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Move slowly

the early bird
the snowdrop
the first light of the day

the baker's van
the street lights going off
the word caught from anothers passing conversation

the shadow passing a window
the heat on the pavement
the beer can in the hedge

all have been places
where my world has been given a gift
where a story has taken shape
about wonder
or grace
or life

and perhaps if I moved a little more slowly
more often
with more time to travel
and less time to worry about arrival
I'd recognise each
as an altar in the world*

 

*This is the title of a book by Barbara Brown Taylor and on which this thought is based.

The final(ish) frontier

I spent 5 minutes scanning through the headlines of other places in the world other than UK/US/Europe tonight (as you do) seeing what's making news elsewhere which is always interesting: stories still going on that have long since left our screens such at the epidemic in Haiti which is going to be much worse than originally thought , or anti-government protests in Yemen continuing like Bahrain.

Another caught my eye from Nigeria where their space programme is being expanded. Yep, you heard me right. I never knew they had one or thought they ought to have one (how western in that?). And immediately I can hear people saying they should spend the 50million on food and education. I understand that.

But there is a point here about what a space programme actually does for a country and it is what we did during the industrial revolution here where people were hungry but millions was invested in technology. It increases the capacity of the country to earn money and benefits the kind of people who will benefit the country's economy and the broader society.

The Director General of Nigeria's Space Agency, Dr Seidu Mohammed says on a BBC website that it is never meant to be about landing people on the moon but solve problems at home in agriculture, environment, development.

I get that. Britain's industrial revolution did exactly that (well it didn't do much for the environment) but while there were a lot of poor people money was poured into the latest technology which brought the country up into the hugely powerful economy it is today.

It's a point of view I hadn't thought about before. Still wondering about it. What about you?

A little to the left

Who cares about the wonder of the world after Japan's earthquake? The images of the tsunami devastation leaves you speechless.

But also the sheer size of what happened also leaves you with few words to say. Japan moved 4 metres to the west, that's 13 feet.

Sat Nav is now going to have to be recalculated because of that.

The earth was shifted on it's axis by about 13 cm (more than 6 inches) and the ocean depth changed by about 1 metre (3 feet).

I've been reading a book about finding places of depth/God/meaning in the world and it comments that we are so busy thinking about where we've come from and also where we are going we have no time to think about where we actually are now. It takes a slower pace to find where we are.

The movement of Japan just makes you pause a bit in our fast living to reflect a moment on the greater powers and bigger picture: to notice those things bigger than ourselves. The size of the shift of the world's plates was enormous but still slow compared to us. Lent: slow down to see what is really big and happening around us, for us, because of us.

Chocolate Teapots (20th March 2011)

Genesis 12:1-4a

It is interesting that Abraham has to start a nation somewhere other than where he was. Ur and Haran and half the places he settled in (for a breather) were just not right. This nation building thing comes in a place unknown. There seems to be something about changing the scenary before a great community can be built.

Is that because we hang on to things too readily? Do we live always within the dreams of the generation before us? Do we lack imagination when the canvas isn't blank but filled with the ideas and suggestions of what is there already? Do we fail to dare to trust oursevles when all the home comforts are still there? These are faith questions and in truth, I don't know if the answers is 'Yes' or 'No' to any of them and if they are 'yes' why does that matter, and if 'no' what difference does it make?

Could it be more about finding places to grow in faith where we aren't influenced by things that make us settle down unchallenged?

Could it be about trusting faith as an adventure rather than relying on what is all too familiar for us which kind of ruins the idea of what an adventure is?

Could it be about going to the edge of things to find out how much we really trust what we believe, which can't be done with all those safety nets that make up the centre ground?

Is it about stopping asking questions for just a minute and trusting the journey?

Perhaps church ought to let us off worship for the whole of Lent and put us out there only allowed to retun on Easter Day after we've had to survive on faith and dreams and hope long the way: those gifts alone through which we can recognise and grasp resurrection when it comes.

Because

Here's the entire spoken liturgy of our creative communion tonight. The rest is music and action. These words are the invitation and thanksgiving and epiclesis and fractionand all the other big words we use without knowing what they really are and what happens when we don't use them. May heaven fall down. The crack will let the light through (as Leonard Cohen suggests).

Because we can
and others can’t
Because we need to
and others don't
Because we are here
and others aren’t
Because we thirst
and others don’t
Because we are hungry
and others aren’t
Because we are invited
and others don’t know
Because we know
and others don’t
Because we hope
and others have forgotten
Because we see
and others can’t
Because we seek
and others haven’t
Because we want to
and other don’t
Because we hear
what others haven’t heard
Because
Just because
Because this is Jesus
and no other
And because without this
we aren’t

Say yes say no

A bowl of apples where one is removed at the beginning of each stanza and placed by the cross at the end of the stanza. This is very close to an idea from a Wild Goose Resource Group liturgy in 'Stages on the way' but adapted for the season and our particular place.


Lord, help us say no
when the world speak about building up investments
in the things of the world
and you want us to invest our selves
in the ways of heaven

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you


Lord, help us say no
to what the world tells us we need
in the accumulation of stuff
when you want us to let go the stuff
and rely on you instead

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you

Lord, help us say no
to the quick fix and ready made answer
that simply patches the cracks
and puts what is out of sight out of mind
when you long for us to explore further
the questions

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you


Lord help us say no
to throwing money at every problem
of feeding the hungry with a direct debt
rather than live in a more equal relationship
with those who are hungry in the world

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you


Lord help us say no
to the easy way the world wants
that involves no pain or hardship
when you call us to carry crosses
and trust the love that bears all

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you


Lord help us say no
to the guilt that shuts us down
that we hold on to for fear of what he world things
when you ask us to confess to you
for there is no fear in your unconditional grace

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you

Lord help us say no
to a faith that speaks empty words
and is borne by hollow actions
when we know of a word
that brings life and calls for just actions

Lord, help us say no to the world
and yes to you

 

 

Creation/Lent

when the world is no longer a paradise
and creation shows its power over us still
and we are brought down to size on this lonely planet of ours

we worship

when the way is more barren than beautiful
when the path is more a climb than a stroll
when the desert expands and the horizon stretches

we worship

we worship
because we can
we worship
because we hope
we worship
because we know our vulnerability

when things shift
and we need to hold on
we worship
it is the only strength we have for the journey

welcome to Lent

Purple/Pruple

Regardless of how you spell it, it is a wonderful colour.

This is Kielder Water in Northumberland which is nearly Sotland and once was... Photo is taken by Tom who has that magic lens.

Contemporary Communion

Just a wee reminder that we have our contemporary communion at 6.30 on Sunday evening. Living in the cho of lent. Pruple seems to cover everything at the moment: a state of waiting and longing as well as giving of ourselves.

Half an hour to break all the rules about bread and wine that the church has taken tewo millennia to build up.

Soundscape

Thinking about a Lenten soundscape. We'd done images and stuff like that and these are always good, but I wondered about a soundscape that may include music, sounds, spoken words, headlines, quotes etc that could shape our journey through Lent.

We head towards Sunday thinking abot the Garden of Eden and how we are no longer there. So are there any thoughts about what soulds, music and words would lead us there...