for all you thomas merton fans, check out this website.
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Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Monday, March 27, 2006
Sunday, March 26, 2006
consolation in the cross
the picture comes from here...
the following prayer is from the sacred space website...
You tell me to carry my cross, Lord. You are not telling me to go out looking for the cross, in practices or penances. Rather I find it under my nose. Every encounter that costs me, that rubs off my ego, is part of your plan for me. I start with my own body and heart. The aches and limitations of my limbs, my awkwardness and shyness, are part of my cross. I often wish I was different, but this is me, and I will learn to love me as you do. When I can’t think of anything to say in company, or when I think of the wrong things, I’m carrying my cross.
What consoles me is that you like my company. You can put up with my silences. You accept the grumpy mutterings that at times are the closest I come to conversation. I don’t always feel good about myself. There are moments when, like Groucho Marx, I would not want to belong to any club that was ready to accept me as a member. You not merely accept me, but make me feel I belong, a first-born child in whom you delight.
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simple generous action
'Did you know that 95% of the energy used by the UK's mobile phone chargers is wasted energy? Only 5% is actually used to charge phones, the rest is used when the charger is plugged into the wall but not switched off at the socket. That's 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions that could be avoided if we all just unplugged our chargers after use....'
thanks to the crew at generous for this.
thanks to the crew at generous for this.
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Friday, March 24, 2006
ideas are bullet-proof
so says 'v', in the movie, 'v is for vendetta'. i took my son to see it today, and we really enjoyed it. the wachowski brothers wrote and produced it, using the assistant director of 'the matrix' movies as director, and hugo weaving (smith, in the matrix movies) as the anti-hero, v.
i love these kinds of movies, especially at the big screen where you get big picture, and really big sound, and at the matinees like today, about 4 other people in the cinema.
the movie is set in a future dystopian english setting that is under a fascist-religious state government. there are references to the reason for this state of affairs, notably the american/british foray into iraq, which incidentally, has caused quite a commotion over the pond with our american brothers and sisters. (see michael medved for instance). the guardian simply thinks it weak.
but there's another blogger, internetmonk, with an interesting review here. and finally, here's another couple, one from the imbd website, and another from roger ebert's website.
some of the criticism is quite valid i think, and of course critics are paid to be critical, but in spite of it, i still liked it. worth going to see i reckon.
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transformation
some time ago, i was reading something rowan williams had written about richard hooker, whom rowan calls a 'contemplative pragmatist'. that's a phrase that resonates with me, though i am under no illusions about my tiny-ness in comparison to their stature.
there was a part in his writings where rowan was reflecting on hooker's thoughts on the eucharist. he says that, '...the purpose of the eucharist is the transformation of us, not the bread and wine. receive the gifts of divine action and the effects of divine action will follow.' this is not about transubstantiation where the elements are said to become the actual body and blood of christ, but its about the divine gift of the son of god becoming fully material, and about transforming that material to become the image of god.
therefore, partaking in the eucharist elements is partaking in the transformative power of god's spirit, allowing his spirit to transform us, and using our lives to be transformative agents in the world god loves.
so i wonder then, about the words that we use at the administration of the bread and wine to believers. those words are usually, 'the body/blood of christ keep you in eternal life.' bearing in mind what i've just said, i think those words are inadequate. i would suggest something more along the lines of, 'the body/blood of christ transform you into his likeness.' that phrase has the feel of moving away from a personal and private pietism that is disengaged from the transforming power of god's spirit that has as its end a cosy life in eternity.
but my suggestion has a real sense of of the power of god transforming a life, and that that life is so like jesus' life that it moves us into real engagement with god, each other, and the wider world. and when i've used those words, some folks have commented to me about how much more they mean to them.
celebrating the eucharist is a time of and for, transformation.
there was a part in his writings where rowan was reflecting on hooker's thoughts on the eucharist. he says that, '...the purpose of the eucharist is the transformation of us, not the bread and wine. receive the gifts of divine action and the effects of divine action will follow.' this is not about transubstantiation where the elements are said to become the actual body and blood of christ, but its about the divine gift of the son of god becoming fully material, and about transforming that material to become the image of god.
