sandbox

Bobby and Vicar

2010-08-13T12:38:00.002+01:00

For me there's one thing missing from the bits of commentary I've heard on BBB2's 'Rev' programme. First, thanks to Judith Ley and guests for an informative look at it on her Manx Radio show last Sunday morning. Some non-clergy friends of mine were perplexed by the extreme picture portrayed in the sixth episode but in spite of that, as Judith's guests say, the overall story is true to life. John Coldwell, Marc Wolverson, Mary Railton-Crowder and Gareth Moore, all see the power of the calling to this particular walk of life.

The powerful bit that no-one's mentioned is the way in which the bobby (Policeman Lloyd played by Javone Prince?) delivered the telling 'call' to Adam, like the quiet voice of God, to minister to the dying woman in need. It's not just 'God and me' in our Christian life ... but God delivers messages, advice and challenge to us through all kinds of people, often seemingly unlikely, who usually aren't even aware that they are doing it.

Thanks to Javone Prince for his subtle performance, as his character unwittingly 'ministered' to the floundering vicar.

How to hide Jesus

2010-03-23T22:34:00.000Z

This poem by Steve Turner (on ReJesus) sums it up brilliantly ...

next 365 days ~ and NOW as well ...

2010-01-09T10:50:00.005Z

Southern Sudan has a referendum next year, 2011, on unity or independence ~ and it's no secret that the 12 months leading up to this will be tense and very dangerous, as highlighted in the Sudan365 movement.

This almost puts into the shade the national elections due April this year, 2010, which are no less important.

Please remember all concerned, especially my friend Enock Tombe. He has been seconded from his post as Provincial Secretary for the Episcopal Church of Sudan, to be leader of a High Committee for Elections for Eastern Equatoria, one of 25 states in the Sudan.

Life must be very demanding for people like Enock and their families right now.

short, sharp, and right on the point

2009-11-26T22:35:00.001Z

A clear message from ffinlo costain about myths and facts of carbon offsetting ...

PR grief

2009-11-26T13:10:00.005Z

There's a story on the wires that three clergymen have 'openly condemned' a new video game about violence and the occult.

At least some of this report on the three clergy's response is fictitious ....

A senior colleague of mine was asked his view by a ‘journalist’ who telephoned; he declined to comment, and he referred her to people in other parts of the Church of England with knowledge of the occult. So his alleged criticism of the game must therefore be a figment of her (or someone else’s) imagination.

It subsequently turned out that the "journalist" is associated in some way with the PR company promoting the game ~ who are now publishing a carefully-phrased statement by a spokesman of the video company, "responding" to the clergy and slagging off 'religious people' (meaning the church).

Certainly my colleague didn’t make the criticism ascribed to him. Perhaps the video company spokesman never said what he’s quoted as saying either.

It’s all just good PR … isn’t it?

My personal view is that this is carefully constructed, dishonest and manipulative and it's a model of disreputable practice.

Gin and chants

2009-09-19T14:25:00.004+01:00

Sooo busy having a wonderful new life working with people in the churches of Sodor and Man that I haven't done any posts for months.

But I so enjoyed this comment on Dave Walker's Church Times blog (from Stefan, on 3 September) that it was worth breaking the silence ....

virtual dioceses

2009-06-15T12:44:00.003+01:00

Just as I was coming to the end of a trawl through diocesan websites - and any good examples I could find - the CofE mission team have a link to a much more thorough and helpful job of it already done by David Keen!

(I'd love to know whether his title's a deliberate pun .... )

smutty

2009-02-25T21:08:00.009Z

Back in my childhood we had a white cat with a grey smudge on his forehead like a smudge of soot so his name was Smutty. Our parents probably knew it well, but it wasn't until later at school that I understood the double meaning.

Ash Wednesday today, and we hear the words - you are dust and to dust you will return * - and we get that ash symbol smudged onto our forehead ... so then we're all smutty.

And that's it. We're remembering we are prone to smuttiness.

The days of Lent give us the prompt and the opportunity to think about that, to engage with the wilderness experience, and explore how we can live differently.

Our Vicar Tony reminded us this evening that though the wilderness experience is not comfortable, it is not a process of punishment but a process of discovery so that we can blossom and grow - and relating to this there's a reference to crocuses in the promise by the prophet Isaiah.

And we remember that the 40 days and 40 nights Jesus Christ spent in the desert (Si Smith portrays them delightfully in '40') were the prelude to his liberating teaching, example, life, death and resurrection.

* [pssst: listen to Dust from Dubb & Coyote available from Proost - brilliant! (audio section, title nine, item one)]

laughing and smiling

2009-02-18T10:49:00.002Z

Thanks to Christine Sine for pointing to this lovely piece about the healing of humour.

Smiling's good for you too! [This is a Parish Nursing poster]

Ironic?

2009-02-17T13:16:00.006Z

... certainly poignant for those who've lost theirs.

Stunning writing by Dave Bookless, A Rocha

2009-02-17T12:51:00.006Z

The latest A Rocha magazine is out - and it contains a stunning piece of writing by Dave Bookless (co-founder of A Rocha UK) about good leadership and healthy life. We can all learn from this candid account of tough choices.

Among his thoughtful points Dave says

... there is a painful sense of erosion in stepping back from leadership

and

Whilst I've been speaking about God's call to get deeply stuck into the places where He plants us, I have been losing touch with the place and people to which God has called me.

(It's the Spring 2009 edition - not yet on the A Rocha UK website.)

Lloyds TSB decision about Gaza relief organization

2009-02-11T18:05:00.004Z

This information about a decision by Lloyds TSB is 2 months old.

It really took me by surprise when I stumbled on it just now.

advent

2008-12-17T10:44:00.001Z

One worth sharing ...

made Vice-President by bloggers

2008-10-01T14:02:00.006+01:00

Interesting Media Show on R4 today. But then I'm interested in media.

Is new media important? Well Sarah Palin might vote in favour!

The interview with Andy Brickley, whose blog was instrumental in getting Palin known and loved, introduced a blogger with a well-researched and very focused approach.

Now what is it that I want to achieve ...

unexpected social commentary

2008-07-07T10:51:00.006+01:00

I've heard that Jay-Z is one of the most successful and creative hip-hop artists of all time. All I knew until Friday night was that his appearance at this year's Glastonbury sparked controversy, so while I was blobbing in front of the TV on Friday evening I stayed up to watch a documentary on BBC2 about the making of one of Jay-Z's albums ~ and I'm glad I did. [Part of a series on Classic Albums directed by Jeremy Marre - this one available on DVD]

His remarkable rise to fame was heralded by his first album Reasonable Doubt, released in 1996, which broke new ground for rap, telling the bittersweet story of a Brooklyn street hustler with striking, coded lyrics supported by rich soul samples. Jay-Z chose this to be his Classic Album because of the power of its music and the disturbing story it tells.

I was fascinated by the story it tells. I'm intrigued by the passionate enthusiasm of thousands of people for his music which, though I appreciate it intellectually, gives me only a murmur of aesthetic enjoyment. Most of all, I was captivated by the social commentary that Jay-Z gives.

trains and boats and planes, cars and buses - door to door!

2008-06-23T10:08:00.006+01:00

Just came across this ...

It looks great - well put-together, easy to use.

it's only words. innit?

2008-05-10T10:30:00.010+01:00

Just finished the very enjoyable read of Melvyn Bragg's "The Adventure of English". Thanks to Mr Bragg for a fascinating and diverting journey through the origins, highs, lows, and possible future/s of the English language; and thanks to my good friend who gave me the book for Christmas (2006!)

Among the serious learnèd bits you still get the twinkle in Bragg's eye:

... the complicated English tag system - 'have you?', 'haven't you?', 'could you?', 'couldn't you?', 'won't you?', 'didn't you?' - will most certainly be simplified, Professor David Crystal thinks. His bet is that 'nesspa?' could replace the lot of them. Innit?

In an earlier review for The Guardian, John Mullan comments on the book's weakness in expert authority, but affirms that it's a pithy, accessible narrative. It certainly informed and entertained me.

Tonic from the Independent on Sunday

2008-04-27T18:03:00.003+01:00

My vicar mentioned this in conversation today.

It's the Independent on Sunday's Happy List - the antedote to the Times on Sunday Rich List.

More refreshing I think.

happy snapping

2008-04-17T15:44:00.002+01:00

Seen this?

Worrying, but here's some comfort ...
If you are a normal person going about your business and you see something you want to take a picture of, then you are fine unless you're taking picture of something inherently private," says Hanna Basha, partner at solicitors Carter-Ruck. "But if it's the London Marathon or something, you're fine.

