Human/Dancer

Human/Dancer stage 2 2
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

This latest painting - which started off VERY differently was inspired by the words of the Killers song Human (se lyrics below). I particularly like the "cos I'm on my knees looking for the answer to are we human or are we dancer" which says a lot to me about prayer. We're all searching to understand who we are as humans and as people within society. Are we dancing to someone else's tune or by being a dancer are we being more free than mere humanity allows. I'm not entirely sure what the lyrics are about but I rather like the fact that I don't know!!

I started with one of those canvases which I love doing where I merge colours and created feathered joins between them. Then when that had dried I entended to add another layer of the same over the top but it ended up quite different! The layer I added over the top I then scraped away to give a kind of washed over effect and that which I scraped away then got moulded together to make the dancer. I then thought I might change the background a little to show some of that movement and changed it completely or rather added yet a third layer. I'm still pondering whether I want any more figures in the picture or if I want to add some colour to the figure. I never intended her to remain green as it didn't look right but it's growing on me!! Michael, when he first saw it used the word impressive which is still making me grin with a little touch of pride. He doesn't always like what I paint (which is reassuring because then I know he means it when he does!) and impressive is a pretty encouraging word.

I did my best to notice
when the call came down the line
up to the platform of surrender
I was brought but I was kind
and sometimes I get nervous
when I see an open door

close your eyes, clear your heart

cut the cord
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human or are we dancer

pay my respects to grace and virtue
send my condolences to good
give my regards to soul and romance
they always did the best they could
and so long to devotion, you taught me everything I know
wave good bye, wish me well

you gotta let me go
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human or are we dancer

will your system be alright
when you dream of home tonight
there is no message were receiving
let me know is your heart still beating

are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer

you’ve gotta let me know
are we human or are we dancer
my sign is vital, my hands are cold
and I’m on my knees looking for the answer
are we human
or are we dancer

are we human or are we dancer
are we human or are we dancer

Weekend Creativity

Long (but great!) day yesterday hosting Breathe at a Youth event in the south of the diocese. Some really good reactions to it which is always pleasing. To relax I've been a bit creative too firstly by beginning a new painting (not sure where it's going yet but about to hit it again in a sec!).

Human/Dancer stage one 6
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

I also crafte this rather lovely dish of scallops with spaghetti for lunch - scrumptious though I say so myself. I'm very fond of scallops but they're a bit of a luxury. Fortunately they're one of the few items of seafood Michael will eat so we both enjoyed this. It's always fun creating a "new" dish - a bit like being in Hell's Kitchen this week! Still wouldn't want to be there though :o)

Spring Spaghetti
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

God our father

A friend of mine posted a link to this video on her facebook. It is just amazing (It comes with a tissue warning).



Being me I couldn't leave it just at the video but I've looked into it a bit. Team Hoyt haven't just done this triathlon but are in fact 6 off from doing 1000 events and speaking to corporate events for massive companies such as Morgan Stanley, GlaxoSmithKline, Google and American Express .

Father and son team Dick and Rick Hoyt don't restrict themselves to these achievements either. Rick is a graduate of Boston University and Dick is a retired lieutenant colonel in the air nation guard and a friend of the "President's Council for Fitness. They also front the Hoyt foundation which seeks:

"to integrate the physically challenged into everyday life. One way to accomplish this is to educate the able-bodied, making them more aware of the issues that the disabled face every day. Another is by actively helping the disabled to participate in activities that would otherwise be inaccessible to them."

I am deeply impressed. I think the word CAN'T just lost its meaning.

Ethos Narratives

I'm off to one of our local YMCAs today where I'm helping their CEO engage with the residents there on the issue of the Christian ethos of their organisation locally. The question of how big the C is in YMCA seems to be a matter of debate in many YMCAs and the outworking of their Christian service comes across in many different ways around the country. They do have very clear Christian underpinnings in the form of the Paris basis, the Kampala Principles and Challenge 21 but the question was about exploring that in our local setting.

When we were looking at how we might engage with the issue of stating our ethos, I came up with this idea (no idea if it's original as I don't read widely enough to be sure!!) of using Ethos Narratives.

Rather than saying just as Christians we believe all people are equal (Galatians 3.28 et al) and so we have an equal opportunities policy etc., etc. I suggested that we chose for ourselves various stories from Jesus' teachings - mostly parables as it turns out - which say something of how we work and why we work; which tell the story of our ethos rather than theologising it out. If it works, the idea will be that we can then use posters, videos, modern translations, sculptures, artwork, songs which tell these stories to help those who provide and use our services understand what it is we're about.

I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts about this. Is it new or I have I subconsciously borrowed the idea from somewhere!!??

Sermon on Thomas

Last Sunday I was at St Peter's Pedmore and I preached on the appearance of Christ to Thomas:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:19-31

I focussed on the idea of seeing is believing, picking up on the idea of there being many things we see which are not true (the amazing things peopel can do with airbrusing photos and film) and things which we can't see but which we know are true - electricity, magnetism, dark matter etc.

I got the congregation making windmills out of pipe cleaners, some beads and a little template I knocked up which had the words "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe" on. I said that people can't have God proven to them and they can't see God but they can see God working through people if people allow the Holy Spirit to move them. I challenged them therefore to be like the windmill - to be a visible sign of God working in the world.