therefore, partaking in the eucharist elements is partaking in the transformative power of god's spirit, allowing his spirit to transform us, and using our lives to be transformative agents in the world god loves.
so i wonder then, about the words that we use at the administration of the bread and wine to believers. those words are usually, 'the body/blood of christ keep you in eternal life.' bearing in mind what i've just said, i think those words are inadequate. i would suggest something more along the lines of, 'the body/blood of christ transform you into his likeness.' that phrase has the feel of moving away from a personal and private pietism that is disengaged from the transforming power of god's spirit that has as its end a cosy life in eternity.
but my suggestion has a real sense of of the power of god transforming a life, and that that life is so like jesus' life that it moves us into real engagement with god, each other, and the wider world. and when i've used those words, some folks have commented to me about how much more they mean to them.
celebrating the eucharist is a time of and for, transformation.
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Tuesday, March 21, 2006
world water day
today is world water day. check the website here.
some people say the next world war will be fought over water. big companies like coca-cola do all they can to buy the rights for bottled water brands. more than 1 billion people world wide lack access to safe drinking water.
its so difficult for us in countries like the uk to understand that 20% of the world's population struggle to get a drink of water, let alone a drink of clean water. and its amazing to think that there are enormous numbers of children in this country who hardly drink water at all, favouring instead fizzy drinks and flavoured concoctions.
and now, with the prospect of water shortages in this country due to 2 very dry winters, we will have to start living with the idea that there will be hose-pipe bans, and possibly even stand-pipe restrictions. maybe we will start to see the attitudes of indulgence and waste that we unconsciously have are not so normal for everyone in the world after all.
please do something today - visit the world water day website for ideas - to mark the day and stand in solidarity with 1 billiion of our brothers and sisters who will suffer water shortage today.
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new music
just got my new cds in the post.
the fabulous new talent, sophie solomon, and her inspirational album 'poison sweet madeira'. check the amazon site and 'fly' for reviews. anyway, i love it - gets the blood running in the drab cold of the first freezing day of spring in london.
the other one is the fabulous old talent, david gilmour, with his lovely latest album, 'on an island'. the old geezer's tours are booked solid, and no wonder, after listening to this. with some other old geezers like david crosby and graham nash on vocals, and jools holland making an appearance on joanna, this is an antidote to the whirling carnival of sophie solomon.
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personal dna
i've just done an online personality test here, and this is what my personal dna looks like, apparently!
according to the test, i come out as a 'concerned inventor'. some of the comments it makes are quite correct i think, though the title of concerned inventor is a bit off. concerned, yes. inventive - not so sure about that....
any thoughts?
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Friday, March 17, 2006
struggling with cyberspace
this week have been struggling to either get time, or inspiration to blog....
its been a mixed week of meetings, preparations, and funerals. and i've noticed that i just can't get enthused to read this week. i want to be outside doing physical activity, stretching the old bod, as it feels like its starting to creak from lack of work.
roll on spring and summer methinks!
its been a mixed week of meetings, preparations, and funerals. and i've noticed that i just can't get enthused to read this week. i want to be outside doing physical activity, stretching the old bod, as it feels like its starting to creak from lack of work.
roll on spring and summer methinks!
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
sailing in the snow
had a fabulous weekend sailing at fellowship afloat. its a great sailing centre situated at tollesbury, on the blackwater estuary, in essex.
i was there for the shakedown weekend to deliver the spiritual program that i based around the question, 'better safe than sorry?' it was linked to the biblical story of peter walking on the water when jesus called him to come. you can listen to the talks by entering the volzone link on their website.
fellowship afloat have been going for about 30 odd years, and the shakedown weekend is a major part of their investment in the volunteers who are absolutely necessary for the successful operation of their sailing centre. they have been very succesful in developing a large and continually developing group of people with an age range of around 15 - 65. that investment comes in various forms like training through offering rya courses that give volunteers a discounted rate for obtaining sailing qualifications, developing and challenging spirituality, offering opportunities for overseas trips of service to poor communities, helping people develop real and lasting friendships.
and this weekend was a fabulous part of that on-going story of doing something worthwhile in a lovely little part of the world.
and man it was cold! on saturday we were sailing in snow, very cold air temperature with a windchill factor thrown in.
these photos were taken at the end of the day, but unfortunately you can't see the snow flakes floating around.
