How do you feel today? I'm only asking because another little experiment I started last January, admittedly only as preparation for an Alpha talk on healing, was to record at the end of each day anything wrong with my health. This might only be a minor thing each day, but I wondered on how many days of the year I would record that nothing was wrong at all.
I am not a hypochondriac. What would be your hunch?
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Two Year Projects
My college friend Graham Archer introduced me to the idea of two year projects back in about 1984. The clue's in the title really. Many people make a resolution to do something in the next twelve months and give up because they don't make enough progress. It is hard, without having the time to devote to professional training, to learn something from scratch in a year but two years is often good enough.
I have given two years to the following things over the years:
Bird watching
Reading novels
Understanding movies
Playing harmonica (Not exactly a success this one; should have been a five year project)
Basic cookery
Writing
Improving my ambidexterity
Speaking without notes
Currently I am half-way through a two year attempt to be a reasonable photographer. If it was a one year project I'd be in despair but at the half way stage I think I have managed to take about six decent shots this year (I am perhaps unusual in my willingness to show you the er, indecent shots too). The snowy scene at this blog-header is one I am quite pleased with although experts will no doubt tell me of its inadequacies.
One thing, which can be depressing unless kept in safe heads, is that moving from inability to some ability at any matter merely underlines how much there is you still do not know. I had no idea how complicated a simple instrument such as a harmonica could be, until I started. Donald Rumsfeld was quite right about moving from unknown unknowns to known unknowns. I didn't know how hard it was. Now I do.
Now. What will you resolve to have done by the end of 2012?
I have given two years to the following things over the years:
Bird watching
Reading novels
Understanding movies
Playing harmonica (Not exactly a success this one; should have been a five year project)
Basic cookery
Writing
Improving my ambidexterity
Speaking without notes
Currently I am half-way through a two year attempt to be a reasonable photographer. If it was a one year project I'd be in despair but at the half way stage I think I have managed to take about six decent shots this year (I am perhaps unusual in my willingness to show you the er, indecent shots too). The snowy scene at this blog-header is one I am quite pleased with although experts will no doubt tell me of its inadequacies.
One thing, which can be depressing unless kept in safe heads, is that moving from inability to some ability at any matter merely underlines how much there is you still do not know. I had no idea how complicated a simple instrument such as a harmonica could be, until I started. Donald Rumsfeld was quite right about moving from unknown unknowns to known unknowns. I didn't know how hard it was. Now I do.
Now. What will you resolve to have done by the end of 2012?
Counting Birds
My New Year's Resolution last January was to count garden birds. Every day I lived at home, with a little help from the other occupants of the house or people who sat on the sofa with me in the conservatory, I made a note of what I saw.
Now there are strict rules about this sort of thing:
1. You have to make a definite identification before registering a sighting.
2. You can only count the maximum number of any one species you see at any one time. So even if three sparrows flying west are replaced by four coming in from the west you can still only count four. The exception is when species have clear differences between male and female - then you know there are two birds not one e.g. blackbirds, house sparrows.
3. The bird must land in or on your property or, in the case of a bird that spends most of its time on the wing (house martins, swifts, swallows), fly directly over the house or garden.
Results tomorrow evening.
Now there are strict rules about this sort of thing:
1. You have to make a definite identification before registering a sighting.
2. You can only count the maximum number of any one species you see at any one time. So even if three sparrows flying west are replaced by four coming in from the west you can still only count four. The exception is when species have clear differences between male and female - then you know there are two birds not one e.g. blackbirds, house sparrows.
3. The bird must land in or on your property or, in the case of a bird that spends most of its time on the wing (house martins, swifts, swallows), fly directly over the house or garden.
Results tomorrow evening.
Monday, December 27, 2010
And so that was Christmas...
Everyone is sitting around replete. Some are watching The 100 most annoyingest things ever that happened ever on TV. I may have made that title up a bit. I have new music to listen to, new books to read, new trousers to wear, new alcohol to drink and have begun to be in demand as a part-time plumber due to my condenser-pipe defrosting skills. That wasn't in the manual at vicar-school. The game of Mum-tig is going well but I haven't had a go yet and may cop for the late shift. Praises to my sons for partnering up with girls with listening skills, empathy and stuff. Respect to junior's partner for the description of me as 'an acquired taste vicar.' Have added it to my profile. Plaudits to senior for the strapline of a Brummie reiki practitioner - 'Yer Chakra's bost.' Better than any cracker joke.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Rich Gospel Investigates
Glad, Tidings, Comfort and Joy – the theological detective agency – was quiet. Interest in paranormal, supernatural and doctrinal investigations had definitely flagged. These days people simply carried on with their lives failing to notice any but the weirdest weird stuff. Even angels found it easy to wander round in broad daylight, which is like ordinary daylight only wider.
There was a strange noise from the hall. Rich jumped up from his desk. He shouldn't have been standing on his desk so it was just as well. The sound was a gentle splatt with a bit of a whoosh as a side. He didn't recognise it at all.
Arriving in the firm's small hallway he saw a letter on the doormat. It had been a long time. He opened it in a trice. The trice didn't suit him. He put his suit back on.
'Dear Mr Godspell,' said the writer, 'the BBC is doing a nativity thing and the way they're telling it you'd think they thought it was history. The story isn't true is it?' From Annie.
Rich sat down. He'd dealt with this one many times before. It was the old problem of not understanding there are different sorts of truth. Not all truth is history. He had a form-letter response but frankly he couldn't bill more than half an hour's work for that so he decided to do something different. He waited until night fell, picked it up again, dusted it down and followed a star.
Four hours later Robbie Williams turned round in the street. 'Oy you' he said to Rich. 'Why are you following me?'
Rich explained that he was involved in a serious piece of theological detection. Robbie suggested he try loving angels instead.
'Brilliant' said Rich, fully aware that the ultimate inter-connectedness of all things, as taught by his mentor Dirk Gently, did not require him to do anything specific in order to solve his case. He offered Robbie profuse thanks which earned him a punch in the face as ignorance of the language can often lead to misunderstanding if you try to be a smart-arse and use unusual words when common ones will do. Ordinary thanks would have done fine. Discombobulated he forward-progressed towards the public transport utilisation facility.
'Follow that incomplete lead,' he barked to the driver, who ignored him since he was a bus driver and buses don't do that sort of thing. Rich handed over £4.75 as then requested and sat down to have a bit of a ponder.