[from the BBC News website]

Jonny's tinkering

2008-04-03T15:00:00.009+01:00

As he savours ideas from Robert Wuthnow's book after the baby boomers: how twenty and thirty-somethings are shaping the future of american religion Jonny Baker stirs in some of his own thoughts about the idea of the 'tinkering' approach to religion and spirituality ...

what skills do people need to be able to tinker? and related to this do people need some spiritual capital or theological capital to tinker? this is a challenging area. i think the answer is yes but often people don't have a lot - they think google is enough! a parallel could be drawn here with improvisation in music which will be much richer and more creative if the person knows the traditions and has done the work in terms of learning their craft - that will free them up. the same is true for spirituality - those that know the tradition, the scriptures, the theological takes, spiritual practices, liturgies, other improvisations that have been made etc will have much more to draw on. the problem for churches is that their tradiitions often feel like they are heavily policed, something to be protected rather than something to be creatively opened up, made open source and tinkered with.

Another bowlful of thinking for the 21st century, mixed together by Jonny Baker.

futuristic, prehistoric ... and now

2008-04-03T09:44:00.018+01:00

I lost my bearings as I scurried across University Parks heading to the Oxford University Museum of Natural History for the public lecture by James Martin on The Meaning of the 21st Century.

Relieved to see others still making their way in to the magnificently monstrous Victorian building as the daylight seeped away on that March evening, I followed the flow to the buzzing lecture theatre where I’d last sat to listen to Philip Pullman some years ago. This evening there were no children in the crowded theatre but students and professors, clearly of various nationalities. And me.

James Martin is a physicist and a good communicator. British-born, he is known as “the Guru of the Information Age”. In the lecture “Target Earth: The grandscale problems of the 21st century” he used populist imagery but only for the sake of framing each topic. There was nothing vapid about the data or the thesis. His capacity to encompass knowledge from various major disciplines is stunning. He’s tall and big-boned, looks fit, and speaks unpretentiously. What my small brain found difficult was the leap between the looming reality of mega global issues, and the thesis that if we collectively (at government and corporate level) have the right mind, we have the means to make all turn out well. But in my simple way I trust the thinking of this man.

Feedback on their blog invited by The 21st Century School (founded in Oxford by James Martin) focuses on the apparent lack of investment in getting minds changed, while investing generously in further research. But I believe history shows that scientific development is always the trigger of every other shift in human awareness, including social and religious; so, again, I trust the notion that the creation of this multidisciplinary academic research centre has something key to offer to our shared future beyond the 21st century. Alison Stibbe, the School’s Outreach Manager, has responded on the blog saying “the need for understanding and formulating new frameworks for generating positive global collective action has already been identified as a key priority among its aims. We recognise that no single solution will provide the answer to global problems.”

I note their mix of complex, high level academic engagement with open access events and interface such as the blogs. Overcoming Bias, the Future Humanity Institute blog, covers dead serious stuff and scary funny stuff – like:

this post (including power to robots. Help!)
an amusing April 1st commentary on scientific breakthroughs and media mindset

And look at the breadth of interest covered in forthcoming events of the 21st Century School.

Back to that night in March: as the lecture ended we all came back to the present day and made our way down the neo-gothic stairs to the grand hall of the museum where we chatted, bought signed copies of James Martin’s book, and drank champagne. And I wandered among the skeletons and models of the massive creatures that walked this planet before humans even began to know they would be part of the future. Then I put on my gloves and hat and went for the bus.

people most meticulous, endeared to the good

2008-03-20T14:47:00.005Z

The day was Friday.

But it was quite unlike any other day.

It was a day when men went very grievously astray, so far astray in fact that they involved themselves in the utmost iniquity. Evil overwhelmed them and they were blind to the truth, though it was as clear as the morning sky. Yet for all that they were people of religion and character and the most careful of men about following the right. They were endeared to the good and none were given to profounder meditation. They were of all people most meticulous, tenderly affected towards their nation and their fatherland, sincere in their religious practice and characterized by fervour, courage and integrity. Yet this thorough competence in their religion did not save them from wrongdoing, nor immunize their minds from error. Their sincerity did not guide them to the good. They were a people who took counsel among themselves, yet their counsels led them astray. Their Roman overlords, too, were masters of law and order, yet these proved their undoing. The people of Jerusalem were caught that day in a vortex of seducing factors and, taken unawares amid them, they faltered. Lacking sound and valid criteria of action, they foundered utterly, as if they had been a people with neither reason nor religion.

They considered that reason and religion alike laid upon them obligations that transcended the dictates of conscience. They did not realize that when men suffer the loss of conscience there is nothing that can replace it. For human conscience is a torch of the light of God, and without it there is no guidance for mankind. When humanity has no conscience to guide, every virtue collapses, every good turns to evil and all intelligence is crazed.

On that day men willed to murder their conscience and that decision constitutes the supreme tragedy of humanity. The events of that day do not simply belong to the annals of early centuries. They are disasters renewed daily in the life of every individual. Men to the end of time will be contemporaries of that memorable day, perpetually in danger of the same sin and wrongdoing into which the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell. The same darkness will be theirs until they are resolute not to transgress the bounds of conscience.

Egypt: a Muslim reflects on the meaning of the crucifixion.
from "A Procession of Prayers : Meditations and Prayers from around the World" edited by John Carden; Cassell 1998

but it's not the bars and pubs that binge!

2008-03-14T10:10:00.004Z

Well I don't think bars and pubs are innocent ~ it's been horrific the way happy hours have developed agressive marketing to make people drink more than they ever need. But people get tanked up even before they go out and it's they who are choosing to get wasted. (I think of that literally; in young people's vocabulary 'getting wasted' is a favoured recreation.)

But it seems so obvious that the responsibility for personal choice lies with each one personally. So I'd say Peter Mahaffey makes the best suggestion yet - to fine drunks £100 on the spot - and I can't understand the response of the Government or Alcohol Concern.

Plastic surgeon Peter Mahaffey told the British Medical Journal police should carry breathalysers and fine those three times over the drink-drive limit. The Bedford Hospital medic said his suggestion came after seeing patients injured in drunken fights and disorder.

The government rejected the idea, saying the police already had the ability to deal with problem drinking.

And an Alcohol Concern spokesman added: "We would not support this. There are already laws in place to tackle drunken behaviour. We think the government would be much better to force bars and clubs not to serve people when they have had enough."

stealing time

2008-02-29T10:16:00.007Z

Seen in the comments section of the BBC online feature about leap year and whose time is it anyway on 29 February?
Temps, rejoice! For once, we have got one over our "permanent member of staff" brethren.
Remind them of this at every opportunity. It'll make you more popular.
Jonathan Barnett, London, UK

just take his shoes off ...

2008-02-28T14:48:00.008Z

My sister's text message today tells me she's having a really good visit to New Zealand. She suggested I look up Napier Cathedral online - and indeed it gives really positive vibes. I found this gentle and touching challenge (Blessed is the mother ...) on the youth worker's page ...

Grime dogs : Morse & Lewis

2008-02-28T13:56:00.008Z

BBC photo

If it weren't for the gruesome work they have to do, the story of Eddie and Keela, the Springer Spaniels trained to sniff out buried human remains, would be totally enchanting.

Enchanting partly because of their doggy charm; patly because of ground-breaking training techniques developed by their handler, Martin Grime; and partly, perhaps, because he seems to have a sense of humour. This from the BBC's online magazine item:

Both [Eddie and Keela] live with Mr Grime and have a normal life outside of work.
He is currently training two new dogs, Morse and Lewis.

O Ruth, Ruth!

2008-02-23T14:08:00.023Z

How sad. Under the respectable mantle of The Times, Ruth Gledhill has adopted a culture of writing which is immensely damaging.

I say "writing" deliberately - not journalism - because her custom is to write according to agendas as she wants to see them and then put bits of factual information around the argument. Which means it's not news journalism but editorial writing. Ruth may not have been the architect of this hybrid but she embraces it fully. The parallel use of the blog accentuates this shift from journalism to opinion but with current newspaper styles and blog use it's not clear which is cause and which is effect.

What is clear is the overall consequence; Ruth effectively becomes the arbiter of all decisions and actions and, through her status by association with The Times, she becomes a Great Authority. With her perspective influenced by the editorial appetite for the provocative and adversarial, she also becomes dangerous.

Attracting attention through your work is bound to be gratifying, and the more controversial matter you manage to present, the more attention you will receive. Possibly your managing editor in particular loves it too. It takes a noble nerve to resist these allurements and stay faithful to the impartiality of true news journalism.

You can see and feel the harm from this, and that it doesn't truly serve the public interest when a person actively looks to construct a provocatively adversarial meaning.

How sad, then, that Ruth Gledhill manages to wreak such misery in those who try, with sincerity and courtesy, to provide for spiritual wellbeing in our society. I've no clues as to what Ruth believes about herself - whether she wants to mould opinion, or just provide information. But she appears to favour a campaign for unrest. And with a tap of her palm-top, Ruth is free to post her particular angle on a story, however slanted; and in today's fast-moving media she effectively has the last word. Thus she is able to inflict untold damage on decent initiatives and individuals.

So what?
Journalism in this country has few boundaries and continues to enjoy the attention of the public, giving journalism some authority; and Ruth has absolute right to freedom of speech about her personal perspective.

I'm grieving about the damage that comes from the hybrid Ruth has espoused.

English law provides for action against GBH; would that it provided the same for GSH - grievous social harm.