One of the funny things about preaching is that often you come out with something in the middle of a sermon which you hadn't been expecting to say. I had that on Sunday. I had a teeny idea about covering the fact that many people have doubts but I took up the theme of contrasting this with the coomunity of faith. I said that we gather in such communities so that they are always communities of faith. Even if we have our own doubts that day, the community of faith still has faith and so we are still within that community of the faithful. I assured the people that ALL CHRISTIANS have doubts at some point, using the example of Mother Theresa and this wonderful quotation from Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the revelation that Mother Theresa had doubts:

“Mother Teresa wonderfully was no plaster cast saint. She has helped to affirm many who are passing through this period of desolation and dryness when God seems so remote. St Theresa of Avila after one such bout cried out in frustration to God, ’No wonder your friends are so few given how you treat them!’ My regard for Mother Teresa has been enhanced. Doubt can be an integral part of faith, when the evidence is never so overwhelming, so incontrovertible. St Thomas is our patron Saint for doubters. We live by faith not by sight and frequently the evidence does not make the leap of faith redundant.”

Rain and Snow final version

Rain and Snow final version
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

Here at last is the painting I blogged about before which I finally finished at the weekend.
It's inspired by this passage:

"As the rain and snow come down from above and return not again, but water the earth, bringing forth seed for sowing and bread to eat, so is my word that goes forth from my mouth. It will not return to me fruitless, but will accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the task I gave it."

Isaiah 55.10-11

It's not really like any other painting I've done before in style. It's also the same size as the last painting I did which I still love. I'm a little undecided about this painting. I know it's done and as it should be but I'm not sure I particularly like it. Does it show what I wanted it to show - almost perhaps but I can't say for sure it does the whole thing. I rather like the way the text can be read as it is but also with the paired verses alongside each other that compares rain/snow with word.

Not quite sure where it's going to go as yet!

So uncertainty all round. Apt for Holy Week perhaps...

Who do you love?

The fantastic we love our youthworker charter has now launched. There are lots of resources including the wonderful Dave Walker's cartoons especially commisioned for the charter.

If you are part of a church which employs a youthworker, check out their 7 point charter:

We will pray and support
We believe that our youth worker needs spiritual support in their work with young people.

We promise to pray for our youth worker and keep their needs a high priority in the church’s prayer life.

We will give space for retreat and reflection
We believe that taking time to think and pray is just as essential for our youth worker as organising events and meeting young people.

We promise to encourage our youth worker to use part of their schedule to give space for retreat, reflection and personal development.

We will provide ongoing training and development
We believe that learning the skills of youth work is an ongoing process and that it’s important to continually invest in professional development.

We promise to set aside time and money to provide this for our youth worker.

We will give a full day of rest each week
We believe that taking regular time off helps maintain our youth worker’s passion and energy for their work with young people.

We promise to actively encourage our youth worker to take a day away from their role each week to do something different.

We will share responsibility
We believe that having a youth worker does not release the rest of the church from our responsibilities towards young people.

We promise to encourage everyone to play a part in volunteering, praying for or supporting young people.

We will strive to be an excellent employer
We believe that it’s important to have clear structures and procedures for recruiting and employing a youth worker, and to provide supportive management structures.

We promise to follow good practice guidelines in the way we employ our youth worker.

We will celebrate and appreciate
We believe it’s vital to acknowledge what our youth worker is doing and the commitment they have made to work with young people in our church.

We promise to make sure our youth worker knows they are appreciated and we will celebrate their achievements.

I'm so pleased to see that this is finally here. All churches employing youthworkers wiull get so much more out of their youthworkers by following this.

I can almost hear my blog readers asking - what about we love our vicar/organist/sunday school teacher/curate/flower arranger/verger/chorister/warden/deacon/cleaner/worship leader/house group leader/children's worker/steward/lay reader/evangelist*?

Well perhaps this should spur us on to look at all those whom churches employ and all those who give their time for free.
*delete as applicable

Firepit Fine dining

Michael and I lit up the firepit for the first time this year tonight. I decided that I was a little bored with what I normally do on the fire pit (jacket spuds in the ashes, garlic mushrooms in foil and roast pork with apples/cider). So this evening we ventured into oriental territory and had the following:

Red cooked Roast Pork
Marinade a pork roasting joint in 4tbsps soy sauce, 2 tbsps brown sugar, 4 tbsps sherry, 1 tbsp chinese five spice, 1tbsp sesame oil, 2 inches ginger finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped 4tbps rapeseed oil and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. After marinading, place the pork in a foil tray and pour over the marinade. Wrap all this in two layers of foil and place on the embers of the firepit for 2 hours.

Coconut noodle soup
thinly slice 1 carrot, 1 stick of celery, 1 onion, 2 spring onions, 1 inch ginger, 1 radish, 1 green chilli, 2 large mushrooms. Heat oil in the pan (you can start this indoors if it's easier!) Add all the chopped veg and sweat for a few minutes. Add 1 tsp lemon grass, 1 tbsp bouillon powder, a dash of oyster sauce, a tsp of miso paste, a dash of mushroom ketchup, a dash of soy sauce and stir. Then had a carton of coconut cream, a pint of water and a tbsp of sesame oil the juice of one lime, a slug of sake and one whole bird eye chilli (optional!). Bring to simmering point. Transfer to the firepit and, when the pork is nearly ready, bring it to the boil. Add two portions of wholewheat noodles and simmer for three minutes (or as per instructions).

Serve in bowls with a couple of big ladels of noodle soup topped with a fresh slice of red cooked pork.

Delicious!