Arriving home some hours later, sustained by the wholegrain ponder he had consumed, and after waking up in the bus garage and catching another, Rich headed for Tescos to buy some milk and groceries. He wandered through the trolleypark where the bobble-hatted, high-visibility jacketed collector was having a fag break.
'Excuse me,' he asked, 'You couldn't be an angel could you?' Rich was simply wanting help with a dodgy basket but the young man did happen to be an angel. Who knew? He offered his last cigarette. Rich took it and accepted a light, entirely forgetting in the presence of such holiness, that he had given up smoking some months earlier.
'You look troubled,' said the angel, whose name was Bob, 'Don't be afraid.'
'What makes you think I was afraid?' Rich asked.
'Sorry mate,' said Bob, 'Force of habit.' He gave a look of such comforting strangeness that Rich entirely forgot everything that had ever bothered him ever. It was nice. 'What you doing then?' Bob asked.
For some reason he didn't say 'getting some milk' and Rich shared that he was trying to find a long-winded way of explaining the simple fact that the Christmas story isn't exactly and precisely history. Angels can make you speak the whole truth. Or not speak at all. Some people take their shoes off they're so confused by goodness. 'What do you reckon Bob?'
Bob spent a long time thinking, as if he was collecting together all the disparate pieces of a long-lost answer from the whole of time and space. Which, strangely, was what he was doing but it only took a moment of Rich's time.
'I never worked out how he done it' said Bob, 'but sometimes stories is the best we got so we tell 'em and let other people worry about what sort of truth they are.'
'How who done what?' asked Rich.
'I'd tell the girl that the story is true and leave it at that. Don't want to cause trouble.' He gave Rich a look which contained such merciless implied threat that Rich knew causing trouble would be a bad thing. It also made him miss the lack of an answer to his question.
'How come you work on the trolleys at Tescos if you're so wise,' asked Rich.
'I like it. It's outdoor work. It's not complicated. You get to notice cars that are wrongly parked in the disabled spaces and can leave trolleys behind them. From time to time you can help people solve the deep mysteries of the universe like where they left their car or who buys muesli bars. Forget it.'
It sounded like a passing remark but it was actually a deeply hypnotic command. Rich forgot it, went home with his milk and sent Annie a postcard saying it was true. He charged no fee.
Some stories are so deep they are truer than history.
Do watch out for angels. They may be stacking trolleys in your local supermarket. Why not put yours away more tidily next time? They'll appreciate it anyway, however holy they are.
If you have further cases for Rich Gospel to investigate, contact him via the comment box. If you have not heard of him before then his previous adventure is here.
There was a strange noise from the hall. Rich jumped up from his desk. He shouldn't have been standing on his desk so it was just as well. The sound was a gentle splatt with a bit of a whoosh as a side. He didn't recognise it at all.
Arriving in the firm's small hallway he saw a letter on the doormat. It had been a long time. He opened it in a trice. The trice didn't suit him. He put his suit back on.
'Dear Mr Godspell,' said the writer, 'the BBC is doing a nativity thing and the way they're telling it you'd think they thought it was history. The story isn't true is it?' From Annie.
Rich sat down. He'd dealt with this one many times before. It was the old problem of not understanding there are different sorts of truth. Not all truth is history. He had a form-letter response but frankly he couldn't bill more than half an hour's work for that so he decided to do something different. He waited until night fell, picked it up again, dusted it down and followed a star.
Four hours later Robbie Williams turned round in the street. 'Oy you' he said to Rich. 'Why are you following me?'
Rich explained that he was involved in a serious piece of theological detection. Robbie suggested he try loving angels instead.
'Brilliant' said Rich, fully aware that the ultimate inter-connectedness of all things, as taught by his mentor Dirk Gently, did not require him to do anything specific in order to solve his case. He offered Robbie profuse thanks which earned him a punch in the face as ignorance of the language can often lead to misunderstanding if you try to be a smart-arse and use unusual words when common ones will do. Ordinary thanks would have done fine. Discombobulated he forward-progressed towards the public transport utilisation facility.
'Follow that incomplete lead,' he barked to the driver, who ignored him since he was a bus driver and buses don't do that sort of thing. Rich handed over £4.75 as then requested and sat down to have a bit of a ponder.
Arriving home some hours later, sustained by the wholegrain ponder he had consumed, and after waking up in the bus garage and catching another, Rich headed for Tescos to buy some milk and groceries. He wandered through the trolleypark where the bobble-hatted, high-visibility jacketed collector was having a fag break.
'Excuse me,' he asked, 'You couldn't be an angel could you?' Rich was simply wanting help with a dodgy basket but the young man did happen to be an angel. Who knew? He offered his last cigarette. Rich took it and accepted a light, entirely forgetting in the presence of such holiness, that he had given up smoking some months earlier.
'You look troubled,' said the angel, whose name was Bob, 'Don't be afraid.'
'What makes you think I was afraid?' Rich asked.
'Sorry mate,' said Bob, 'Force of habit.' He gave a look of such comforting strangeness that Rich entirely forgot everything that had ever bothered him ever. It was nice. 'What you doing then?' Bob asked.
For some reason he didn't say 'getting some milk' and Rich shared that he was trying to find a long-winded way of explaining the simple fact that the Christmas story isn't exactly and precisely history. Angels can make you speak the whole truth. Or not speak at all. Some people take their shoes off they're so confused by goodness. 'What do you reckon Bob?'
Bob spent a long time thinking, as if he was collecting together all the disparate pieces of a long-lost answer from the whole of time and space. Which, strangely, was what he was doing but it only took a moment of Rich's time.
'I never worked out how he done it' said Bob, 'but sometimes stories is the best we got so we tell 'em and let other people worry about what sort of truth they are.'
'How who done what?' asked Rich.
'I'd tell the girl that the story is true and leave it at that. Don't want to cause trouble.' He gave Rich a look which contained such merciless implied threat that Rich knew causing trouble would be a bad thing. It also made him miss the lack of an answer to his question.
'How come you work on the trolleys at Tescos if you're so wise,' asked Rich.
'I like it. It's outdoor work. It's not complicated. You get to notice cars that are wrongly parked in the disabled spaces and can leave trolleys behind them. From time to time you can help people solve the deep mysteries of the universe like where they left their car or who buys muesli bars. Forget it.'