[This comment was largely prompted by some of Ruth Gledhill's recent work.

1. In the last couple of days her "Church of England donates cash to aid Muslim prayer" - with her own blog post on it apparently toned down after 3 hours live. (Is this apology anything to do with it? "nb have updated post and corrected errors, many apologies, ruth"). University news releases about the interfaith centre here and here.
(And what do you suppose would have been written if hundreds of thousands of pounds had been provided from Islamic funds for a beautiful mosque, and no money had been forthcoming from any part of the church for some kind of worship centre ... )
2. That interfaith building story was on 21 February. Yesterday in a piece about grim developments of the penal code in Iran Ruth gratuitously managed to include information about opinions on Rowan Williams' attempt to raise debate among lawyers about religious conscience under English law.
3. Her recent arrogant observations about the arrogance in the Church of England and Rowan Williams.
4. Evidence of the consequences of this culture of writing: an ex-marine in America has a blog ("Prepare to have your opinion of this war changed for ever") in which he's picked up Ruth's Thursday article and posted Church Of England Pays $500,000 To Appease Muslims. ]

He didn't talk to us about hope

2008-02-21T15:45:00.003Z

I've just spotted something. Jesus may give us hope but he didn't once say that.

He said things like "abide in me", "love me", "believe in me", "have and keep my commmandments", "don't be afraid", "follow me".

But never "hope in me".

better than the church deserves

2008-02-12T11:06:00.000Z

His tongue sometimes stumbles, but his brain and his heart are
among the church's best, and probably better than it deserves.

These words come at the close of Alex Kirby's analysis for the BBC of the furore around the Archbishop of Canterbury, following his publicised exploration of how there can be legitimate provision under English law for religious conscience. (I believe that it's English law being discussed.)

And Comment from Rev Canon Edgar Ruddock of USPG

Archbishop Rowan’s comments were ‘intelligent, wise and prophetic’. After the wind came the fire and the storm – all in reaction to the Archbishop’s comments on Sharia law last week, it’s time for a pause.

In his role as Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams is uniquely gifted, as a churchman and an academic, to contribute to serious national debate about the kind of society Britain wants to become. His lecture to a group of senior lawyers legitimately addressed the complex issue of how the law contributes to the development and sustenance of a healthy pluralist society.

In the context of mission in Britain, where we live in an increasingly secular environment, many Christians have been concerned to explore how their voice can be heard, and their distinctive ‘conscience’ enshrined in law. Archbishop Rowan sought to extend this distinctiveness to other faith communities also, allowing all members of this society access to an understanding of the law of the land that links into diverse, not simply monochrome, spiritual roots.

could you shape a healthy community?

2008-01-30T15:57:00.000Z

This is a neat idea.

Sam Cadman's ad is brilliant

2008-01-21T12:16:00.000Z

Just 13 words but it says so much ...

gifts from round the world

2008-01-20T16:41:00.000Z

Some people post amazing photos on Flickr ... and have a sense of humour to go with them. Try "smile".

and then there's this topical one - good inside information!

One engine approach with Airbus A330 simulator
Originally uploaded by Lo M

try some hope

2008-01-15T10:00:00.000Z

fresh hope

and from Jude Simpson's broken open

(extracts)

Jesus came for the insane,
the unfulfilled,
the searching,
the street child the tramp and the urchin
the poor little rich girl snorting coke and cursing,
and the man who sold it to her

Jesus came for those nursing a need,
nursing a drink,
out of control,
on the brink,
falling overboard and about to,
sobbing at the kitchen sink

Jesus came for those the world drives mad,
for the bad,
yes the bad

He's not interested in courting the sorted
He came to fill the cup of the thirsty,
the worst,
the broken and the burst open

Jesus came for the sick,
the cracked up,
the packed up

Jesus came for those left behind,
for the cheats and the cheated,
the ones who crossed the line

for the broken to open
to break for those who choke

for the ones who know we need hope

benny wenda speaks

2008-01-10T21:13:00.001Z

helping hands

2007-12-29T00:09:00.000Z

With Pakistan in mind. These are the hands of friends in Lahore. May there be more helping hands than harmful ones.

Christmas glow

2007-12-29T00:06:00.001Z

ho-ho-hope you're having a good Christmas!

2007-12-28T18:46:00.001Z

the clip's breathtaking anyway

2007-12-19T13:26:00.000Z

Earth ~ the new film that's been five years in the making.

Thanks to Disha for the link!

cutting remarks about Zimbabwe

2007-12-09T12:40:00.000Z

John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, clearly moved Andrew Marr on his live tv show this morning as they talked about the scandal of Zimbabwe.

The snipping noise of John Sentamu cutting up his dog collar on air was as crisp as the message he put across.

The full interview had dignity and clarity. Thanks John and Andrew.

paperless advent!

2007-11-28T11:51:00.000Z

Something to do this year instead of taking photos of Christmas light decorations around my neighbourhood ... from the Greenbelt website, I just spotted this. Real delight, even though it's curiously called "paperless Christmas". And yes - I know Advent doesn't start until Saturday, but I did sneak a look at door number 1 ...

Thanks to its creators, whoever you are.

sustenance

2007-11-17T10:48:00.000Z

Returning from a few days' happy, sunny journey around Cumbria, Northumberland and Scotland, I still had the wrapper from the delicious Selkirk Bannock I'd bought on Lindisfarne on Monday and been munching en route since.

To give it its full title it's Dalgetty's Famous Original Selkirk Bannock: naturally rich fruit bread - made with butter

It's certainly delicious so I went to the web to see if I could buy some online. Not sure if I really want to pay all that but the bonus is that I stumbled on information about Dalgetty's Selkirk Bannock on 'Practically Edible' - a delightful website for foodies around the world. Among its delights is a 'food calendar' which celebrates food and recipes. How about this quote from Henry James (American writer. 15 April 1843 – 28 February 1916):

It might seem that an egg which has succeeded in being fresh has done all that can reasonably be expected of it.

And apparently today is "Homemade Bread Day".

Northumberland, Scotland and Cumbria were looking stunning this week and Russell and Sue's car was on best behaviour so I indulged it in a photoshoot on Lindisfarne - thanks R&S!

picture of paradox

2007-11-10T13:51:00.000Z

Following m o d e 's images yesterday, today AmmarQ8 has a powerful image relating to global warming.

Stop the warming

keep it clean

2007-11-08T17:09:00.000Z

inviting you...
Originally uploaded by m o d e

Under the heading "environment - to live with" on m o d e's blog Maldives in still mode come 3 clean, fresh views of the islands, and this verse:

We breathe in the air, so keep the air clean.
We live by the sea, so keep the sea clean.
We ride on the road, so keep the road clean.
We need a better health condition, so keep our environment clean!
Safe environment, Safe people.

investing in hope

2007-11-06T11:00:00.000Z

There are some pics on Flickr (Mindstormphotos and Daskar) which will give a bit of encouragement to West Papuan folk in their continuing struggle to gain their freedom from Indonesia's illegal occupation. I love this one in West Papua and this one in London.

Please spare a thought for everyone working towards peace and justice.

West Papua's pain and tears

2007-11-05T09:10:00.000Z

Among our church members are two families from West Papua. Their hearts are very much back home because the people of West Papua are illegally occupied by Indonesia and are being systematically brutalised. It's not something we hear much about in Britain.

Yesterday Benny told me that one of his people back home had been tortured and killed on Thursday night.

I found this picture on a West Papuan news site which brings it home.

Rudi Pagawak’s body at the Papua Provincial hospital morgue in Dok II Jayapura.
He is the victim who was tortured to death by an Indonesian soldier in Lereh district last Thursday evening.
Seems he was knocked around the head by the irritable soldier and then 'dunked under water' in a pond for 15 minutes.

[And here's the Free West Papua website
which carried the story translated into English.]

full of buzz

2007-10-08T23:17:00.000+01:00

Our Harvest Festival weekend was full of happy buzz.
It's great when lots of people in the community want to do stuff together ...

Be bad ~ boost your ratings

2007-09-25T11:11:00.001+01:00

Ironic, innit? 'Shock radio' was started some years back to attract audiences. Now, thanks to worthy journalists and reporters, serious radio and tv actively promote dangerous choices.

Yesterday's Top Story ~ the man jailed for being "the fastest driver ever caught in a routine speed check". (Sounds like a Guinness Book of Records challenge if ever there was one.) One BBC reporter went to a race track and did reports to camera from inside a car travelling at the same speed; another reporter used speeded up footage to give an impression of what it was like. They were obviously having great fun - demonstrating what dangerous driving looks and feels like - and encouraging us all to share in the thrill of speed in the process.

Could it have been nearer the point to attempt an interview with someone in a semi-vegetative state following a high-speed crash and tell us what the NHS bill is? Or (more tastefully) show images of dummies in safety lab simulations as they crash at high speed? Or something soft being thrown at a car?

Today there are news reports of a judge's comment on the "trash" tv programme that exists to "titillate bored members of the public with nothing better to do". Reporting on his comments is obviously intended to stop people watching ...