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Friday, March 10, 2006
Ignatius: “Friends in the Lord: The Tension between Companionship and Mission”, Part 3
Ignatius' idea of ‘maintaining union of hearts through regular correspondence has a feel that is so different to today: the speed and volume of communications through electronic means can lead to hurried, unthoughtful responses that become unworthy of creating a substantial body of work. I’m aware that I create those kinds of responses myself. I recall Archbishop Rowan Williams saying how he dislikes email because it tends to require an immediate response rather than a considered one.
I suspect that part of my desire for cathedral life has to do with being part of a community of people who have the time to get to know one another and who engage with mission in the world. It’s the call of the ‘missionary monk’ that I’ve often said holds a fascination for me. Being a community of friends who love one another, worship God together, and work in the world together in God’s name. I think I’d like that.
I suspect that part of my desire for cathedral life has to do with being part of a community of people who have the time to get to know one another and who engage with mission in the world. It’s the call of the ‘missionary monk’ that I’ve often said holds a fascination for me. Being a community of friends who love one another, worship God together, and work in the world together in God’s name. I think I’d like that.
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Thursday, March 09, 2006
U2 in pain
the final leg of the vertigo '06 tour has been cancelled, due to the illness of an immediate family member of the band. this will affect new zealand, australia, japan, and hawaii.
see the announcement at U2's website.
add them to the rest of the people you pray for this lent...
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Ignatius: “Friends in the Lord: The Tension between Companionship and Mission”, Part 2
There is a natural tendency to protect oneself from the pain of separation from a loved one, and so the thought of having to lose friends when sent on mission can result in superficial friendships that avoid any real intimacy and love. Or of course, the opposite can also be the case – mission is foregone for the sake of friendship.
I think I gave myself pretty well to the friends I’ve had, and haven’t allowed myself to hold back because of the thought of moving on again. But I’m a little rankled, because I’m such a poor correspondent. And my friends aren’t that great at correspondence either, so the friendships don’t continue over any physical distance. This fact would not please Ignatius. He insisted on ‘maintaining union of hearts through regular correspondence’, and because of that, the Jesuits left an enormous literary body of work in their wake.
I think I gave myself pretty well to the friends I’ve had, and haven’t allowed myself to hold back because of the thought of moving on again. But I’m a little rankled, because I’m such a poor correspondent. And my friends aren’t that great at correspondence either, so the friendships don’t continue over any physical distance. This fact would not please Ignatius. He insisted on ‘maintaining union of hearts through regular correspondence’, and because of that, the Jesuits left an enormous literary body of work in their wake.
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Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Ignatius: “Friends in the Lord: The Tension between Companionship and Mission”, Part 1
The title is apt, and produces resonances in me. And I think the biggest resonance is in my desire for companionship/friendship in mission.
I have experienced it in the past, e.g., with the lads in Christian Surfers in Christchurch, NZ; with Kelvin Wright at All Saints, Sumner, NZ; and with Woody, Dave, Cath, Sandy in the Schools Team in Oz; and then with Bill and Eve at the Café in Custom House, London. For a time, with all of those, there was a degree of intimacy of companionship in the context of mission.
But it was only for a relatively short time. I wish for a longer time.
Ignatius encouraged his Jesuits to have close friendships, to be loyal companions, and to be intimate in the depth of their conversations. But he also required that, should mission demand it, they were not to allow their friendships to stand in the way of mission. This is where the tension lies between companionship and mission.
I have experienced it in the past, e.g., with the lads in Christian Surfers in Christchurch, NZ; with Kelvin Wright at All Saints, Sumner, NZ; and with Woody, Dave, Cath, Sandy in the Schools Team in Oz; and then with Bill and Eve at the Café in Custom House, London. For a time, with all of those, there was a degree of intimacy of companionship in the context of mission.
But it was only for a relatively short time. I wish for a longer time.
Ignatius encouraged his Jesuits to have close friendships, to be loyal companions, and to be intimate in the depth of their conversations. But he also required that, should mission demand it, they were not to allow their friendships to stand in the way of mission. This is where the tension lies between companionship and mission.