It sounded like a passing remark but it was actually a deeply hypnotic command. Rich forgot it, went home with his milk and sent Annie a postcard saying it was true. He charged no fee.
Some stories are so deep they are truer than history.
Do watch out for angels. They may be stacking trolleys in your local supermarket. Why not put yours away more tidily next time? They'll appreciate it anyway, however holy they are.
If you have further cases for Rich Gospel to investigate, contact him via the comment box. If you have not heard of him before then his previous adventure is here.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Happy Christmas Eve
Rush, rush, hurry, hurry. So much to do.
In the early hours of tomorrow morning, once midnight communion has been ticked off my things-to-do list, it probably will be a silent night and a holy night. I will be going to bed at a time I once recall waking up as a child. On that occasion I opened a few things then went back to sleep until 4.30 a.m. How my parents must have loved me.
A short while after that, tomorrow, other families will be understanding why the little Lord Jesus was alleged to make no crying. Got to keep those Victorian kids in line somehow.
The words of our Christmas songs mix the glory with the bilge. For every:
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
There's:
... a cold winter's night that was so deep.
We have no idea of the precise weather conditions in the hills over Bethlehem 2,000 years ago but it probably wasn't as bad as my garden this morning.
Whatever you make of what you sing today may it:
Guide us to thy perfect light
Have a great day today. Remember, as a great bear called Pooh once remarked, there is a moment just before you eat the honey which is as good as any moment while you are eating it.
In the early hours of tomorrow morning, once midnight communion has been ticked off my things-to-do list, it probably will be a silent night and a holy night. I will be going to bed at a time I once recall waking up as a child. On that occasion I opened a few things then went back to sleep until 4.30 a.m. How my parents must have loved me.
A short while after that, tomorrow, other families will be understanding why the little Lord Jesus was alleged to make no crying. Got to keep those Victorian kids in line somehow.
The words of our Christmas songs mix the glory with the bilge. For every:
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.
There's:
... a cold winter's night that was so deep.
We have no idea of the precise weather conditions in the hills over Bethlehem 2,000 years ago but it probably wasn't as bad as my garden this morning.
Whatever you make of what you sing today may it:
Guide us to thy perfect light
Have a great day today. Remember, as a great bear called Pooh once remarked, there is a moment just before you eat the honey which is as good as any moment while you are eating it.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
It's When?
Where am I? A reasonable question if you've just been dropped off by the kidnappers and left to make your way home.
Who am I? OK, you have amnesia. That blow to the head was worse than we thought.
Why am I? Good theological theme for the season.
The season? Ah yes. Glad you asked. The pre-Christmas season formerly known as Advent. By about now I start to be bothered by this final problem more than the others. When am I?
Last year I got excited by Paula Gooder's observation that in Advent you looked forward to the past and remembered the future. That statement alone was a time-whirl.
What happens to me about now is that my whenabouts in the week goes awol.
Its not quite the same for some. Teachers seem to be either on or off and are currently off. Retail staff are now permanently on and walk around with a glazed expression when someone, for instance, announces an extra Bank Holiday. A Bank what? Sorry, you've lost me there, they say.
We all operate with fixed points. Even shift-workers with odd patterns of work/rest seem to have ways of making their lives revolve around something. Seven on, two off, five on, three off or some similar mantra.
Now my pattern is to work hard and long Monday to Thursday, to keep Friday free from duties, to do what ever comes up on Saturday but not to go looking for work and to be fit and well for Sunday as a day of worship and of work.
This week there are things to do on Friday, Christmas Eve, culminating in an important preach at an hour of my usual day off when I would normally be asleep. Then Christmas Day, which always feels like a Sunday for me, although I have no duties after the morning communion. Sunday 26th is the day after Christmas but won't feel like a Sunday because my own church community has decided not to meet and Mrs Mustard will be heading of to work at 6.00 a.m. to supervise retail sales in various outlets. Then Monday 27th is a Bank Holiday, the family are visiting and it will feel Sundayish again. The rest of the week will be out of kilter and how much work I do will very much depend on circumstances. The New Year weekend will again feel weird and the Monday after will be another Bank Holiday so the back-to-normal Tuesday 4th will feel like a Monday. I doubt very much if I will know when I am until Monday 10th January.
This is neither a rant nor a moan. Merely an observation. Your clergy will be struggling to know when it is.
Who am I? OK, you have amnesia. That blow to the head was worse than we thought.
Why am I? Good theological theme for the season.
The season? Ah yes. Glad you asked. The pre-Christmas season formerly known as Advent. By about now I start to be bothered by this final problem more than the others. When am I?
Last year I got excited by Paula Gooder's observation that in Advent you looked forward to the past and remembered the future. That statement alone was a time-whirl.
What happens to me about now is that my whenabouts in the week goes awol.
Its not quite the same for some. Teachers seem to be either on or off and are currently off. Retail staff are now permanently on and walk around with a glazed expression when someone, for instance, announces an extra Bank Holiday. A Bank what? Sorry, you've lost me there, they say.
We all operate with fixed points. Even shift-workers with odd patterns of work/rest seem to have ways of making their lives revolve around something. Seven on, two off, five on, three off or some similar mantra.
Now my pattern is to work hard and long Monday to Thursday, to keep Friday free from duties, to do what ever comes up on Saturday but not to go looking for work and to be fit and well for Sunday as a day of worship and of work.
This week there are things to do on Friday, Christmas Eve, culminating in an important preach at an hour of my usual day off when I would normally be asleep. Then Christmas Day, which always feels like a Sunday for me, although I have no duties after the morning communion. Sunday 26th is the day after Christmas but won't feel like a Sunday because my own church community has decided not to meet and Mrs Mustard will be heading of to work at 6.00 a.m. to supervise retail sales in various outlets. Then Monday 27th is a Bank Holiday, the family are visiting and it will feel Sundayish again. The rest of the week will be out of kilter and how much work I do will very much depend on circumstances. The New Year weekend will again feel weird and the Monday after will be another Bank Holiday so the back-to-normal Tuesday 4th will feel like a Monday. I doubt very much if I will know when I am until Monday 10th January.
This is neither a rant nor a moan. Merely an observation. Your clergy will be struggling to know when it is.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Too Many Oranges
Back in the 1990s our Ellesmere CYFA Venture caterer over-ordered oranges. He wanted 100 oranges but ordered 10 crates of 50 rather than 10 bags of 10. We had to invent something.