Sex programmes aren't so pervasive on tv at the moment, but there are plenty of documentary type programmes around giving lots of good ideas on how to get your thrills by damaging something or someone.

STOP PRESS: just spotted the feature on the BBC news website detailing all the speeders of recent years and giving details of the website where a motorcyclist offender (still at large) posted video of himself in action.

And if anyone actually reads this blog, then I've probably contributed to the whole problem myself.

recent quotes

2007-09-20T11:17:00.000+01:00

from a property website:

The village is situated in southern Perthshire,
approx 10 minds drive from the M90 Motorway

introduction to a conference session:
And we'll have some vinaigrettes of people's experiences
college Information Officer vacancy:

requiring ... a striong eye for detail

Acholi evening

2007-09-08T21:06:00.000+01:00

I went to Gulu this evening. Or rather Bishop Nelson (Bishop of the Diocese of Northern Uganda) and Mrs Brenda Onono Onweng, with Rev’d Willy Akena (Diocesan Information Officer/Bishop’s Chaplain), were welcomed in East Oxford by the Acholi community here. The company was radiant and it was good to be with them. Among the hosts were members of churches in Marston (St Michael's, the URC, and St Nicholas) who have formed a relationship with Dongpacu, the self-help women's group in Adyaka.

[Elaine Parry, Martin Carr (Liaison Officer for the Diocese of Northern Uganda), Bishop Nelson Onono Onweng,
Rev Willy Akena, Mrs Brenda Onono Oneng, Filda Abelkec - click on the picture for other pictures]

Bishop Nelson brought news from Northern Uganda. He's saying that after the twenty-one years of the nightmare atrocities visited on them by Joseph Kony and the LRA, modest signs of peace are coming upon the people. Things are still difficult and education still suffers in a big way. All in all Bishop Nelson suggests that it will be more like 42 years before people all return and they can say order is fully restored.

An Acholi choir came over to Oxford from London to join in the evening and Michael Ochem had quite a job persuading his energetic daughter Tadeas Lamar, that she isn't quite old enough to play the odungu.

gardening and knitting

2007-08-22T13:06:00.000+01:00

Finally got around to watching the rental DVD of The Constant Gardener on Saturday and it is indeed a disturbing story. I decided to start knitting little hats for Innocent Smoothies while I watched it.

Last year I bought several bottles with bobble hats as part of this Sainsbury's-sponsored fun way of supporting Age Concern, and it'll be fun to put some hats into the pile myself this year. I'm not expecting to make a big dent on the hatometer ~ perhaps I should recycle some of last year's woolly hats ...

build an altar to your experiences

2007-08-18T17:10:00.000+01:00

As I continue in this reflective stage and active limbo, having come out of a job I've done for a long time, the bonus is joyful time with friends, opportunities to read and learn a bit, and some de-cluttering of life and possessions.

I've just finished reading The Heavenly Man - the autobiographical account of the extraordinary life of Brother Yun, a Chinese Christian. As Mark Stibbe says on the cover, "this book is like reading a modern day version of the Book of Acts" ... full of gruelling horrors and awesome wonders.

It's extraordinary to read about the contrast of Brother Yun's gripping faith and his horrendous experiences; and to realise that his life's journey - so alien to mine - has been running in the same time span as mine, yet it feels like reading about another age and planet. Out of the rugged reality of his faith journey and now living in the West, Brother Yun makes a telling observation on how we live out our faith in our respective churches ...

"When revival came to believers in China, the result was thousands of evangelists being sent out to all corners of the nation, carrying fire from the altar of God with them. When God moves in the West, it seems you want to stop and enjoy his presence and blessings too long, and build an altar to your experiences."
The Heavenly Man p.296

lightness and heaviness

2007-07-23T09:48:00.000+01:00

Yesterday started with a call from a Ugandan friend in Kampala, phoning to check if all was ok because they've been getting news and pictures of the UK's serious floods, including places in Oxfordshire that are cut off. It seems surreal to be able to assure Sam that I'm ok, while at the same time knowing many thousands of people are far from ok, and some won't be ok for a long time; and knowing that the secondary school along the road has been made refuge for hundreds of travellers 'detrained' at Oxford Friday night; and that train lines north of Oxford are closed and buses are unpredictable, so though I have a lift there with friends, I won't be able to make my way back from the 60th wedding anniversary celebration I'm heading for in Coventry.

Next a call from my brother who, it turns out, is also going to the celebration and continues to Radley in the evening for the National Youth Orchestra summer school (including preparing for the BBC Proms) so can drop me back home on his way past.

On the way to Coventry in my friend's car we stop by the home of other friends - a West Papuan family - to drop off a token gift because dad Suriel and I share the same birthday. Two West Papuan families live locally and worship with our church and while the friendship is a joy, the West Papuan plight is painful.

Allen and Mary Edwards' Diamond Wedding Anniversary was a happy occasion of many reunions and gathering of at least 4 generations; thanks to their family.

My sister and brother had also plotted together and surprised me with a detour from the Edwards' party to my sister's house where her two adult children had also gathered, and we shared some bubbly to celebrate my birthday. Cheers all!

A happy day with some bittersweet dimensions and, thankfully, safe travelling.

how are you feeling?

2007-07-17T17:49:00.000+01:00

Want to know how people are feeling where you live? (or anywhere else?)

Internet research website wefeelfine lets you select country, town, weather conditions and several other criteria, and find out how folk are feeling.

(I'm a bit slow and it took me a while to realise that you click on a floating blob to reveal the whole feeling.)

happy spirituality

2007-07-17T17:03:00.000+01:00

It's not surprising people get tired of religious expression when it becomes too worthy.

Refreshing, fun stuff here and reflective stuff plus a wii thought-provoker here.
all from Bruce Stanley of

friends

2007-07-17T17:00:00.000+01:00

Vietnamese friend Hai made a visit at the weekend. She works with the British Red Cross in Sri Lanka, on continuing tsunami relief, and had to come through London for a couple of days. Coincidentally the work has involved the Maldives too (see previous post).

I was delighted she made the extra hop to Oxford while she was in the UK. We had a celebration lunch on the lawn with neighbours.

(Slightly grumpy looks in this shot, but we were happy - honest!)

Jamming for the Islands

2007-07-07T22:12:00.001+01:00

I've been watching a little bit of Live Earth at Wembley and New York - classy artists in not-quite-full venues - and then I saw Mohammed's superb pic from the Maldives (where they got a taste of THAT tsunami)

Jamming for the Islands 07.07.07
Originally uploaded by m o d e

around the world

2007-06-15T22:46:00.001+01:00

How delightful to have this wonderful possibility of sharing thoughts around the world. Two people in Pakistan - unknown to each other as far as I know - have contributed to this process in the last few days.

Last week I mentioned the moths that captivated me and I'd already put some of the pictures on Flickr.

Pakistani photographer from Lahore, Waheed Khalid, (look at some of his portraits) responded with a poem:

shama kehay perwanay se
peray chalaa ajaaaaaaaa
meri terha jal jaey ga
yahan nahi aaa
woh nahi sunta usko jal jana hota haiiiii
pyar dewana hota hai
mastana ho ta hai

I asked my friend and former colleague Paul Thaxter who'd worked in Pakistan if he could translate. (Though afterwards I thought it might be Hindi, not Urdu). It seems it's high Urdu and Paul in turn asked Pakistani friend Anila, who replied with this translation:

A flame asks the flying insect
(these flying insects appear after rain and
continuously fly around the lamp and at last it burns)
go away
you might be burned like me
don't come here.
But he doesn't listen, and burns
Love is crazy
Love is mad.

This is a film song named Kati - Patang
Music:- R D Burman
Lyrics:- Anand Bakshi
Singer:- Kishor Kumar

Oxford, Lahore, London, Karachi, Flickr, Moths - thanks all!

wave goodbye to Waterloo

2007-06-10T23:44:00.001+01:00

Jonny's posted a fun farewell photo of CMS folk here and a lovely tribute on his blog to friends leaving . Thanks for the grace prayer Jonny.

and then there's my silent movie - slide show really - of our last Waterloo drinks the following day in the Camel and Artichoke, Lower Marsh ...

It's a strange time, as a long and enriching phase of my life draws to a close. As CMS moves and restructures, and wonderful people leave, it feels disturbing. But at the same time as I'm leaving, valued friends are staying, new delightful people are joining - and the vitality of the community with its collective gifts, aspirations and anticipation encourages me too. My thanks to the people I've travelled with.

It's been a dream-like experience to be 'carried' on the love and prayer of faithful friends while the future remains unknown - and that includes old friends and colleagues who've phoned out of the blue to say "I've heard ..." and to ask how things are going.

Back in November as I began to realise what was coming, I felt moved to make the welcome message on my mobile a reminder to myself "the jar won't run out" (1 Kings 17.14). This promise was also in the bible readings in the Anglican church today, just two days before my CMS employment actually finishes.

captivated

2007-06-08T23:01:00.000+01:00

I've been captivated recently by Scarlet Tiger Moths. There was this one that turned up on my front doorstep on 27 May

and then there's been about one a day for the two weeks since. (The scarlet bit is the underwing, not visible here.)

