Beating an unhasty retreat

Ok so having written about the city based retreat for the Perspectives Journal I am now about to head off on a more traditional SILENT retreat - without internet, laptop or mobile.

Unfortunately that means silence for the blog too. Though at the moment that may not be such a great surprise!

In the mean time, you should all be busying yourselves making Christmas cards or working out six degrees of Jonny Baker from George Bush or Tony Blair.

Picture this!

Ok the world gets MORE AND MORE bizarre!

Apparently my picture has appeared "on the front page of the Missouri Conference Review" which has me confused with someone else and describes me as "a probationary elder from Sedalia now living in England"

Unfortunately I can't get this link to the pdf to work so I can't prove anything. Anyone got any bright ideas?

Nine days wonder

NINE DAYS????

Has it really be NINE DAYS since I posted??? Goodness me!

Well appropriately enough I have just opened up Blogged 2005 which has a section from 9 Days Wonder as one of the many entries of various blogs from across the country this year.

Well I've still been getting some traffic including someone looking for

"the top 20 signs that you're falling in love"

hmmm... interesting!


I wonder if "failure to blog" gets in that list somewhere!!!

Is it a sign???

Dave has a painfully accurate cartoon this week. No matter what words we put on the signs outside our churches... is this what people see?

Again sorry that there's not been much. I've been partly pleasantly and partly painfully distracted. Painful distraction now done though so pleasant distraction all the way I hope! Oh and maybe a brief blog here and there!

God moves in mysterious ways

Ok so last week I was pretty gutted that I wasn't going away for a placement in a parish in Halesowen and now life has just shown me that God does things for a reason.

There was the chance to see our young people do a great presentation of the Gospel reading on Sunday on the work side. On the personal side it's a bit of a mixed blessing. I've had the chance to spend some decent time getting to know some friends I wouldn't have had a chance to know and I've been able to be around for something that I'm needed for. Deo Gratias!

Light dawns

This song has always been one I loved but it seems to be hanging with me at the moment :oD

Something is happening
Everything's different but everything is fine yeah
This is the good stuff
Yesterday's only what you leave behind
It's only in your mind

You gotta talk to the One who made you
Talk to the One who understands
Talk to the One who gave you
All the light in your eyes
All the light in your eyes

No use pretending
You never existed until you saw the light yeah
You're just beginning
You haven't missed it-it's all ahead of you
And you know what to do

You gotta talk to the One who made you
Talk to the One who understands
Talk to the One who gave you
All the light in your eyes
All the light in your eyes

Here comes the world and she is beautifully mysterious
She's got it all and you say "Give it to me"

Nobody's happy
That's not the world I know inside
Where everybody hides

You gotta talk to the One who made you
Talk to the One who understands
Talk to the One who gave you
All the light in your eyes
All the light in your eyes

You gotta talk to the One who loves you
Talk to the One who understands
Talk to the One who gave you
All the light in your eyes
All the light in your eyes

Yeah, thank you thank you!
Yeah, everything great and small
Yeah, thank you thank you
For the light in your eyes
For the light in your eyes
(repeat)

Sheryl Crow

What could be keeping me from blogging...???

Well certainly not hanging out with gringos in the local Mexican restaurant for my birthday... no I wouldn't do that instead of blogging would I???

Great fun guys! Muchas gracias!

20,000 blogs under the see

Wow the counter shows that I have had 20,000 visits sinc I started the blog last year.

Thank you all for stopping by. I'm not sure this was quite what all of you were looking for.

Most recently I've had some people looking for "Mark Berry and Children's TV" and "What are women allowed to do in ministry" as well as the "Shelf-life of prosciutto". I still get a lot of people looking for Menonites and Maya Gold chocolate too. Sorry I have nothing more to say about those really!

Well it's been a little weak on theology in the last couple of weeks and consisted mostly of brief ramblings (of which this is another) but I'm afraid I have been proving the accusation of someone I was speaking to yesterday; "people with blogs don't have real lives!"

I've been somewhat busy communicating directly to people lately not via the blog so apologies to those who have missed it. It doesn't get better either. I'm going off to stay with my bestest next weekend and then off on a reading week and a retreat both of which should produce much thought but I don't know if it will all convert into much blogging. I vow to be back with somethign meatier soon.

God bless

Sarah

Saintly aid

Been on a two day course to renew my appointed first aider at work certificate this week with St John's Ambulance. It was incredibly reassuring to realise just how much of this stuff I do know how to do!

Today was the assessment and I passed - hurrah!

Part of the assessment involved the assessor asking me what incidents I'd had to deal with since I qualified before. This took SOME TIME!!! I'd had to deal with far more incidents as part of youth work (and actually two or three walking down the high street!) than most of the other people on the course and Max says she had a similar experience too! Perhaps we should make more of this as Ian says.... maybe we are the 17th emergency service!!!