I remembered it tonight as we had an orange abundance at Mustard Mansions. For two people, take four oranges, peel thoroughly and slice. Remove central membrane but nothing more.
Layer the slices on a baking tray and top with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Lovely served warm at a summer barbecue. Brilliant served immediately on a cold winter's evening.
I remembered it tonight as we had an orange abundance at Mustard Mansions. For two people, take four oranges, peel thoroughly and slice. Remove central membrane but nothing more.
Layer the slices on a baking tray and top with brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.
Lovely served warm at a summer barbecue. Brilliant served immediately on a cold winter's evening.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
The New Inn, Backwell
Excellent, and fine value, lunch at the New Inn, Backwell today. Lamb bacon with red cabbage and dauphinoise potatoes followed by vanilla rice pudding and prunes, accompanied by a pint of Timothy Taylor's most excellent Landlord. Local food and drink definitely looking up.
Snow
I love this new header photograph of the view from the bottom of our road because it is a full colour picture with no effects. The late afternoon winter light on a snow-covered landscape washes all the colour out of the world.
Beer News
The Old Farmhouse, Nailsea has the Hall and Woodhouse Christmas ale Pickled Partridge on again. It is by far and away the best thing they make and quite descriptive of the following day's head. Coming round slowly. Even last week's Elmo's Fire was gentle by comparison.
Staff Christmas lunch today. Is there no end to the fun?
Staff Christmas lunch today. Is there no end to the fun?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas 2010
Christmas greetings. The Tilleys' Christmas letter is now published at:
http://stevetilleychristmas.blogspot.com/
http://stevetilleychristmas.blogspot.com/
Friday, December 17, 2010
Whoops!
I am not an economist but was keen to try and understand what words like credit crunch, sub-prime mortgage market and quantitative easing actually meant. I recommend holding hands with John Lanchester, a very good novelist and journalist who followed the story in the City and helps, in Whoops!, to explain a global financial crisis as no-one has done, for me, so far.Did you realise that it was caused by four things going wrong at once?
2. ... bad risk mortgages were sold on for inflated prices...
3. ... to people who miscalculated the risk...
4. ... and weren't properly regulated.
The sub-title Why everyone owes everyone and no one can pay sums it up nicely.
Have a Little Faith
Mitch Albom is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Have a Little Faith is the true story of his response to a request to deliver the eulogy at the funeral of Reb, his former mentor. As he spends time with Reb he discovers new depths and secrets to the man's delightful character.He also gets to know a remarkable pastor who, having escaped from a life of crime and drugs, has devoted his remaining days to ministering to the needs of the poor. Both people leave him moved and full of optimism.
He writes simple prose, short books and novels and always sees the hope. Read it. And maybe give it as a gift to someone who wants to understand people of faith without being preached at.
Go to Mitch's web-site here to read more and buy it if you wish.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
12 Days of Christmas
Updated this again for the Christ Church and Tickenham magazine:
I would like to offer you a final chance to order appropriate gifts for the twelve days of Christmas. Sadly not all traditional produce is currently available. However we can offer:
A partridge, some bits of broken registration plate and a cracked indicator glass. It was run down as I swerved to avoid a pear tree felled by the wind.
The two turtle doves have been humanely destroyed in view of their many communicable diseases.
Under a new agreement the British are providing the hens; the French are making the coops.
Four calling birds, vocally modified to avoid upsetting country dwellers of a non-rural background.
Five golden rings bought off that Dave who pops into the pub every now and again with interesting stuff know what I mean. Christmas orders for Nintendo products will be available Friday evening.
One frozen goose, giblets included. Orders for six live and fertile geese could not be fulfilled at this time.
Swans belong to the Crown and should be left alone. Anyone in possession of seven should be reported to the police.
Eight non-gender-specific milking persons. Do not threaten the human rights of male milkers.
Nine dancers and their partners – vote now to save your favourite. Calls from mobiles might not be charged at the normal rate.
Ten Lords formerly a-leaping but now enjoying a graceless retirement.
Eleven sequenced piping samples playing dub lang syne on heavy rotation.
Twelve Hammerhead 1.0 rhythm programmes downloaded via Windows media player.
I would like to offer you a final chance to order appropriate gifts for the twelve days of Christmas. Sadly not all traditional produce is currently available. However we can offer:
A partridge, some bits of broken registration plate and a cracked indicator glass. It was run down as I swerved to avoid a pear tree felled by the wind.
The two turtle doves have been humanely destroyed in view of their many communicable diseases.
Under a new agreement the British are providing the hens; the French are making the coops.
Four calling birds, vocally modified to avoid upsetting country dwellers of a non-rural background.
Five golden rings bought off that Dave who pops into the pub every now and again with interesting stuff know what I mean. Christmas orders for Nintendo products will be available Friday evening.
One frozen goose, giblets included. Orders for six live and fertile geese could not be fulfilled at this time.
Swans belong to the Crown and should be left alone. Anyone in possession of seven should be reported to the police.
Eight non-gender-specific milking persons. Do not threaten the human rights of male milkers.
Nine dancers and their partners – vote now to save your favourite. Calls from mobiles might not be charged at the normal rate.
Ten Lords formerly a-leaping but now enjoying a graceless retirement.
Eleven sequenced piping samples playing dub lang syne on heavy rotation.
Twelve Hammerhead 1.0 rhythm programmes downloaded via Windows media player.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Niggly Verse
A verse from our leadership team Bible study this week has been annoying me. It has been following me around since last Tuesday, pulling at my coat and saying, 'You don't get me do you?' It's this:
'I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.' (NIV Luke 11:8 - Jesus speaking)
Jesus' disciples have asked him to teach them to pray, '...just as John taught his disciples.' We don't know anything about how John taught his disciples to pray.
Jesus then taught the prayer we now know as the Lord's Prayer. Many have wondered over the years, and books have been written, as to whether Jesus intended to teach a prayer for repetition or a pattern as aide-memoire. It's another 'don't know' I'm afraid. We use it in both ways.
Then, according to Luke, Jesus says this:
'Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.'
Luke 11:5-9 (New International Version, ©2010)
Notice the new translation in the excellent NIV 2010. But it still seems as if, if we decide who is who in this parable, God will tell supplicants to bog off because he is sleeping. Surely not?
I think, after a week's ponder, that those of us who occasionally ask God to do things for us, are being told that we have a special relationship. Although most people will not be gladly disturbed after midnight when the light is out for the night our friends will be OK with this. Tired? Yes. Irritated? Possibly? But aware that friendship carries responsibilities that other relationships do not? Exactly.