2007-05-25T23:46:00.000+01:00

The evening tea tasting went well and was fun - more anon ...

from Starttheweek to Rocketboom

2007-04-29T17:48:00.000+01:00

Not sure how I got to this site (I think it was via a link in Starttheweek from Paul Bayes) but I enjoyed this 'Japanese Street Painters' piece and various others when I arrived at Rocketboom 'daily with Joanne'! Lots of catty typists posted there on Monday 9 April.

back from the heat

2007-04-18T16:58:00.000+01:00

The two weeks in Uganda were refreshing and far from dull, and the day after the wedding we were relaxing on the verandah of Sam and Abby's new home.

Over Easter weekend I had enjoyed a tranquil sunrise over Lake Victoria as the fishermen finished their night's labours

and there were warm reunions with many friends and their children ~ like the Atims ...

and the Owinos, for Sharon's birthday party

There were conversations throughout, at every level, about the threatened sell-off of part of Mabira (rain)Forest to a sugar corporation that wants more sugar cane production. At the top the government seems to agree the plan but it's opposed from many directions and a peaceful, legal demonstration was organised - but there were also riots, injury and deaths.

BBC News and the Ugandan newspaper "New Vision" online carry reports.

"The Monitor" doesn't seem to be online just now.

It's a messy, sorry, struggle at the moment while interest in money and power keeps the upper hand.

tropical wedding

2007-04-03T17:16:00.000+01:00

Just off to the wedding of long-standing Ugandan friend Sam, and recent colleague Abby. There'll be time to catch up with friends, experience Easter celebrations in Kampala, and help with wedding preparations.

And then the big day itself.

They're a great couple, both very gifted, and it seems Sam has always been good with children ...

thanks Enriqué

2007-04-03T16:09:00.000+01:00

Sorry if I haven't got the name right - but finally BonPrix connected me to head office customer services in France, and at last arrangements are being made to provide the long-awaited refund. Relief!

bad times with BonPrix

2007-04-03T11:42:00.000+01:00

I seem to be stuck with BonPrix. Anyone else bought from them?

Order clothes in January (for a wedding on 14 April) and pay online by Visa - the money left my Visa account on 23 January.

No clothes reached me by 22 February. They couldn't refund because "they had no way of knowing that I hadn't received the order". They found the order back in the warehouse and delivered 28 February.

Once delivered I sadly found many items didn't fit. I kept a suit, a bag, and a dress, and arranged to return the rest.

Waited in a whole day 2 March and no-one came. Phoned and was advised I could post them and get the cost refunded.

28 March no refund received yet. Phoned and explained I'm about to go on holiday and want the money back. Was advised it will be arranged by Monday 2 April.

3 April £19 refund appears in Visa account - out of £117. Phone again and I'm told they are paying the balance by cheque because I paid by cheque. Apparently it's true because their system says so. At the same moment I'm looking at my internet banking which tells me all the payment went from my Visa account. Their cheque will take another few days to reach me and then even more days to clear so No, I'm not willing to wait for the cheque to arrive and send it back to ask you to put it into my Visa account. Why don't I believe I'll get a happy outcome today?

[The recurring answers are "we can't do that because the head office is in France" and "well that's what the system tells me" and "it takes 48 hours to get something dealt with through head office".]

What I really really want is for BonPrix to take an honest look at what they're doing and do something better.

BonPrix - appalling service

mellow in Suffolk

2007-03-30T20:52:00.000+01:00

For five days over last weekend I was with my brother at his new home in Suffolk. Pluck the pheasant strolled in the garden; cock Au Vin raised his voice a couple of times each day (but not early in the morning!); and I heard Stu the muntjack calling at dusk. People came by to say welcome and to invite their new neighbours to various village activities and in between we worked very hard on preparing the lovely old Georgian building for its new contents.

Ballroom [week one] from front drive

The whole thing was hard work but a five-day tonic too, and it was exciting to join in the conversations about how the building might be restored more to its original character in due course. Lots of creative work still to be done. But I've heard this week that the old new house already feels entirely like home.

life this weekend

2007-03-19T08:23:00.000Z

couple I'm close to moved into the home they've longed for ..
friend's old frail mother died ..
teenager died on the street ..
garage cancelled arrangement for collecting car for service on Monday ..
ate with friends, laughing, sharing the story of St Patrick, making paper boats and sailing them on a miniature sea ..
neighbour very unwell with awful bronchial problems ..
friend distressingly poorly in psychiatric hospital ..
three teenage girls spoke in church to explain how they'd slept out in our churchyard to show concern for homeless people and raise awareness and money for the Gatehouse ..
couple I'm close to off to their holiday house for two weeks ..
hugged friend who wept at memory of lost daughter ..
removed monster ivy that's been destroying back garden wall ..
battled with vicious brambles ..
cleaned up smelly old offerings left around fence by neighbour's dog ..
found ivy interwoven with copper piping ..

wind and snow were forecast ..
hail and wind came, and sun shone for hours too ..
finished ivy removal and celebrated with coffee and Irish cream ..

Freedom Writers

2007-03-11T09:42:00.000Z

The story of Erin Gruwell was in the Evening Standard this last week. Her story and vision are inspiring. I missed the film of her story, Freedom Writers, showing in Oxford this week, but hope to see it before long.

into the glass

2007-02-25T13:03:00.000Z

My church Fellowship Group have courageously chosen to pilot a project I've been working at on and off over the last 6 months ~ making some group material for Lent.

The project was triggered by the radiant photograph Looking through a glass brightly posted by Ochileer on his Flickr pages last summer; an image which I (along with about 900 other people around the world) found captivating.

For me it led to reflection on various aspects of Christian spirituality and faith. Questions about how you see the world; how you regard creation; where your horizons are; how you respond to faith symbols; how you respond to the idea of new life in the way that Christ offers; and how you live joyfully. Even though the photographer has explained that he doesn't share my faith, he has very graciously allowed me to work with his image. I'm so grateful.

So, after a long gestation period, I finally got to the point in January of drawing it all together in a pack which I've just completed. We start on Tuesday. I wonder how it will go over the weeks.

when one door closes, so does the new one

2007-02-23T17:24:00.000Z

Thanks to Dave Hancock's workmanship, there's now a new door beautifully installed and the old 'holy' one is a thing of the past ...

Oh yes - and Emily phoned me this morning because it was raining and she thought it would be nice if I could go round for coffee. She lives next door with her parents and she's three (it was her dad who fixed the door when it was smashed). We had a happy coffee time.

biggest blogging country

2007-02-22T15:21:00.000Z

I liked this post about Iran. I stumbled across the author because, as a Flickrite, he invited CMS (with whom I'm involved) to add our Flickr photos of the reception in our new office building to a Flickr group he's started.

But Iran is far more significant. Thanks for the post.

The Queen of Narnia didn't show

2007-02-08T19:12:00.000Z

We gathered at St Julian's, Woking - a few church members, leaders, and CMS folk - to talk about how we change our own and others' mindset about our part in God's mission. We've been asking the question 'how do we play a meaningful part in the whole venture?' And 'how we do that without slipping into the trap of keeping control?'. The journey continues.

As promised, snow fell overnight. From the warmth and comfort of St Julian's it was lovely to look out on this ....

linguistic trick of huge importance

2007-02-03T23:16:00.000Z

Really good reflection by Richard Black, Environment Correspondent, on the BBC website today.

big turn-off ~ 1 February

2007-01-31T20:16:00.000Z

The Alliance for the Planet (a group of environmental associations) is calling on all citizens to create 5 minutes of electrical rest for the planet. People all over the world should turn off their lights and electrical appliances (including those on standby) on the first of February 2007, between 10.55 and 11am in British Columbia, 1.55pm and 2.00pm in New York, 18.55 for London, and 19.55 for Paris, Bruxelles and Italy.

Five minutes of electrical down time for the planet; doesn't not take long, costs nothing, and will show all political leaders that global warming is an issue important to us (voters).

1 February is the day when the new UN report on global climate change will come out in Paris.

Holy Ground in Oxford

2007-01-27T19:10:00.000Z

From Tuesday to Friday in Oxford you can experience Paul Hobb's beautiful and stirring art installation "Holy Ground". It's in Wesley Memorial Church in Oxford this week as part of the Chaplains' Mission to the University of Oxford 2007. (Mark Berry had a very fruitful weekend last March with Paul Hobb's installation in Telford shopping centre. See below.)

Originally uploaded by Mark Berry.

If you like to have your spiritual thoughts provoked, see if you can get to Wesley Memorial Church this week. Allow yourself thirty minutes at Holy Ground to soak it up.

Margot Hodson, Chaplain at Jesus, tells me "We are gathering round it for morning prayer. It should be open all through the day and then it will be open again at 10pm after the John Sentamu meetings."

The theme of the mission week is Jesus Christ Suffering and Glory - and the keynote speaker is The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu. (The theme doesn't really seem to go with the shoes [left] does it ...)