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Michael and I are quite bad at eating up bread. Personally once it gets a bit stale I don't like it anymore. I love FRESH bread. So we often end up with the end of a loaf sitting waiting for someone to eat it. I sometimes make breadcrumbs or bread and butter pudding but once we've have b&b pudding once we seem reluctant to have it again the next night. So... what to do?

Well I have a husband who is fairly well guaranteed to eat anything chocolatey and I know bread pudding (rather than bread and butter pudding) keeps well but have never made it. Is there such as thing as chocolate bread pudding? Well despite a few recipes claiming to be just that they seem to be b&b pudding with rich cream and chocolate (whereas I was hoping to use milk and cocoa!)

In the end I found a Cranks recipe for bread pudding and adapted it as follows:

8oz (225g) Stale bread hacked into small pieces
1/2 pint (284ml) plus an extra 4tbsp (60ml) milk
3/4 cup of cocoa
1/4 cup boiling water
5oz (125g) Dried fruit - whatever you like but adding something like apricots to the usual raisins is cool
2oz (50g) grated butter
4oz (100g) Brown sugar
1 heaped tbsp (20ml) mixed spice
1 egg
nutmeg to grate

Put the cocoa in a small bowl (or large mug!!) and add the boiling water, stirring to a smooth paste. When it is smooth, gradually add in the 1/2 pint (284ml) milk.

Put the broken bread in a large bowl and add the chocolate milk mixture. Stir thoroughly. Leave to soak for 30mins at least, and give it the occasional stir. The longer you leave this the better really!

Put the oven on at Gas Mark 4 (180C/350F)

Add the fruit, grated butter, spice and sugar to the large bowl. In a small bowl (the same one again if you like!) whisk the egg with the 4tbsp (60ml) milk. Add this to the laqrge bowl and mix.

Press it all into a shallow oven proof dish (we use one of those funky teflon flexible ones so no need for lining paper) Put this in the oven for 45 mins until set. Then remove from the oven, slice and have at least one piece for yourself then put the rest on a plate or in a tin to eat later!!

Inter-seed for us

This is my sermon which I preach (well mostly!) at St Mary's Kempsey this morning. It was a wonderful service of the word led by Vision 33 the youth group and their youth leaders and thoroughly enjoyed and supported by the larger family of the church.

The Gospel for the Sunday was:

20Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
27“Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. 34The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35Jesus said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.

John 12:20-36

It’s Spring time and I don’t know about you but I am planting seeds in my garden. It’s also Lent, a season for planting spiritual seeds of faith as we approach Easter. Today we hear Jesus also talking about seeds in our Gospel. I think what Jesus said about seeds was a very important thing and I want to plant that seed in your memory too.
What I want to focus on – demo through seeds
Now I’m going to need some help with this.

I’ve brought some rather special seed packets with me. I need 7 volunteers to help me.

Now these seed packets are a little different to ordinary seed packets. For one – they’re a bit bigger. They also have a very strange thing. Normal seed packets have the seeds on the outside and a picture of what they grow into on the inside. These seeds packets are a bit different. They have a picture of the SEED on the outside, so you can’t tell what they’re going to grow into. It makes you think that if you bought these seeds – all you would get would be exactly what it shows on the seed packet. Lets have a look inside.(we open them each in turn to reveal poppies, pumpkins, sunflowers, wheat, a butterfly, an iris and a passion flower)

So we see all these beautiful things that they might turn into. But they will never be these things if they stay as they are (turn over the cards to reveal the bible quotation)

Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

In the passage today, Jesus talks about his forthcoming death and resurrection as being a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying in order that new life can come. Jesus also goes on to link it to what a life of discipleship means

Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.

The Bible can sometimes feel like rather a distant story. One about then – about the people of Israel, about the disciples. But in the passage we heard today we have a link. The passage begins with some Greeks wanting to see Jesus. Now, I don’t know if we have any Greeks here today but those Greeks stand for each one of us here. Jesus has been preaching to the people of Israel but this is a point when he declares it is not JUST for them. No Jesus says:

32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

This Good news is not just for the descendents of Abraham, Isaac Jacob and Moses but for everyone.


That’s still a challenge to us today. The Gospel is not just for people who already believe. For people who already come to church. It’s for everyone and God calls each of us to do something about that. For me, helping people work with young people, I seek to engage churches in looking not just at what they are doing within their churches but also at how they are relating to their community. To their schools; to the young people who hang out in their churchyard because there is nowhere to go. Not just to the young though, to parents, to those who are living alone, to the retired.

32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.

In the Gospel of John, when he talks about fruit, he means community and in this passage Jesus calls into formation a new community that thinks and lives differently than society.

When we look to serve others, it can often mean we need to give up things for ourselves. This doesn’t mean that we become nothing. It means we become more than we could have been if we had looked only to our own ends. He talks of those who walk with the light.

Those who walk by the Light, meaning Jesus, those who embrace the Light, who allow the Light to penetrate their being and shine through them, they become united as a family of Light, the children of Light, the children of God. Together they shine in the midst of darkness and show the world another way, just as Jesus has. In the face of the cruel violence that puts Jesus on the cross, the children of Light respond by creating a community that bears witness to the Light of Christ, a community that keeps the Light burning even though the world tries to extinguish it. The ember of light kindled by Jesus is multiplied through his followers as they become lanterns aflame with Light for the world. And we can only do that if we, the seed, allow ourselves to be planted.