We can approach God as a friend. 'Hey God - it's me, your mate St. Could you...?'
Well I thought that on Thursday but it's not what the passage says. In effect the passage says your friendship counts for nothing. That won't get God out of bed. It is your boldness, your shameless audacity that has him put his trousers back on and raid the larder. He had already told his friend to go away (presumably the friend didn't but stood nagging).
What on earth are you doing God? Get up. I need the bread now.
Next time it falls to me to lead a prayer time we are going to have a go at shameless audacity.
'I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.' (NIV Luke 11:8 - Jesus speaking)
Jesus' disciples have asked him to teach them to pray, '...just as John taught his disciples.' We don't know anything about how John taught his disciples to pray.
Jesus then taught the prayer we now know as the Lord's Prayer. Many have wondered over the years, and books have been written, as to whether Jesus intended to teach a prayer for repetition or a pattern as aide-memoire. It's another 'don't know' I'm afraid. We use it in both ways.
Then, according to Luke, Jesus says this:
'Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.'
Luke 11:5-9 (New International Version, ©2010)
Notice the new translation in the excellent NIV 2010. But it still seems as if, if we decide who is who in this parable, God will tell supplicants to bog off because he is sleeping. Surely not?
I think, after a week's ponder, that those of us who occasionally ask God to do things for us, are being told that we have a special relationship. Although most people will not be gladly disturbed after midnight when the light is out for the night our friends will be OK with this. Tired? Yes. Irritated? Possibly? But aware that friendship carries responsibilities that other relationships do not? Exactly.
We can approach God as a friend. 'Hey God - it's me, your mate St. Could you...?'
Well I thought that on Thursday but it's not what the passage says. In effect the passage says your friendship counts for nothing. That won't get God out of bed. It is your boldness, your shameless audacity that has him put his trousers back on and raid the larder. He had already told his friend to go away (presumably the friend didn't but stood nagging).
What on earth are you doing God? Get up. I need the bread now.
Next time it falls to me to lead a prayer time we are going to have a go at shameless audacity.
Thursday, December 09, 2010
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
Tuesday, December 07, 2010
BBC Nativity
Interesting article about the BBC Nativity I keep going on about. 'People will be talking about this' say many Christian commentators, so worth being ready to listen to what they have to say.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/11_november/26/nativity2.shtml
And it goes without saying, please don't be in too much of a rush to tell others your interpretation but listen long and hard. Then maybe invite the interested questioners to something to follow it up. If there isn't anything you can invite them to, pester your minister. If you have no minister do it yourself.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/11_november/26/nativity2.shtml
And it goes without saying, please don't be in too much of a rush to tell others your interpretation but listen long and hard. Then maybe invite the interested questioners to something to follow it up. If there isn't anything you can invite them to, pester your minister. If you have no minister do it yourself.
Monday, December 06, 2010
The Word of God in the Old Testament
I find this mind-blowing. I don't know if you ever come to a blog post with an expectation that reading it might be mind-blowing but I'd like you to think that after reading this you will never be the same again.
Before I explain the good part of never being the same again I have some bad news. The bad part. The Bible you thought you knew; you don't know. You might have remembered some, even quite a lot of it, but that is not the same as knowing it.
Here are three stories. So you don't get scared, here are the endings to the stories. Imagine it's like a movie which begins with something dramatic and then the screen fades to a caption 'Three years earlier.' I'll tell you the punchlines then work up to them. In fact I told you the punchlines in the preview so you should be ready:
1. I don't believe what it says in the Bible
2. What it says in the Bible is wrong
3. God is a liar
And I needed to tell you that so you are as shocked as you are going to be. I also want to be clear that hearing those sentences is not the end. There will be more.
Nearly three years ago now we had a Parochial Church Council (PCC) discussion on divorce. I was asked to prepare some biblical material and it was hard work because the Bible is not univocal on the question, but I did the best I could and was pleased with the paper I wrote and the discussion that followed. Towards the end of the meeting one member of the PCC spoke forthrightly. 'I believe what it says in this book,' he said, shutting it and placing it firmly on the table in front of him. He didn't say, 'End of,' but may as well have done. Closed book; closed mind. He seemed to have missed the whole point that I did too but the matter couldn't end there. Since we now permit remarriage of divorcees in church in certain circumstances and some verses of the Bible say that such action is wrong it follows that I don't believe what it says in the Bible. QED1.
Now here are some verses from the Bible:
As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more.
...
If (God) comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human. How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
...
If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm!
These sound like acceptable descriptions of God and his righteous anger. The sort of Old Testament stuff we are used to. Smacks of the Book of Proverbs. The three quotes are all from Job's comforters. But in Job 42:7 God says they were wrong. The three men who advised Job with such words did not know what they were talking about. Several chapters of the Old Testament are the speeches of men who didn't know what they were talking about.
God tells Job he'd better pray for the guys who advised him, that he won't get wrathful on them.
Trouble is, a lot of what the guys said in their speeches was quoting Deuteronomy. If what they said was wrong, was Deuteronomy wrong? But isn't Deuteronomy one of the most quoted books in the New Testament? Help. What it says in the Bible is wrong. QED2.
Finally, to the very beginning. Genesis 2:16-17. God says clearly in this creation story that eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will lead to certain death. 'When you eat of it you will surely die.' No reader or hearer of the story would have taken it as a metaphor for life-limitation entering the world. In those days that sort of interpretation was centuries away. What happened? The story tells us the snake tempted, Eve succumbed, the man was embroiled and God threw them out of the garden, still alive. God is a liar. QED3.
Our problem, as those stories demonstrate, if we read the Bible, is that we read it through logical, legal, New Testament eyes where many of the writers were trying to impress their more intellectual readers with their Greek, philosophic credentials. John 1:1 'In the beginning was the word' is Greek philosophy. Paul in Athens debated with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. The Bible becomes a constitutional document at which point we have made it a book too hard for us simple souls to read if we find constitutional ambiguities. It says one thing then another.
What, should we do to our enemies? Let's hear author and scholar Brian McLaren give us the range of answers the Bible has for us:
'Matthew 5:44 tells us to love them. Romans 12 tells us to do good to them and never seek revenge against them. 1 Peter 3 tells us to suffer at their hands and set an example for them. Psalm 139:19 says we should hate them. Deuteronomy 7 says we should destroy them utterly and show them no mercy. If we want to call down fire on them, we can refer to 1 Kings 18:38, but before we do so, we'd better check Luke 9:51-6, which condemns that kind of thinking...'