Blood Diamond

2007-01-25T21:21:00.000Z

Entertainment and a good cause

LOVE LiFE LiVE LENT

2007-01-21T16:49:00.000Z

This looks ace!

Last year I saw the booklets on this theme that were used in Birmingham Diocese (under John Sentamu before he became AB of York). I was impressed and yes - moved - by the ideas. (The booklets were given to me by David Fletcher when I visited the Lee Abbey Household Community in Aston.)

This is the direct link for LOVE LiFE LiVE LENT. Get texting!

Preaching - love it or hate it?

2007-01-21T16:12:00.000Z

The debate about sermons has spread beyond my original question about the wisdom of posting them on YouTube to reach young people. Do we love or hate sermons, and why? A quick read through Jonny Baker's chapter on preaching says very helpfully some challenging things for all 'sermon producers' - and consumers. (Preach it, Jonny!)

Jonny also points to some of Mike Riddell's writing on the topic, and here's a tiny sample from his book God's Home Page [p 122-3]:
The dominance of expositional and deductive preaching in the contemporary church calls for some alternatives, lest the faithful continue to suffer unnecessarily.
Is that a critique you'd recognise? Riddell declares that preaching the Gospel is too valuable not to be done well. As Jonny Baker reminds me in his hand grenade/fruitbowl chapter, Riddell says ‘The purpose of the sermon is to unleash the power of scripture in a way that leads to personal and corporate encounter with God.’ [p119 God’s Home Page]. And somehwere else he helpfully suggests that when you've got 'sermonizing', that's when you've got the wrong kind of preaching - the kind none of us wants whether churchgoers or not. The cultural mix is what can inhibit or enable the unleashing of the power.

We had a good sermon in our church this morning; the gifts our vicar Tony brings include a great skill in storytelling, and a reflective approach to applying Scripture in life.

comedy, entertainment, or pets?

2007-01-17T22:08:00.001Z

Watch out YouTube users .. something odd is happening.

One of my media-savvy friends, Liz Roberts, has alerted me to the report in Sunday's Telegraph that church leaders are planning to post videos of sermons online.

To hear that "The Archbishop of Canterbury is planning to use the site to broadcast his sermons in an attempt to make the Church more relevant to the internet generation" suggests to me that his advisers don't understand either 'relevance' or 'the internet generation'. Personally I appreciate Rowan Williams' deep, informed and reflective theology, but posting sermons on YouTube seems to me, in cultural senstivity terms, like building a large Victorian church in an Indian fishing village. Or have I missed the point about the genre?

A leading missiologist and practitioner of our time, Ryan Bolger, has research showing (no surprise to many) that people love Jesus, hate the church. And Stuart Murray-Williams identifies

Alarm that we are losing from our churches many former members who are not losing their faith but find church uninspiring, disempowering, crushing and dehumanising. In post-Christendom, institutional loyalty and inertia no longer prevents this haemorrhage of disillusioned Christians.

But it seems 'the church' is not able to hear its own voice. So now, one of the very features that people associate with the church negatively - the sermon - is coming to get them just where they thought they were safe ... in the YouTube playground.

18 months ago Ryan blogged about doing church for 'them'. The sermons-on-YouTube idea looks like doing it to them when they don't want you to.

A Lambeth Palace spokesman says of YouTube "It provides limitless access to what any minister has to say. You have to preach where people are listening." I want to edit that, and suggest that instead of preaching (modelling the old paradigm), you have to allow people to hear about dignity, faith, and wholeness of mind, body and spirit, in ways and languages they can respond to, not through models they have evidently rejected. I'm with Brian McLaren who says in his book More Ready than you Realize:

OUT :
Evangelism as sales pitch, conquest, warfare,
ultimatum, threat, proof, argument, entertainment,
show, monologue, as something you have to do

IN :
Disciple-making as conversation, friendship, influence,
invitation, companionship, challenge, opportunity,
conversation, dance, as something you get to do

Two questions remain for me:
to Lambeth ~ why should it be "what the minister has to say"?
and to anyone ~ do you post sermons under comedy, entertainment, or pets?

patchwork

2007-01-17T22:03:00.000Z

As I was working last night on possible dance motifs for the next Parish Nursing Ministries Symposium, there was a loud crashing noise and breaking glass.

Had a picture fallen off the wall? No - the sound of impact was too distinct - it was definitely the front door ...

.. an unexpected visitor had done a remodelling job.

The baseball bat (the likely cause of damage) sculpted a passable dove shape.

Thank God for the police who came round - though there was little they could do about catching anyone - and for my kind neighbour David, who gave me a large board to fill the gap and gave his time to fix it.

Glamorous it isn't ... But thanks David!

net search systems "broken"

2007-01-07T12:59:00.000Z

Seeing Jonny Baker's reference to TallSkinnyKiwi writing on Blogging tips for 2007, reminded me that I'd seen something interesting about search engine optimization in a recent BBC web news story.

In his blog Andrew (TallSkinnyKiwi) Jones says

God bless them all and deliver us from the monolithic power
that Google is coming to exert in this new Cyber-Babylon of ours

Maybe Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikimedia) has already stepped up to the line to provide that deliverance.

According to the BBC story, Jimmy Wales says existing search systems for the net are "broken" ~ broken because they lack freedom, community, accountability and transparency ...
At the moment the results returned to those using keywords on sites such as Google are generated by computers which analyse webpages to work out what they are about and how useful they are.

Webpage owners use all kinds of tricks to outsmart the computer indexing systems and ensure their pages appear high up in results - even if they are not relevant to particular keywords.

By contrast the relevance of results returned by the Search Wikia will be decided by the site's community of users. Those searching will also be able to edit the list of results they get.
In Jimmy's Search Wikia project, results generated will be decided and edited by humans.

behind the orchestra

2007-01-04T22:17:00.000Z

Sitting in amongst an orchestra as they perform music is a wonderful experience. This evening I enjoyed this privilege at the final rehearsal of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, to be performed this weekend by the National Youth Orchestra under guest conductor Richard Hickox. They're with Susan Bullock soprano, Philip Langridge tenor, Neal Davies baritone, the London Symphony Chorus and Tiffin Boys' Choir. Friday they are in St Paul's Cathedral, and Sunday they're at the Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

The first time I heard Britten's War Requiem was in Coventry Cathedral in 1962 - its premier. It had been commissioned by Coventry Cathedral - apt because of the wartime destruction of the original Coventry Cathedral and it was performed in the year of the new Cathedral's consecration. Much of the libretto comprises the powerful war poetry of Wilfred Owen. Britten conducted that first performance.

The joy this evening was to be among the people making the music - sensing their concentration, being stirred as bodies made ready to create the next flow of sound. I was able to be there because my brother is one of the NYO professors - and the New Year NYO course is in Radley College - and their full rehearsals today were in Oxfordshire County Music Service premises at Barton, just up the road from me.

The logistics at the end of researsal are impressive, getting scores of young musicians and their instruments from the rehearsal venue into their lorry, van and coaches, in the right sequence, so that tomorrow the harps and percussion can head off earlier for St Paul's to be set up first, and everyone and everything else to follow on slightly later.

And at 9.30pm, after a long day, the young musicians get to stack all the chairs before heading off to Radley. Not all glamour, but it's better than the trenches.

super-nurse Sue Evans ~ MBE

2007-01-02T21:15:00.000Z

I'm involved with Parish Nursing Ministries UK as a Trustee and it's great to hear that Sue Evans, Parish Nurse in Burwell (Cambs) has been made an MBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours List.

Cambridge Evening News Online reports ...

District nurse Sue Evans has been made an MBE - but says her job gives her all the rewards she needs.

Mrs Evans was named on the list in recognition of her services to healthcare and the community in Burwell.

She has been a district nurse in Burwell for 16 years, has set up a village help scheme and also serves as a volunteer nurse for the parish church.

She said: "I think the award is totally undeserved! It's a lovely job - we get our reward all the time when we are thanked by people. It wasn't something I was expecting when I went into nursing."
Congratulations Sue!

are we listening?

2007-01-01T23:32:00.000Z

This last year I've been working my way through all the teachings of Jesus [365 bite-size bits of pithy teaching]. Today's portion is words of the Spirit of Christ "If you have ears, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches" - and when you think about it there's little to suggest that we (the church) take this teaching very seriously.

I say this because I've just come across notes my mother made at a lecture in 1939. The lecture was "Christianity in War" given at Balliol College Hall in Oxford by Dr J. H. Oldham, a leading thinker, activist and author on ecumenism and mission.

In her musings, my mother outlines Oldham's three core points:

first that never before had any country of Christian Europe openly turned their back on Christianity – they might have failed to live up to the Christian ideal but had never rejected it; second that organized religion was failing to hold the young people of today; and thirdly that our crying need was a social and political philosophy – and if this wasn’t built up we might easily stray into ... mere disruption and decay. ... He said that this social philosophy could not be called Christian, as it would have to command the allegiance of the majority of people many of whom were not Christian, and so, while Christians should work to mould it to their pattern, they should be realists and not confound their absolute principles of a future order with the necessities of the present system.
In answer to a question on Christianity and politics he said that while every man should take his decisions as a Christian yet he had no right to assert that his was the Christian attitude for his grasp on "realities" might be different from the next man’s, who, also as a Christian, comes to another decision.