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Tuesday, March 07, 2006
vaccinations
had some of my vaccinations today in preparation for kenya trip - typhoid and hepatitis a.
not feeling real good already....hope it doesn't last long.
pray-as-you-go have got up and gone!
yep, they've moved address - just slightly.
its now http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/
its now http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/
Saturday, March 04, 2006
God is the friend of silence
below is a piece from mother teresa's book, 'a simple path'. it's a fabulous little book from a beautiful woman who taught the world something of the love of god and what that actually looks like in daily life. here's the piece:
We must all take the time to be silent and to contemplate, especially those who live in big cities like London and New York, where everything moves so fast....I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence - we need to listen to God because its not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul - as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul and it brings you closer to God.
We must all take the time to be silent and to contemplate, especially those who live in big cities like London and New York, where everything moves so fast....I always begin my prayer in silence, for it is in the silence of the heart that God speaks. God is the friend of silence - we need to listen to God because its not what we say but what He says to us and through us that matters. Prayer feeds the soul - as blood is to the body, prayer is to the soul and it brings you closer to God.
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Friday, March 03, 2006
Ignatius: Fruitful Labour - The Tension between Prayer and Action, Part 2
I’ve been thinking about something I read in Carlo Carretto yesterday, and that he learned from John of the Cross. It concerns the movement from discursive to contemplative prayer. According to John, there are 3 signs that indicate that movement:
1. We lack the desire to use the imagination;
2. The imagination and the senses no longer have the will to think about specific things; the things of the earth offer no consolation;
3. The soul wants to remain still, directed towards God alone. It desires inner peace, quiet, and repose; it no longer feels the need to use the human faculties.
He goes on, “This third condition is good. If it is present in the soul it justifies the other two. If I have difficulty in meditating on God, if I no longer succeed in fixing my attention on one mystery or another in the life of Jesus, on one truth or another, but I am craving to remain alone and motionless and silent at the feet of God, empty of thought but in an act of love…it is something great. It is one of the most beautiful secrets of the spiritual life. (pp46, 47).
This passage articulates something of how I feel. I find great joy in simply being still before God. I don’t want to be engaging in meditative exercises like I used to. I just want to sit still and be quiet with God.
Sounds mad coming from an activist like me! Therein lies the creative tension.
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Thursday, March 02, 2006
pray as you go
thanks to moot, follow this link to a great little experimental site called 'pray as you go', from the jesuits.
each day there is a 15 minute meditation that you can download onto your ipod, and at the end of the day is an 8 minute exercise to examen the day - something i'd alluded to in an earlier post on ignatius.
this is about taking the time to notice god - something that lent gives us a special opportunity to do. and in noticing god, we receive from god his great gift of life in ways that surprise us - the kinds of suprises that bring a gentle smile to our faces.
i think this is a lovely gift from our jesuit friends.
each day there is a 15 minute meditation that you can download onto your ipod, and at the end of the day is an 8 minute exercise to examen the day - something i'd alluded to in an earlier post on ignatius.
this is about taking the time to notice god - something that lent gives us a special opportunity to do. and in noticing god, we receive from god his great gift of life in ways that surprise us - the kinds of suprises that bring a gentle smile to our faces.
i think this is a lovely gift from our jesuit friends.
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Wednesday, March 01, 2006
ash wednesday - love life, live lent
tonight is the annual service of 'ashing' on ash wednesday. the photo on the left is thanks to moot...
our service will be held tonight, 8pm at st. gabriel's church, havant road, walthamstow. i will lead what will be a fairly straight and traditional service.
and so begins the period of lent - the 40 day journey with christ toward his passion at the cross, and the hope of life fuelled by the resurrection at easter.
there's a great little lenten resource that the boss showed us at staff meeting on monday. its a booklet called love life, live lent and is full of 50 suggestions of things to do that fit into 6 themes: personal, friends, neighbour, church, community, world. the booklets are produced by the birmingham diocese - see the link here.
essentially its about using lent to be generous to yourself, your neighbours, and the world, rather than being stingy with yourself in the ways that are usually thought of around lent - y'know, giving up chocolate, alcohol, telly, etc.
also check out what some of the links on the right hand side are doing for lent, like jonny baker, maggi dawn, moot for instance.
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