Each person here is the fruit of seed sown by our Christian predecessors. As the diocesan youth officer, I suppose I’m a bit like a Garden consultant. What seeds are being sown here in Kempsey for the future fruit? I know there are certainly some very gifted young people who work with our youth council and I’m sure there are others. How is Kempsey looking after its garden and its saplings?

God sees each of us as we see normal seed packets. He sees our full potential and the full potential of those around us. Just think what a difference it would make to our world if we, like God, saw everyone not as they are but as the amazing person they could be. Sometimes we focus far too much on what we are now. We look at the world from the inside of a seed packet. We see our safe seed-like experience and shape and want to stay with that.

God sees what we can grow into, what we can transform into. That transformation can bring us to something new and wonderful. A caterpillar to a butterfly and acorn to an oak tree to be built into the beams of a great building, a boat that sails the oceans, or a table where people share a meal.

We have a choice to make: will we simply sit in the seed packet - they're usually made of foil so rather shiny and appealling. Or do we dare to be planted and wait to see what God transforms us into?

Youth and age

I was looking for a video of the Philosopher's Song on the Monty Python feed on youtube yesterday (like you do) and couldn't find it but did see this fantastic piece from John Cleese about youth. I think it also says a bit about age too.

Son et L-ewe-miers

Never let it be said that the countryside is behind the cities in its use of technology. Check out this AWESOME video. Thanks to L for linking to it on her facebook :O)




On a related note - Wallace and Grommit A Matter of Loaf and Death is out on 23rd March - hurrah!

Fully Booked

Apologies for blog being quiet (perhaps I should count how man times I've posted that phrase over the years!). I have been occupied with trying to finish the book Phil and I are putting together. We had two solid days of reviewing over the weekend only to decide what we really needed was an extra session. It's a good session even if it has meant we're not finished as we had hoped to be by the end of the weekend. We are so very nearly there though.

We came up against the issue of how we select the film clips we suggest people use as we found ourselves needing to find a scene which helps people explore the character and person of Jesus. Our clips are often focussed on a concept and then it's a lot easier to find a clip that helps people explore an idea. This time we were looking for a clip that would say something/everything about Jesus himself and everything we looked at wasn't good enough. I suppose that's the lesson in a way.

Ian seems to have been focussing on films a bit too lately. Firstly recommending a re-watching of About a Boy (timely in fact as it was then on TV!). I've always loved a particular scene in this film when the boy has a mini rant about his life and how tough it is and Hugh Grant's character just doesn't know how to respond and resorts to a word that would be against most Conduct policies! I really like what follows which is the angst of the adult about their failure to help and the young man who feels so much better because, even though the adult he'd spoken to hadn't SOLVED the issue, the adult had listened, had shown that he understood how the boy felt and expressed his empathy with him. It shows that sometimes what we say to young people when they confide in us may sound like the lamest most pathetically useless response but to them it could mean all the world.

This is also the film/book from which a fantastic short-hand phrase for a VERY BAD DAY comes. "Dead-duck-day". If that makes no sense... well you might just have to watch the film!

About Face

I'm just back from a fantastically inspiring and thought-provoking evening with the YMCAs from the region in company with Malcolm Duncan of Church and Community (formerly of Faithworks). there are many wise things buzzing around my head including the contrast between Empire building and kingdom building, a new ten commandments for the YMCA, clarity at the centre so that edges can be fuzzy and so much more.

This however is what stood out most. It was an image and a story so there's no surprise that it was the most powerful and memorable bit of the evening.
This picture, entitled Bear glare was taken by Sergey Gorshkov and won the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2007 prize for the category of animal portrait.

Now it is a very striking image. that alone has a great impact. However the story of how the picture was taken is even more powerful. I'm told that Sergey went out with his young son to get some picture of salmon jumping up the river and was standing in the water waiting with his son stood behind him. He's concentrating REALLY hard on getting this image of the salmon (you can imagine him really wanting to capture that triumph of will over adversity that is embodied in the leaping of salmon upstream towards their spawning sites in that moment of sheer faith that launches a fish out of water). Sergey hears a splash behind him and thinks his son is messing around. this is confirmed by the son tugging at his waders, "Dad... dad", "Not now, I'm trying to get a picture of the salmon" "dad, you really need to turn round" "I'm busy", "Dad you REALLY HAVE TO TURN ROUND NOW!" He turns round and is faced with this sight which he manages to capture on film (and live to tell the tale).

This story says... sometimes we can be so focussed on the task we think is very important that we miss a great opportunity. If we're lucky there might be a young prophetic voice near us who tells us we need to make a radical turn around and face in the opposite direction. What we see when we make that dramatic change might fill us with fear but will in the end lead to what we need/want to achieve.

Doodles from Noodle brains?

Some great news for me this week. Firstly, it seems that doodling, as I often do at conferences, is now acknowledged as being useful in the retention of information as I have argued it is for me!

Unfortunately, there's not much excuse for my lack of blogging lately, aside from my busy times at work.

I'm currently reading Mark Yaconelli's new book Helping Teenagers to Pray. I've nto read a great deal of it yet but is certainly been worthwhile read so far.

Word on the Street

Really love this video, filmed on a mobile in the streets of New York and Sydney. Not true just for those cities.



Is it enough just not to look away?

Does buying my copy of the Big Issue make it better?

Or rather, as today chatting to the guy selling them saying I only had 30p in cash and wishing each other a "good day" make a difference?

Well I think the sharing of humanity with someone can make a lot of difference to people who feel ignored but without other help its effect is not enough.