If in essence Oldham (not uniquely) was commenting two thirds of a century ago on some of the church's failures to model Christian life appropriately, there's generally not much to show now that Christians/the church listened at the time. At least the torch is being carried today by such as Brian McLaren; and in Grace Davie's Europe: The Exceptional Case; and in the diversity of constructively disturbing practitioners and writers of the emergent church.

What is the Spirit saying today - and are we listening and responding?

terrier engineer

2006-12-30T09:35:00.000Z

I've been feeling cossetted this week as BT has showered me with phone line engineers - one a day for 3 days - to cure the intermittent broadband fault.

Were they running an internal challenge to see (a) how long they could string the customer along without actually solving anything or (b) which of them could crack the mysterious broadband fault first? [Thank you Tom Allen, for the insights in your 23 December comment on getting broadband faults sorted.]

The Wednesday engineer did a thorough check on the internal line and connections and all checked out ok. He said I'd get a call to arrange another engineer visit to investigate underground (UG).

The Thursday engineer checked over what had been done and headed off to check the line between here and the exchange. Then he said it needed a UG engineer and a broadband engineer to work in tandem by isolating and testing sections of the line to find the fault, and I'd get a call to arrange the visit.

The Friday engineer went over with me all the checks, information and comments so far and was clearly frustrated by not being able to spot the solution. After 2 weeks of getting nowhere his attitude offered a glimmer of hope. He went off to see if he could do anything at the exchange ... he really didn't want this to go unsolved ...

Like everyone else in Beka's life, her partners find out that once Beka gets a case in her teeth, she hangs onto it like a terrier until it's been solved. [from Terrier by Beka Cooper]

Sometime later he called to say he'd altered something at the exchange - did I have broadband now? Well something had happened; the broadband light was coming on, but wasn't constant. The Friday engineer sound encouraged.

A few minutes later, after I'd left for my friends' house, a voicemail was left (in Tom Baker's voice) announcing that the fault had been repaired. And it has - inside two weeks!

Well done terrier engineer.

Canterbury Cathedral + time lag

2006-12-25T20:59:00.000Z

[broadband back on line for a few moments at last ...]

Christmas Eve? Well actually the ITV London programme about Canterbury Cathedral was transmitted from 1.10 on Christmas morning - and yes, I was still up watching it.

Focusing on Canterbury brought to life the reading I've been enjoying in the last few days from my mother's diary of the 1940s, including descriptions of Christmas 1944 in the environs of Canterbury Cathedral.

One thing I noticed about Christmas then is that there is more carol singing in the days after Christmas day - like the evening at my mother's place on "the Thursday after Christmas" -

"Alfred (Deller) was to provide the carollers and I the hearth and refreshments ...
"... we played games and finally charades, and a good time was had by all - there were ten of us in all and they didn't go home till past 1a.m."

- and there was a carol concert in the Cathedral on 4 January. Nowadays we do all the carols before 25 December!

The scene my mother describes at the turn of that year is shot through with national and personal issues. The Second World War is raging through its fifth year and there are references to war time duties like fire watch. But what's bothering my mother more immediately is the slowness of my father to make her a proposal of marriage, and the re-appearance in Canterbury of Lois Lang-Sims. My mother knows from mutual friends the Dellers that Lois and Joseph (my father) had been romantically linked.

Anyway, he finally proposed to my mother by letter (though they lived quite close to each other!) - a letter that was "shot through the letterbox" late in the evening of 4 January sixty-two years ago - 1945 - and she rushed round the next day and gave him a hug (my words ... and not quite à la Vicar of Dibley I think).

Lois seems to bear no grudge. In her book about Canterbury Cathedral (Cassell 1979) she includes more than one credit to my father's work:

"A few weeks after VE day ... the choir which had been trained single-handedly by Joseph Poole gave a lunch-hour recital at the National Gallery in London. It was spoken of by critics as being the finest Cathedral choir in England at that time ...
"At the outset of the war [when the choir school was evacuated to Cornwall] ... there remained half a dozen small boys and five adult lay-clerks ...
"It was providential for the Cathedral to have in its Precentor an outstanding musician, who took this apparently unpromising nucleus and built up from it, in the most difficult circumstances, the foundation of the Cathedral's post-war music." [p.64] ...

[Seems there's to be a television documentary sometime in the near future on Canterbury Cathedral, in which Lois Lang-Sims is one of the contributors.]

real Christmas flavour

2006-12-23T18:15:00.000Z

[At last! Wanted to post this yesterday and have been trying to get internet connection for 26 hours; so here it is at 23.40 on Christmas Eve, 24 December.]

It was a tonic talking to my sister this afternoon, to hear her say something to the effect that she's "icing the cake, bringing in the tree, getting down the lights (from the loft?), (and something else I've forgotten) - and all that before going for Christmas drinks with Noel". That sounds like Christmas!

My afternoon was about going back to the computer shop to return the modem I didn't need - but this evening I can enjoy finishing the gift wrapping and messages.

And then I read the letter from friends in Beirut, working with All Saints Cathedral, and I'm reminded that it's good to celebrate, but it's not only about whether I'm putting up decorations or stuffing turkey ...

It is difficult to get into the “Christmas spirit” – but in another way it evokes the chaos and uncertainty of that first Christmas! With the economy so badly affected, it is definitely not a consumerist Christmas, but a time to focus on the deeper comfort and Joy of the season: EMMANUEL, God with us!

and their letter finishes with
THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS

it's a miracle we're sane*

2006-12-22T18:57:00.000Z

When I got back from retreat last Sunday I found my broadband connection wasn't.

This started a daily (or twice or thrice daily) chat with BT Business Broadband helpdesk advisers, plus one or two detours to the 154 phoneline people.

The fault seems to be exactly what I experienced in April and May (yes, eight weeks) and I was hoping not to go through the struggles of last time when the fault was finally sorted on the fourth engineer visit to the house by adjusting some connection under the manhole near the house.

When you set out on the fault report odyssey, each individual on the phone is efficient and courteous - but the system .....

Anyway, after talking to about a dozen different BT adviser people over this week (and you need to allow 20-30 mins a pop), the engineer visited this morning and remembered that he'd been here in April. In fact it was he who improved the internal phone wiring near the computer. One of the difficulties is that I'm s-o-o-o-o far away from the exchange, at the edge of the viable extremity, that the connection is apparently always likely to be vulnerable and it would be more reliable if it was reduced to 0.5M instead of 1M. Anyway, he found that his modem worked 100% each time. So he was sure it must be a flaw in the old phone wiring in my house, or an unreliable modem.

I can't say it isn't - but the fact that broadband was working from June until 11 December, and this week has been working at night from about 10pm to at least 2am (quiet internet traffic times?), makes me wonder if we'll ever find the truth.

What does seem true, at least to me, is that the customer service systems in place, plus the fact that there are 3 separate companies involved, will inevitably ware the average person's nerves to a frazzle. So then it's an almighty challenge to be civil to the telephone helpdesk people who have to follow strict procedures, and are not able to change how it goes even if they want to. Do they get emotionally brutalised by emotionally exasperated customers?

(By the way, if you live in Newport Gwent and want a job, I see BT's advertising for helpdesk advisers for 'one of the world's leading communication providers'. I hope the agency name "Gumtree" isn't significant!)

I hope helpdesk advisers, with their thankless responsibility, enjoy their well-deserved and probably brief Christmas break.

[* I realise my friends might want to take issue over my claim to be sane in the first place]

action at paul and barny's

2006-12-21T21:29:00.000Z

When friend Colin dropped by yesterday after an appointment in Oxford, he told me about the enthusiasm and dynamism in his church in Birmingham (Oldbury) that's being expressed through a shared blog. The church is Paul and Barny's, and they've got an all-age common cause - to take action against modern day slavery and the trafficking of human beings for exploitation. So their blog is called stop the traffik ~ set the captives free, and it seems to act as their meeting place and joint notebook for getting things to happen. I think I'll be dropping into the blog now and again to see how it all goes (and if there's some action I want to join in).

a nice day out

2006-12-20T09:20:00.000Z

Joined friend Mark for lunch in Guildford yesterday. Is it always true that when restaurant food portions get smaller, the size of the plates and the prices get bigger? It was quality though, and a lovely atmosphere. Thanks Mark.

Mark is Communications Director for Guildford Diocese, and back in their office I caught up briefly with John Gooding and fellow Old Elm, Bonnie Appleton, in the Mission, Evangelism and Parish Development team (snappy title). Since leaving Elmhurst Bonnie was also chaplain for the school for a while. We agreed that the nativity play written in the 40s by the founding principle, Helen Mortimer – that we all performed every Christmas term while Bonnie and I were at the school – gave us a particularly good heritage in our Christian faith. In spite of the old language of the title, “Ye serve the Lord” is a robust presentation of humanity’s relationship with God and our responsibilities to each other. It was revived last year by another Old Elm now working at St George's School, Windsor, and I took a trip out from Burford one day last week to see it presented by the school in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. I preferred the original sound of piano rather than organ accompaniment - but the performance and singing were excellent, and the simple power of the presentation got to me as much as ever.