(A New Kind of Christianity - Hodder 2010)
What is God like? If our human understanding gave us one clear and easily graspable picture of God then that god would not be essentially 'other' but simply another of us. So our Bibles show us God who is a warrior leading his people into battle, telling them to be bold and strong. They give us God who reveals himself partially in dreams, visions and insights, God who wants to mother his people like a hen its chicks, who wants to have his prophets live out ghastly, real-life metaphors by cooking on excrement or marrying prostitutes to show how he feels about his people, God who is intimate and distant, caring and angry, enthroned on high and surrounding his people, the house builder and the house occupant. There are even books of the Bible where God makes little or no appearance yet is a backdrop to all that is going on. Which of these is the true picture? All of them. Together.
(A paragraph not entirely unlike this will appear in Mustard Seed Shavings, the book, to be published by BRF, April 2011.)
So the Bible is not a constitutional document but it contains some basic grounding for those who wish to set up a community. Not a rule book like the Highway Code yet it contains some rules. Not a history book like Caesar's Gallic Wars but it contains some history.
What is it? It's a cultural library says Brian McLaren. It's an agreed starting point, says Rowan Williams. It is, says Karen Armstrong (The Bible - The Biography - Atlantic 2007), a place where we stand, as Moses stood once, sandal-less before a burning bush, praying for revelation and listening intently, willing to lay down our former preconceptions.
I went to an Anglo-Catholic church in the deanery the other day. I was struck again by the symbolic act of a Gospel procession with incense. The central part of the Eucharist was read. If process was all we did we would be missing the point. But if all we do is say 'I believe what it says in here' we are being equally lightweight.
The Bible includes some statements about God which are contradictory, some which the book itself says are wrong, some distasteful stuff and more.
When John the Baptist marched out of the wilderness with his wild behaviour he was making a huge statement about the word of God in the Old Testament. John was saying – it is here. Don't listen to it any more; listen to him.
Mind blowing.
(Based on a sermon at Trendlewood Church and Christ Church, Nailsea, yesterday)
Before I explain the good part of never being the same again I have some bad news. The bad part. The Bible you thought you knew; you don't know. You might have remembered some, even quite a lot of it, but that is not the same as knowing it.
Here are three stories. So you don't get scared, here are the endings to the stories. Imagine it's like a movie which begins with something dramatic and then the screen fades to a caption 'Three years earlier.' I'll tell you the punchlines then work up to them. In fact I told you the punchlines in the preview so you should be ready:
1. I don't believe what it says in the Bible
2. What it says in the Bible is wrong
3. God is a liar
And I needed to tell you that so you are as shocked as you are going to be. I also want to be clear that hearing those sentences is not the end. There will be more.
Nearly three years ago now we had a Parochial Church Council (PCC) discussion on divorce. I was asked to prepare some biblical material and it was hard work because the Bible is not univocal on the question, but I did the best I could and was pleased with the paper I wrote and the discussion that followed. Towards the end of the meeting one member of the PCC spoke forthrightly. 'I believe what it says in this book,' he said, shutting it and placing it firmly on the table in front of him. He didn't say, 'End of,' but may as well have done. Closed book; closed mind. He seemed to have missed the whole point that I did too but the matter couldn't end there. Since we now permit remarriage of divorcees in church in certain circumstances and some verses of the Bible say that such action is wrong it follows that I don't believe what it says in the Bible. QED1.
Now here are some verses from the Bible:
As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of God they perish; at the blast of his anger they are no more.
...
If (God) comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? But the witless can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born human. How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
...
If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes, how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm!
These sound like acceptable descriptions of God and his righteous anger. The sort of Old Testament stuff we are used to. Smacks of the Book of Proverbs. The three quotes are all from Job's comforters. But in Job 42:7 God says they were wrong. The three men who advised Job with such words did not know what they were talking about. Several chapters of the Old Testament are the speeches of men who didn't know what they were talking about.
God tells Job he'd better pray for the guys who advised him, that he won't get wrathful on them.
Trouble is, a lot of what the guys said in their speeches was quoting Deuteronomy. If what they said was wrong, was Deuteronomy wrong? But isn't Deuteronomy one of the most quoted books in the New Testament? Help. What it says in the Bible is wrong. QED2.
Finally, to the very beginning. Genesis 2:16-17. God says clearly in this creation story that eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will lead to certain death. 'When you eat of it you will surely die.' No reader or hearer of the story would have taken it as a metaphor for life-limitation entering the world. In those days that sort of interpretation was centuries away. What happened? The story tells us the snake tempted, Eve succumbed, the man was embroiled and God threw them out of the garden, still alive. God is a liar. QED3.
Our problem, as those stories demonstrate, if we read the Bible, is that we read it through logical, legal, New Testament eyes where many of the writers were trying to impress their more intellectual readers with their Greek, philosophic credentials. John 1:1 'In the beginning was the word' is Greek philosophy. Paul in Athens debated with the Stoic and Epicurean philosophers. The Bible becomes a constitutional document at which point we have made it a book too hard for us simple souls to read if we find constitutional ambiguities. It says one thing then another.
What, should we do to our enemies? Let's hear author and scholar Brian McLaren give us the range of answers the Bible has for us:
'Matthew 5:44 tells us to love them. Romans 12 tells us to do good to them and never seek revenge against them. 1 Peter 3 tells us to suffer at their hands and set an example for them. Psalm 139:19 says we should hate them. Deuteronomy 7 says we should destroy them utterly and show them no mercy. If we want to call down fire on them, we can refer to 1 Kings 18:38, but before we do so, we'd better check Luke 9:51-6, which condemns that kind of thinking...'
(A New Kind of Christianity - Hodder 2010)
What is God like? If our human understanding gave us one clear and easily graspable picture of God then that god would not be essentially 'other' but simply another of us. So our Bibles show us God who is a warrior leading his people into battle, telling them to be bold and strong. They give us God who reveals himself partially in dreams, visions and insights, God who wants to mother his people like a hen its chicks, who wants to have his prophets live out ghastly, real-life metaphors by cooking on excrement or marrying prostitutes to show how he feels about his people, God who is intimate and distant, caring and angry, enthroned on high and surrounding his people, the house builder and the house occupant. There are even books of the Bible where God makes little or no appearance yet is a backdrop to all that is going on. Which of these is the true picture? All of them. Together.