I have the Wycombe Winter Night Shelter in mind at present at that which inspired it in London. Its not part of my call here at present but I may have to make some fish cakes this week out of nostalgia!!

What is chaplaincy?

We've just had our first two weeks of active involvement in the school chaplaincy, following weeks (if not months, in fact) of working out what it means for us and for the school. We have a carefully crafted document which states what we'll do and what we'll not do. we want to focus on the young people in more pastoral terms rather than the more lesson-based style of schools work. So our plan is to begin with what my first vicar referred to as "vicaring about" (or dyo-ing about in my case and curating about in the case of two members of our team!). It's a detached model really but within the school setting, mostly the canteen. For us it seems to have been a good start. We've met the young people in their informal setting rather than in the class-room. I hope to keep you posted about how it goes.

It's got me thinking about it all. There are all kinds of full-time chaplaincies out there but part-time chaplaincies in schools, hospitals, sports clubs, shopping centres and town centres are on the up. However... what is chaplaincy? What does it mean?

Well Bishop Alan posted this fantastic definition of what a chaplain is:

"Someone who learns and listens carefully to the languages people use to express themselves, a spiritual interpreter, someone who can hold the lines and ask key questions of any and all, including themselves."

Any thoughts and wisdom on that one people?

Snow Roo

Snow Roo full length
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

I was endeavouring to do a snow dog but it metamorphosed into this Snow Kangaroo.

Interesting moment when I heard some people walking past our front garden and was caught in a moment of panic - should I let myself be seen, as a grown woman in her 30s, playing with snow... Yes I told myself I totally should!

25 random things

Ok so this is from Facebook but it will be heading there too...

Rules: Once you've been tagged, write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.)

1. I was born in Belgium
2. I married Michael in 2006 after we met through an internet dating agency
3. I've just finished a painting which I almost can't stop looking at
4. Last year I had to read some Anglo-Saxon at a Cathedral event - this was part of my studies I was convinced I would never use.
5. I jumped out of a plane a few years ago but had the foresight to be attached to a parachute and have a long list of sponsors in aid of the hospice charity that looked after my mum when she was ill.
6. For a large period of my childhood I believed I was born in a tent (for some rather odd reasons)- I am not sure when I realised this was not the case!
7. I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
8. I bought all the Harry Potter series with the children's cover as I didn't feel the need to pretend I wasn't reading a children's book!
9. I've been learning to draw dragons since Michael finished his book which features them.
10. Last week at work I claimed to have instituted a "nearly clear desk" policy in contrast with my VERY untidy desk at home.
    
11. I love painting with the colour cerulean. Well I love painting as it brings me closer to God but this is a colour which really makes me smile. I also use a lot of yellow!
    
12. Taize always feels like home when I get there.
13. Cooking for people makes me happy and I love to cook new things. This week I cooked with seaweed for the first time.
    
14. Often I get songs stuck in my head - these range from the ridiculous ("peanut butter and jelly" song my American friend Debbie taught me over 10 years ago, the moonpig advert and spider pig) to the sublime (Beati Quorum via, I was glad, Mil e tre etc.)
15. I fulfilled a lifelong dream by seeing Niagara Falls a few years ago and might get the chance to see the Nascar lines next year (which were also "on my list")
16. When I was teaching Latin, my student feedback forms included comments on the accuracy of my drawings on the board - cows were good but hands needed work. I also took up the challenge to teach the gerundive through the medium of song using the Beatles and Hildegard of Bingen.
17. I had a lovely Christmas in 2008 because my niece got on so well with my dog Eddie and LOVED her Peppa Pig umbrella.
18. I love Peking Duck pancakes.
19. I support Oxfam through regular giving and we had an Oxfam wedding list alongside our normal gift list. Michael claims this was to determine how many camels I was worth - the answer was NO camels but a toilet, teaching packs, goats and lots of plants (among other things).
20. During my revision for my A levels I relieved my stress by doing a jigsaw puzzle which featured a large number of smarties. It seemed they really DID have the answer.
    
21. I've recently started in a role as chaplain to a secondary school and really enjoyed it. Being asked if I was a sixth-former was not the only reason.
22. I was giggling yesterday because our dog Eddie got very excited about his new toy - a large red plastic ball.
23. Now Barak Obama is President I can stop pretending it's Jed Bartlett.
24. Michael and I discovered a new game called Carcassone which we bought with some Christmas money and we love it A LOT.
25. This year I made a new year's resolution without really meaning to - I'm not buying a new book until I have read a book I already own but have not yet read. Since making this commitment I have read two books and bought a new one!
    

Snow go

Couldn't resist this gadget from Bishop Alan's site. I'm contemplating whether or not I can get to and around London for a meeting on Wednesday.

Genesis completed

Genesis completed
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

So in the snowlight of this afternoon I managed to persuade myself finally that Genesis was finished. There are still things I would tweak but I know I would be tweaking them for all eternity The finalising included a rather unnerving editing of the wave with the addition of some cerulean, some adding of red to the sky around the birds and some filling in of green in the tree where it was a little thin. There is also a little silver on the wave now. I decided that the birds are now as they are even though they're not as perfect as I'd like because in display they won't be quite as visible anyway as they're right at the top.

Finishing this and the snow have planted another seed but I'm not sure I'll get to that very soon as I have a few things in the diary but with the snow, you never know those might get postponed!!

The canvas is approx 1m wide and 1.3m wide.