It’s great to enjoy British road systems when they’re running well, as they were on my route yesterday. And coming home, the winter afternoon sky was breathtakingly beautiful, with chiffon effects of orange through turquoise, pink with grey, blue and purple, and flowing patches of white or grey mist and fog. It seemed such a privilege to be travelling freely like this, and witnessing the dusk spectacle coming on. From the M40 cutting on the Chiltern ridge the vale of Aylesbury sat blanketed in plump mist populated by dark tree tops, and to the south west the emissions of Didcot power station’s cooling towers formed big grey-purple shapes rising from the white blanket.
Something like this sky near Amsterdam

Originally uploaded by Benjamin Rossen.

or Norwich

Originally uploaded by shashamane.

or Chesterfield

Originally uploaded by glowingtones.

I couldn’t stop on the motorway to catch the moments, and hoped Algo was out there somewhere plying his photographic genius …

one of Algo's from last autumn
Originally uploaded by algo.

not going to win this thing ...

2006-12-19T00:04:00.000Z

not one kiss ... and Bekibutton's notched up eighty-eight!

Sorry I'm not doing well here on this Innocent! (but I have bought lots of bottles with hats to give colleagues that special pre-Christmas splash of Innocent fruity cheer.)

into the silent land [with thankfulness]

2006-12-18T23:04:00.000Z

There were two books that contributed significantly to my time at Burford last week. One was being read at meal times (lunch and supper)and it's Into the Silent Land: the practice of contemplation by Martin Laird. He's from Villanova University, PA. Laird describes how we run commentaries in our head on our issues and anxieties, or "play videos" on them, thereby building them up instead of meeting the issue/s with God silence. He emphasises that to learn the skill of contemplation is not a quick fix and there are dangers in doing a synthetic job if you don't grow into the process fully. We need to learn how to solve what he calls the "riddles" to allow us to go through each of the three doorways or levels of contemplation. The descriptions, advice and examples in the book pressed lots of helpful buttons for me. (It evidently did the same for others, because the Priory's supply of the book had already sold out before I got there.)

Described as a 'wise and compelling' book (by Dr Douglas Burton-Christie of Loyola Marymount University) I see Desmond Tutu and Rowan Williams have appreciated it too ...

This book is different. There are plenty of books on contemplation that feel rather tired--either wordy and labored or unhelpfully smooth and idealistic. But this is sharp, deep, with no cliches, no psychobabble and no short cuts. Its honesty is bracing, its vision utterly clear; it is a rare treasure.
Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury

Often they say 'you learn how to swim by swimming' but a good coach or swimming manual is essential. Equally, we could say 'you learn how to be contemplative by contemplating' and a good guide or mentor is necessary. Into the Silent Land is just that. I tried it and it works. Try it.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

[Oxford University Press, USA]

The other book was given to me recently by a friend - I'm grateful to her, and very glad I decided to have it with me last week. It's How to Keep a Spiritual Journal: a guide to journal keeping for inner growth and personal discovery by Ron Klug. There's heaps of practical advice and suggestions in it - too much to take in all at once - but it's written in a clear and helpful way and in among the variety of spiritual exercises there's one that's proving particularly helpful to me right now.

If you're interested in spiritual journalling, the London-based Infed (informal education) site has a page on it, using Klug among other references to help you do it.

detox of body, mind, spirit

2006-12-17T21:20:00.000Z

Just under a week at Burford Priory , and it's made all the difference to how I feel. Times of liturgy in the chapel, time to read, sleep, reflect, take photos, and times of conversation with fellow pilgrims. Oh - and good, simple food including home-grown fruit.

Blessing & tonic.

retreat and refresh

2006-12-12T14:39:00.000Z

Back soon

lighting up

2006-12-05T22:06:00.000Z

Here's another local display that I missed last night.
The reindeers' heads move, and there's a flashing signpost in the corner to the North Pole.
Putting this up was a weekend job for the family plus brothers and sisters in law.

(Is that Santa in the living room ...?)

which light of the world?

2006-12-05T07:42:00.002Z

The first Christmas light displays in my 'hood
(sorry about poor photo quality - done without tripod)...

What about the electricity bill? and global warming?

be ready

2006-12-04T22:35:00.000Z

Worried about getting flu? How to get prepared for a flu pandemic.

comfort & joy?

2006-12-03T14:46:00.000Z

We had a happy and varied worship time at St Nicholas this morning, including a test to see how many ads we recognise from their slogans, checking out what we really think is important.

That segued into a song, and I was tickled to realise that we were singing "Crackers and Turkey" - better known to me as "Somebody's Birthday" which was the title song of a four-track Christmas cassette first made by the Scottish singer/songwriter Ian White in 1983 or 84. The songs are

~ It's Somebody's Birthday
~ Joyful News
~ Would you like to hold a baby?
~ Merry Christmas to you

You can download a free pdf file of each of these songs from the Ready & Willing - Children's Collection page of Ian's website, LittleMistyMusic (where you can also buy the music CD of the Children's Collection - a double album)

Ian made the original cassette with a secondary school - somewhere in the Portlethen area I think (Ian, if you see this, please correct me if I'm wrong!) - and I gave it its first radio broadcast airing on NorthSound Radio that Christmas. Then around 1987 Ian and I collaborated in a NorthSound Radio Christmas concert in the Music Hall in Aberdeen. In among readings, stories, and popular carols, the songs from the early cassette were presented by children from four local schools that Ian had worked with specially for the concert. It was a memorable evening, not least for the fact that as mc I had to make up a story about the real live lambs in the foyer escaping from their pen. Well, you have to cover technical glitches somehow without destroying the atmosphere!

Flying a flag
But in our church this morning, in the midst of all our anticipation and preparation for the Christmas festival, we were also reminded of the price paid by some today for their freedom. We have a West Papuan family among us, and they carry in their hearts the pain of knowing that fellow countrymen and women are suffering for their nationhood:

On 1st December 2004, two West Papuan men were arrested for the 'crime' of publicly raising their national flag, the Morning Star.

Filep Karma and Yusak Pakage were tried in May 2005, on charges of treason and expressing hostility towards the state, and handed down prison sentences of 15 and 10 years respectively.

Jailing people for raising a flag is unjust and unacceptable. Filep and Yusak are prisoners of conscience, and the Free West Papua Campaign is calling for their immediate and unconditional release.

We were asked to help by the simple means of signing a postcard to go to the Indonesian Ambassador. Amnesty International has recognised the two as prisoners of conscience, and the postcard information is available from the Oxford-based Free West Papua campaign site.

Perhaps we can contribute to someone else's comfort and joy?

first Sunday in Advent

2006-12-03T01:35:00.000Z

Some words of Jesus to mull over ...

The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. [John 16:27]

All age worship today (first Sunday of the month) in our church in Marston.

Tony our Vicar blogs at Storyteller's World.

December begins

2006-12-02T20:46:00.000Z

December 2006 begins with sunshine, rain, floods, storm winds, leaves on the trees, leaves off the trees, car being repaired (nice car in its place), wonderful developments at work, turmoil at work ... a load of paradoxes.

There have been some good high points over the last seven days, particularly the reflective time about mission community with Andrew Jones and Jim Barker, Paul and Thaya Ashman (with William!), and Diana and John Thomas last Saturday; the visit to Burford Priory on Sunday; worship with hOME on Sunday evening; then two more days of reflection during the week with colleagues and local people interested in mission community.

We enjoyed good conversation over some meals together. We were joined by Ian Adam of MayBe, Matt Rees and Jim Barker of hOME, who caught up with Jonny Baker to talk about possibly organising Oxford Blahs sometime soon.

Yesterday, after a planning meeting with Parish Nursing Minstries UK about the 2007 symposium at Hothorpe Hall, I stopped off at Leamington Spa to enjoy an Italian lunchtime treat with my sister, her son and husband. Casa Valle has a lovely atmosphere, a very fair set lunch price, and they accommodate individual menu variations with warmth and willingness.

Yesterday evening I went along to the Wycliffe Hall carol Service at St Andrew's Church in Oxford - it was a very moving celebration weaving in music from different centuries, and with a powerful presentation by Dr Krish Kandiah of the reason for Christ's birth, and of ways of seeing Jesus through the eyes of different ages and different cultures.

My friend Jenny Ottewell has sent her Advent activity sheet with a simple drawing for colouring in. Designed to help "reflect on how God's Word speaks to us as we travel through our lives", each day there's a verse, an invitation to reflection or prayer, and a feature to colour. It can be mentally and spiritually productive to do this as you reflect on the bible verses and their relevance to life - it's the right-brain/left-brain stuff (which I first came across in 1990 when I read Walter Wink's "Transforming Bible Study".

This morning the postman delivered my kissing kit from Innocent Smoothies.
(I think Nele Schulze is well on her way to winning the game) ...