(A paragraph not entirely unlike this will appear in Mustard Seed Shavings, the book, to be published by BRF, April 2011.)
So the Bible is not a constitutional document but it contains some basic grounding for those who wish to set up a community. Not a rule book like the Highway Code yet it contains some rules. Not a history book like Caesar's Gallic Wars but it contains some history.
What is it? It's a cultural library says Brian McLaren. It's an agreed starting point, says Rowan Williams. It is, says Karen Armstrong (The Bible - The Biography - Atlantic 2007), a place where we stand, as Moses stood once, sandal-less before a burning bush, praying for revelation and listening intently, willing to lay down our former preconceptions.
I went to an Anglo-Catholic church in the deanery the other day. I was struck again by the symbolic act of a Gospel procession with incense. The central part of the Eucharist was read. If process was all we did we would be missing the point. But if all we do is say 'I believe what it says in here' we are being equally lightweight.
The Bible includes some statements about God which are contradictory, some which the book itself says are wrong, some distasteful stuff and more.
When John the Baptist marched out of the wilderness with his wild behaviour he was making a huge statement about the word of God in the Old Testament. John was saying – it is here. Don't listen to it any more; listen to him.
Mind blowing.
(Based on a sermon at Trendlewood Church and Christ Church, Nailsea, yesterday)
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Today's Sermon
1. I don't believe what it says in the Bible
2. What it says in the Bible is wrong
3. God is a liar
See you later at Trendlewood Church 10.15 a.m., St Francis' School, Station Road, Nailsea or this evening at Christ Church, Nailsea 6.30 p.m.
2. What it says in the Bible is wrong
3. God is a liar
See you later at Trendlewood Church 10.15 a.m., St Francis' School, Station Road, Nailsea or this evening at Christ Church, Nailsea 6.30 p.m.
Writing Tips
How to improve your spelling. Starting today, when the little red, wavy line appears under a word you are typing, do not right-click for options and auto-correction. Have a go at correcting it first. You will become a better speller. You will enjoy the satisfaction of making the red line go away, by yourself.
Friday, December 03, 2010
The Apprentice
This week's episode of The Apprentice raised an interesting issue. The task was to buy ten objects at the cheapest possible price. Any of the ten objects not purchased would lead to a fine. Arriving back late would also be fined. It was boys versus girls.
The girls' strategy was to research by phone, and then shop. They got all ten items but were late back and paid a lot for them.The boys' team blazed a trail of unplanned hopefulness, negotiated amazing discounts, arrived on time but only got seven of their ten.
Nevertheless the boys won. Not by much.
The boys' negotiating ploy was to 'have a story.' In other words to lie. They told fibs about going to a Scottish wedding, leaving books in Nottingham and cooking a gourmet meal.
In the follow up programme The Apprentice - You're Fired this was remarked upon. One of the panelists said that, of course, retailers would be aware they were being lied to but often went with the story to see if they were entertained enough to give discount.
What do we make of the ethics though? Does the presence of a camera (I never quite know what reasons are given for a camera following the players into places) make retailers less likely to challenge? Who wants such bad publicity? But would any retailer, now seeing the programme, sue for having given a discount under false pretences?
I know Lord Sugar wants people with initiative but at what point does integrity come in?
The girls' strategy was to research by phone, and then shop. They got all ten items but were late back and paid a lot for them.The boys' team blazed a trail of unplanned hopefulness, negotiated amazing discounts, arrived on time but only got seven of their ten.
Nevertheless the boys won. Not by much.
The boys' negotiating ploy was to 'have a story.' In other words to lie. They told fibs about going to a Scottish wedding, leaving books in Nottingham and cooking a gourmet meal.
In the follow up programme The Apprentice - You're Fired this was remarked upon. One of the panelists said that, of course, retailers would be aware they were being lied to but often went with the story to see if they were entertained enough to give discount.
What do we make of the ethics though? Does the presence of a camera (I never quite know what reasons are given for a camera following the players into places) make retailers less likely to challenge? Who wants such bad publicity? But would any retailer, now seeing the programme, sue for having given a discount under false pretences?
I know Lord Sugar wants people with initiative but at what point does integrity come in?
Evangelism
Evangelism. Do you like the word? At its root it means something like 'good-newsing.' So far so good, but ask anyone who is not a follower of Jesus and they will feel got at by it. It makes those who are being evangelised into a target audience, a potential customer-base and therefore to feel either the victims of advertising or over-zealous selling techniques. I reckon it is a mortally wounded word which can only be used effectively by Christian leaders talking about something they plan to do. It should not be allowed out in public any more. Yes, I am aware that this is public and therefore I am failing to follow my own advice. See this post as an obituary.
Who got it into trouble? Probably street-corner evangelists more than anyone else. Those who scatter-gun the gospel at passers-by in city centres. They hit any given individual only with theoshrapnel. Like telling someone about confectionery by throwing sugar-grains. They make me sad because I believe some of the same things as them.
Our Alpha Course at the pub finished this week. Again I have negotiated the minefield of running a genuine Alpha Course whilst holding back from its more conservative elements. On matters such as the nature of evil, answers to prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit I tend to present, 'Some Christians say this, others say that, what do you think?' I see the course as seeking after truth and allow the guests to seek. Our team consists of a range of theological views. We get on.
Again this week I had to listen to a comment about the clergy. I'm not bragging here although it will come across as such. A member of our course said, 'I didn't think that people like me could talk to vicars.'
Can we take a moment's silence to digest that please? Thank you.
What have we done, what have we done to the idea of ministry as service to the living God, God's hands on earth, intermediaries, helpers that someone, almost certainly representative of a goodly chunk of ordinary folk, might think they couldn't approach us, let alone talk to us?
So all I did over the last eleven weeks was be a bloke, in a pub sitting on a stool talking about Jesus to invited guests and then chatting over a drink in small groups. And it may well be that being accessible rather than clerical was more important than any of the talk content.
Four or five times in the last few years people have taken the trouble, either as I was walking down the street or after a public occasion, to congratulate me on being normal. Regular readers might recall me posting about this. It was what I set out to do twenty six years ago. I wanted to be a vicar without stopping being me. I wanted to stand up in church and say hello the way I normally say hello; to chat after church the way I chat in my lounge and to avoid feeling that an act of worship, after a lively conversation in a vestry, should be introduced in a pompous voice saying 'The hymn two hundred and forty five' or whatever and all personality should be left in the changing rooms.