Creation and Recreation

Following my own explorations of evolving images in creation in the last post, I saw this video which Paul Bayes popped on his site. It originates from Willow Creek and I think it is genius! I am also thinking .... hmmmm... lightbox and sand hmmmm....

Genesis 3

Genesis 3
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

So hopefully I have now finished this painting which has appeared on here in various forms. This has been a fascinating painting for me to work on as, unlike other paintings, I have lived with it for so long. This is partly because the canvas is HUGE so takes a long time to cover in paint and partly because the content has ended up being elaborate and more detailed than I often do.

Like the image of Christ on the cross I painted a while ago this image rather came to me and lived with me for a while (even ending up in some doodlings at the conference earlier this month).

I've tried to capture a sense of creation. Of the separations into light and dark; earth and water and the springing into life in tree, leaves, fish and birds.

What was rather challenging was the perspective as it doesn't conform to regular rules so working out how to make things look right when the world hasn't really settled its rules yet was a real work in progress.

I've recently reworked the leaves into birds and fish but may still need to work on them - though it will be a refreshing change to be painting something else!

Hartbeat

IASYM1
Originally uploaded by Sarah Brush

In memory of that great inspirer of creativity in children, I am putting up one of the doodle pictures from the conference I was at recently. This was one which I was penning when listening to Andrew Root on the absence/presence of God and Reggie Nel talking about remixing culture for youth ministry.

I never actually felt brave enough to send my pictures in to Tony Hart but I certainly enjoyed seeing other children's pictures and the exciting things that Tony himself did. All that plus the wonderful Morph - who could ask for more.

I know I'm turning old now as I'm so nostalgic. What I wonder is this - My generation grew up with inspirational presenters like Tony Hart and Johnny Ball. Where are the current generation getting inspired?

What has the Church of England ever done for us?

Often I find people a little negative about the Church of England because it has SO much history and sometimes rather too much baggage and yet we sometimes forget all the GOOD stuff that goes with years of wisdom and experience; rich liturgy, beautiful, buildings, inspiring music and deep-rooted community engagement that is so deep we don't always see it.

Reminds me of this clip which I used to use in my history class... perhaps it should have featured in the confirmation course!!

Prayers for Barack Obama

At our Diocesan Office Eucharist today, we focussed on Barack Obama and his administration as he prepares to take office. I was asked to lead the prayers and came up with the following. I'm still not certain if they're just TOO cheesy but they were much appreciated!

In the name of Jesus and through the power of the Holy Spirit, let us pray to the Father

For Barack Obama as he takes up office and for all the leaders of nations Lord give them wisdom and guide them with your spirit. To each of us as we serve you send your Holy Spirit. Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

As Barack Obama prepares to begin his time in office with a National Day of Community Service through activities dedicated to serving others in communities help us in the diocese to see how we may best serve those around us. Guide our Bishops and all those who lead your churches to bring your Kingdom. especially today we remember...
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

The World is torn by many conflicts and disasters. In the midst of them all are the children of God, frightened in the dark. Lord guide us to bring light to places of darkness.
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

There is darkness too in the lives of individuals who are suffering from sickness or distress. We pray especially today for .... and those known to us named in our hearts or on our lips... Lord help us be your ambassadors to those in distress
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

Lord you are the same yesterday today and forever, you know our pasts, you are with us now and you guide our futures, in the words of Barack Obama, Lord help us “pursue our individual dreams, but still come together as one family” of humanity Lord in each of our lives show us your way forward for us and show us how we too may show the way forward to others
Lord if you guide us YES WE CAN

The Modernisation of Church

One of our fabulous admin staff found this over the weekend. Love it! This is dedicated to all those who seek to bring lively worship and vibrant community into their churches and finally to all those Mrs Beamishes out there... the church still loves you.

Plough Sunday

As Owain, my rector, said this morning I managed to "bring the house down" with my sermon - mostly in the sense that part of the roof fell off during the service! It did make it all rather exciting.

I also had positive comments about my sermon which people enjoyed. The basic idea was to give each person a craft pipe-cleaner and focus on the bible passage of turning swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks. During the first part of the sermon they crafted something that symbolised farming (even with the young farmers in we managed a collection of models that would offend no-one's grandma!) and then I asked them to turn that model into something that symbolised them, their skills, talents, their future. So we had pigs cows, rakes and spades turning into laptops, basketballs, icecream tubs and telephones!

Here's the text of the sermon - I didn't stick to it entirely and I elaborated in places too but this is MOSTLY what people got:

I've just recently come back from a conference of youth ministers from around the world and we shared a lot about what we do in our own countries. I told them I was preaching this Sunday on Plough Sunday and their reaction was worth seeing! The Australians, South Africans, Norwegians and Americans all seemed amused or bemused at the whole idea. To be honest when Iw as asked to preach this morning I felt a little daunted as I don't know much at all about farming except that which I learnt from some farmers like Mr Bennet here at the Three Counties Show or on a TV programme I saw last night about people trying to use Victorian farming equipment.

To help you get an idea of how something can feel a little strange I’ve given you each a pipe-cleaner. Yours to fiddle with during the sermon but you will need it later. If you like you can form it into the shape of a plough or something else related to farming.

