I don't get to see much, and old and significant friends.

And I'm looking forward to time out - although with a programme this packed, that might turn out to be a vain hope!