This ministry lark could be the easiest job in the world. Before we have any chance of doing the complicated business of speaking of God we need to spend a few years demonstrating that those of us who speak of God are ordinary people.
A new style of invitation to church beckons, 'Come and meet our vicar; you'll be amazed how ordinary he is.'
Who got it into trouble? Probably street-corner evangelists more than anyone else. Those who scatter-gun the gospel at passers-by in city centres. They hit any given individual only with theoshrapnel. Like telling someone about confectionery by throwing sugar-grains. They make me sad because I believe some of the same things as them.
Our Alpha Course at the pub finished this week. Again I have negotiated the minefield of running a genuine Alpha Course whilst holding back from its more conservative elements. On matters such as the nature of evil, answers to prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit I tend to present, 'Some Christians say this, others say that, what do you think?' I see the course as seeking after truth and allow the guests to seek. Our team consists of a range of theological views. We get on.
Again this week I had to listen to a comment about the clergy. I'm not bragging here although it will come across as such. A member of our course said, 'I didn't think that people like me could talk to vicars.'
Can we take a moment's silence to digest that please? Thank you.
What have we done, what have we done to the idea of ministry as service to the living God, God's hands on earth, intermediaries, helpers that someone, almost certainly representative of a goodly chunk of ordinary folk, might think they couldn't approach us, let alone talk to us?
So all I did over the last eleven weeks was be a bloke, in a pub sitting on a stool talking about Jesus to invited guests and then chatting over a drink in small groups. And it may well be that being accessible rather than clerical was more important than any of the talk content.
Four or five times in the last few years people have taken the trouble, either as I was walking down the street or after a public occasion, to congratulate me on being normal. Regular readers might recall me posting about this. It was what I set out to do twenty six years ago. I wanted to be a vicar without stopping being me. I wanted to stand up in church and say hello the way I normally say hello; to chat after church the way I chat in my lounge and to avoid feeling that an act of worship, after a lively conversation in a vestry, should be introduced in a pompous voice saying 'The hymn two hundred and forty five' or whatever and all personality should be left in the changing rooms.
This ministry lark could be the easiest job in the world. Before we have any chance of doing the complicated business of speaking of God we need to spend a few years demonstrating that those of us who speak of God are ordinary people.
A new style of invitation to church beckons, 'Come and meet our vicar; you'll be amazed how ordinary he is.'
Thursday, December 02, 2010
Tilley Associates
My sister's art direction business has a fantastic new web-site. Simplicity and minimalism wins every time for me. Love it.
Advent Retreat, Bishop's Palace, Wells 2010
I was given a digital camea for Christmas last year. I'm not very good yet but am enjoying the effort and am happy to begin sharing it, as you may have noticed.
I took it on our archdeaconry Advent retreat day this week.
Since all the other clergy rushed to sit by the log fires and in the comfortable chairs during the silences I spent the first period sitting alone in a dining room chair in a less-than-hot room. In the afternoon, anxious to stay awake after a roast dinner with steamed sponge pudding, I wandered around the Palace grounds.
The art-work in the grounds and Palace is interesting and I came across this statue called Pilgrim. I became fascinated not only by the different views of the pilgrim one might get but also by what you could and couldn't see if you stood where Pilgrim stood.
How do we see the world? How does the world see us? Sometimes a picture...
I took it on our archdeaconry Advent retreat day this week.
Since all the other clergy rushed to sit by the log fires and in the comfortable chairs during the silences I spent the first period sitting alone in a dining room chair in a less-than-hot room. In the afternoon, anxious to stay awake after a roast dinner with steamed sponge pudding, I wandered around the Palace grounds.
The art-work in the grounds and Palace is interesting and I came across this statue called Pilgrim. I became fascinated not only by the different views of the pilgrim one might get but also by what you could and couldn't see if you stood where Pilgrim stood.
How do we see the world? How does the world see us? Sometimes a picture...
Advent
I like Advent. In a season which is about waiting and hoping those of us who enjoy waiting and hoping are happiest. It may also be that the nature of my work is that it is differently seasonal to others. Consequently as the world speeds up to stupid pace I slow down.
My first Christmas after I was ordained (1984) I fell asleep on the sofa on Christmas afternoon with a two year old and a four year old jumping on me. I only woke up when the older one reported to Mrs Mustard that 'Daddy's dead.' Well it was nice to be missed for a few seconds before I was soundly beaten for failing in the simple task of looking after two children.
Ever since those two scoundrels grew up and left home to make their fortune (still waiting boys, still waiting) I have made it my business to be on duty over school vacations so those who need to take their holidays then can be away. I try to run courses and events that are targeted at times when people will not be otherwise busy.
Last night someone prayed for the clergy at this 'particularly busy time.' I blushed. Not that anyone prays especially for clergy during a half-term week with all the occasional offices and being the only one in town on duty so I'll take it vicariously if that's OK?
Alpha course finishes next week with a celebration and then I'll catch up on admin for next year and go off for a four day retreat. For the first few years I adopted this pattern I felt guilty. It used to be hard observing others work themselves into the ground while I watched and prayed. Then I remember the reason for the season and I watch and pray.
My first Christmas after I was ordained (1984) I fell asleep on the sofa on Christmas afternoon with a two year old and a four year old jumping on me. I only woke up when the older one reported to Mrs Mustard that 'Daddy's dead.' Well it was nice to be missed for a few seconds before I was soundly beaten for failing in the simple task of looking after two children.
Ever since those two scoundrels grew up and left home to make their fortune (still waiting boys, still waiting) I have made it my business to be on duty over school vacations so those who need to take their holidays then can be away. I try to run courses and events that are targeted at times when people will not be otherwise busy.
Last night someone prayed for the clergy at this 'particularly busy time.' I blushed. Not that anyone prays especially for clergy during a half-term week with all the occasional offices and being the only one in town on duty so I'll take it vicariously if that's OK?
Alpha course finishes next week with a celebration and then I'll catch up on admin for next year and go off for a four day retreat. For the first few years I adopted this pattern I felt guilty. It used to be hard observing others work themselves into the ground while I watched and prayed. Then I remember the reason for the season and I watch and pray.
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