Of course the importance of agricultural life was not something strange to the people we hear about in the Bible. Familiar parable of the sower which we heard this morning and so many other Biblical references. God wants humanity to be involved with the land. As we heard in our first reading from Genesis

Now ploughing isn’t something I had particularly paid attention to in the Bible and was surprised just how many I found particularly in the Old Testament which in some ways is the part of the Bible when the ploughing took place, when the earth was prepared for Jesus’ coming:

Elijah’s call of Elisha - he’s ploughing when Elijah comes to wrap his cloak around him and calls him to follow.

Hosea advocates ploughing as something worthy of doing
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers righteousness on you.”
Hosea 10:12
There’s even some simple yet I’m sure useful advice in Deuteronomy
“Do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.” Deuteronomy 22:10
When psalmists want to demonstrate someone is toiling very hard, they mention ploughing:
Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.
Psalm 129:3

Ploughing is also a symbol therefore of making an effort:
The books of Job and Proverbs warn against laziness and malice:
As I have observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
Job 4:8
A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.
Proverbs 20:4
The apostle Paul uses ploughing as part of a description of there being different roles for people in life:

“Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.”
1 Corinthians 9:10

Now I can’t pretend that I know a great deal about farming. I’ve not grown up here. Real solid ploughs haven’t featured much in my experience. However, when I was at university, I studied the Life of Richard of Chichester (born near here in Droitwich) and he began life ploughing his parents' farm before training to be first a lawyer and later a priest and bishop in which role he was renowned for his particular care for his people, visiting them on foot and ensuring everyone received services from clergy for free.

Richard is a real example of someone whose early beginnings were so rooted and grounded in the land that they later influenced the way he continued his life. Devoting regular time to the care of his people as he gave care to the land of his yeoman father’s farm. So if you've started life in agriculture, be warned - you could end up being a bishop!

Many clergy and ministers today still have the plough at the heart of their ministry. Even if they don’t know it. Because there is a verse in the bible, which features often in the daily morning office of the church, which clergy the world over say every day.

It’s a passage which features not just in one book of the bible but in three; a passage I want us to focus on.
The books of Isaiah, Micah and Joel all use this marvellous phrase which honours farming and ploughing as a good and honourable occupation in contrast with the negative course of action in violence.

It was probably first used by the prophet Isaiah writing during the Israelites exile in Babylon as a statement of looking towards a hopeful future with God as Lord:
He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Isaiah 2:4

This passage is repeated again in the book of Micah, again at a time when people hoped for a better future
Micah 4:3
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
It holds ploughing up as a symbol of a community which is faithful and has hope. A community which works at preparing the ground in expectation of the future.

Then the third time this idea appears, the prophet Joel takes up the same words but he turns it around instead of a prediction of the future he turns it into a command an exhortation to the people to turn from their passive nature to aggresion
Joel 3:10
Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!"

This idea of beating swords into ploughshares, of putting away war and violence and turning to engaging with God’s creation is a fantastic image for me.

Unfortunately I also know that many people involved in the countryside are no longer able to use their ploughshares (or their modern equivalent). It’s not war that drives you to beat your ploughshares into something new as in the Book of Joel but economic viability. For some of you, the idea of fighting against modern economics, like the NFU does like in November last year when it attacked the Supermarkets for their hard nosed tactics

NFU president Peter Kendall accused the big supermarkets of "beating up" their suppliers (Guardian 14th November 2008)
Of course nowadays we don’t turn our ploughshares into swords to fight the big supermarkets. (Much as we sometimes might feel angry enough to do so) People from the rural communities sometimes, like Richard of Chichester, have to turn their skills and abilities away from the farm towards the courts, the board room or parliament. Others might have to turn away completely from agriculture and take up other paths.

So what are you beating your plough share into?

I’d like you now to take your pipe-cleaner and shape it into something that symbolises something you’re very good at, or the career path you want to follow or something about your future.

If you are still working with the land it might be you’re doing so in a different way. How have things changed? How might they change in the future?

While you do that I want to take all that ploughing we have done through the Old Testament and find ourselves with the ground prepared for the New Testament. For Jesus. He too uses these images from farming often:

Firstly he urges people to consider that they are precious to God not because of anything they do but because they are part of his Creation
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Luke 12:24
And he uses the specific reference to the plough, much like in the old testament as something which symbolises faithful working
Jesus encourages people to plough and not look back.
"No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9.62
Jesus is urging those who are willing to hear that they need to find their path and to follow it as faithfully as someone endeavouring to push a plough in a straight line to get a straight furrow.
Personally I find it hard to keep a straight furrow in my work.
I only manage it by focussing on God
How is it for you I wonder?

What work is it that you’re doing for your living?
What work is it that you’re doing for your community and the world?
What work is it that you’re doing for God?

The apostle Paul takes this up as we heard before:
“when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.”
1 Corinthians 9:10
When we work for our livings and for God we do so as part of a great community. We plough the land for those who will come after us in this community and in this world.

What kind of world are you ploughing?

A prayer of Richard of Chichester
Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,
for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly,
day by day.
Amen.

UPDATE: An honourable mention from my rural colleague - he even has pictures!

Twelfth Night or what you will

So the Christmas decorations should all be down... really must do that!

Yet these words from Howard Thurman which I heard for the first time today encapsulates for me how that de-christmassy-ing should be done.

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.

Autotheobigraphy

This is just one of the many "long words" from over the last few days. When I was anticipating going to the IASYM conference I rather suspected that it would feel rather too full of long words and academic posturing. I was so pleasantly surprised!

The conference was a fantastic three and a half days of wisdom tempered with love; of passion-filled commitment to resourcing youth ministry to the best of their abilities; of wonderful creature of God engaging all their abilities of mind and Christian ministry in a synthesis of heart and head.