I think my favourite part of today though was leading a game with the people who were waiting for their assessments. We passed a merry half hour of "Fred likes" (with a great one: "Fred likes compressions but he doesn't like rescue breaths" That's one I've not heard before!) and then one of our trainers took up the baton with a game of "I pass these scissors crossed" ( "oooh Fred likes scissors!!!") Personally I thought we should pass the scissors closed and by holding the blade!!! ;oP Then one of the other trainess led us in "In my shop I bought a...." All good fun!

Bore me creative!

The source of some great online video clips and sillinesses, Boreme.com has teamed up with Channel 4 to bring you the UK's first viral competition.

"For those who haven't cottoned on yet, virals are what we show on Bore Me. So I'm inviting you to make your own, send it in and, hey presto, your hard labour could be rewarded with some cool prizes and exposed to the world.Enough waffling - just get those creative juices flowing.

But remember, this is with Channel 4 so please, no defamatory, indecent or illegal stuff - we may laugh but it'll go no further. Lawyers love virals too but also have families to feed.Find out more

Closing date is Monday 5th December.

Woolhope (and that's all!)

Great day out with Mr youthblog himself visiting Woolhope residential centre which he loves and which will be the base for our church youth holiday next year. Fabulous setting and really cosy. I can see our group having an amazing time there and my mind is alreay racing with ideas of what we can do when we're there and how we'll use the space!

woolhope 007
Originally uploaded by Sarah Hamilton.


Thanks for the intro, Ian and for the eclectic soundtrack!!!!

Tomorrow and Thursday I'm off on a refresher/renewal course for my First Aider at Work certificate. Should be interesting.

Not so Mystery Worshipper

Barrie visited All Saints on Sunday as part of his Church Tour and has put up a review.

Highlights for me

"9.45 - odd time for a service" Something that seems so NORMAL to people who have been there for years and yest so strange to outsiders - worth thinking about!

"top for welcome" The welcome team will be pleased!

We also seem to boast a vicar with Mr Benn like abilities to appear "as if by magic" ;oP

Glad you felt welcome and didn't hate it completely, Barrie!

Shakespeare Spinning

Ok so I was ALL excited to hear that there was going to be a modern version of Much Ado About Nothing on BBC1 and I'm watching and enjoying it but... well... it's just not Shakespeare is it? Ok so it's the PLOT and some of the ideas of the original play but... the words... I mean that's pretty much the vital element of a Shakespearean play yes?

I mean where are great interchanges like this:

DON PEDRO
Come, lady, come; you have lost the heart of
Signior Benedick.

BEATRICE
Indeed, my lord, he lent it me awhile; and I gave
him use for it, a double heart for his single one:
marry, once before he won it of me with false dice,
therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.

It may be the story which is superb but have we come to this that we can't even manage to have the original because it's too complicated?

Nevertheless was still sighing in the scene when Beatrice and Benedick almost admit their love (maybe because it had PROPER Shakespeare! Oh that a lovely man would read me something like this:

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me prov'd,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov'd.
Sonnet 116

The Parish Chest

Had a wonderful morning delving into the Parish chest at All Saints with my friend Wayne who was looking for documents relating to the church and its reaction to the first world war. I was looking at all kinds of church records and bizarre books that the church has accumulated for some reason. We amended the record of what one of the books was because I could translated the Latin to show it wasn't a Thesauraus but a Treasury of the Rites of the Church (Thesaurus ritualis) and commentary on the breviary and the missal - very cool! It was bound in vellum and everything, dating from the seventeenth century. Also some wonderful visitors books from the last thirty years with some hilarious fake entries from some comedians among the trite "beautiful church" comments.

Hale and farewell

Apologies for some relative blog silence this week but I've been rushing around trying to sort things out before going off on a parish placement for four weeks in several churches in Halesowen.

Unfortunately I learnt this weekend that I'm not going to be able to go on placement as the accomodation they had organised for me has fallen through and they've tried but failed to find an alternative.

So instead I am going to be on a week of study and a week of retreat and I may also slot in the last few days of leave I have left for this year. Then it'll be back to work!

Anyway this should mean the blog gets at least a bit of a look in over the next few weeks!

Fiat Looks

Hey fantastic link from another Fiat Panda owner!

To all those young people who think my car is "cool!" (poor deluded things!!!) now you can make your own. I bet it might go faster than mine though!!!

In honour of this great boxy idea I thought I'd put up a pic we took at the mural painting session at the school. I managed, unintentionally to park my car on the "road" painted on the playground!! For once it looks like I own a BIG car hehe!!

The anitdote to blog quizzes

Ok for all those of you (*cough* Mark *cough*) who object to those quizzes which people do and then put results on their blogs, there's a special little quiz which I stumbled across yesterday.

Are you a frankly unfriendly catholic?... turns out I'm not. :oD

(note: the site is rather sarcastic and takes an extremely pointed view of certain elements of the church. The fainthearted may wish to look away... now)