I was privileged enough to hear Pete Ward not only speaking eloquently about his latest publication but also playing some gorgeous blue grass interpretations of some traditional hymns. I also met so many wonderful people from Norway, Australia, South Africa, The Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, Northern Ireland and America with fantastic stories and reflections on their work.

A few weeks ago, the chair of the association had also asked me to respond to the final keynote of the conference this morning. Daunted as I was by the prospect, I accepted and was delighted to respond to a colleague from the Netherlands on the subject of communications in children's work, linking that in to our own work with young people.

As well as all the brilliant sessions, there was some good down time too - well-lubricated book launches, great chats of the amazing food provided by the Cambridge college staff, a great jaunt into Cambridge University Press and other bookshops in the city (not to the pipe tobacco shop unfortunately as the branch closed on Christmas Eve - sad news for my best beloved!) late night chats putting the world to rights and a great shindig of music from lots of different members.

One thing that has already come out of it for me is the decision that, having discovered that academia and youth ministry can blend so well without detriment to either ministry or mind I will be looking again at my medieval studies and see what comes of that!

I'm still distilling it all and hope to reflect further over the next weeks.

Strictly not dancing

Michael and I listened to a fabulous programme on Radio Four on our way down to dad's on Christmas Eve morning.

It was all about the RUSH of life and our perceptions of TIME.

It featured the marvellous sounds of the bells of a clock planned to be in the middle of the desert which are based on something composed by Brian Eno designed to be unique for every day for the next ten thousand years (you can hear a bit of them here) as part of the LONG NOW foundation and some wonderful reflections on the busy rush of our world. The prototype is in London's science museum but if you want to see the real thing, it will take you, as they say themselves, "at least a day to get there" on a kind of pilgrimage. Understanding that it will take time to experience and engage with this clock.

This idea of slowing down life is something which I've really noticed since we moved to Worcestershire away from the Buzz of the South-East commuter belt. I've noticed that time is NOT as rushed here as it was in High Wycombe. I didn't think it was juts me and apparently it has been measured that some places ARE more rushed than others. I think Worcestershire is a much healthier non-rushed society and I love it, I have to say. There were examples of some fascinating endeavours to sow life down... I think taking a tortoise on a lead with you was my favourite!

I shall be keeping an eye on the Long Now Foundation from now on. It wasn't just the programme as a whole that struck me.

There was one chap Tom Hodgkinson on the programme who talked about Puritans and what impact they had on how we perceive time. The Puritans took away all kinds of the festivities that marked and measured times. He said that they stripped away all the joy and insisted that life was hard and getting to heaven a struggle. I think the enlightenment generally rather the Puritans alone is responsible for it really but I agree with the sentiment. What he said that really spoke to me though was this:

"Life Before the Puritans Life was seen as play, you could call it a Dance, and life after the Puritans became a race."

I've been musing over this over the last few days and it is SO TRUE. Life now seems to be a contest not a creative interaction of different creatures moving alongside each other. In all we do we try to do our best yes and to out-do others, to better OURSELVES, to make ourselves the winner. How different would this be if we instead focussed on life as a dance not a race?

Dances and races both use energy but a dance is about beauty and style in each moment. A race is about passing others in speed or height.

Dances and races both involve skill but a dancers skill is for the delight of others while skill in a race is about surpassing the skill of others.

Dances and races both have an ending but a dance flows from start to finish and ends with a satisfying flourish or a calm conclusion whilst a race ends in a burst of energy and exhaustion.

Which would you rather your life was?

Sermon 21st December 2008 Advent 4

This is my sermon from last Sunday. I was leading a service of the word in a rather busy team of churches where the clergy where around and about leading yet more carol services in various places!

The readings for the morning were:

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 16:25-27

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26-38

I decided to focus on the Gospel. Each member of the congregation was given an image of the annunciation (found via google images) before the service started.

So it’s nearly Christmas… but not quite. And we’re taken back this morning, back in time 9 months or so in fact from where we’re about to be to the moment when Mary first learns that she is going to have this child whose birth we will celebrate this week!
As St Paul put it; it’s
“the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26but is now disclosed”
That’s a passage we have all heard many times I’m sure. It’s a story we’re familiar with and yet I’m sure we all see it rather differently in our minds. Have a look on your seats (you may have already spotted them!) and you’ll see a few ways that various artists over the years have depicted that moment of annunciation. Now there are some very different styles some traditional some very modern. You may like your image or you may dislike it. Respond to it honestly.
Some have a very tangible ANGEL figure whilst others show something more of a presence or a glow. Some have Mary just sitting quietly in her room, in others she’s looking out the window or in a garden. Or she’s surrounded by flowers or bright colours. In some Mary is very still and quiet and submissive in a prayerlike or meditative pose. In others she is actively engaged in conversation with the angel or perhaps questioning – How can this be?
How would you paint or sculpt this story or make it into a film or a piece of music perhaps or a dance?
There are two elements of this story which I would want to focus on if I were painting it. Two elements which stand out for me as the most important
The first for me is this element of the otherworldly coming into the ordinary.
Why do you think the angel had to say, so very quickly, "Do Not Be Afraid"? There’s an ANGEL right there in front of her. And the Gospel rather coyly describes this as;
“she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be”
Now, I work with teenagers and there are not many teenagers I know who would have responded quite so calmly to a supernatural being appearing so suddenly and calling them “favoured one”. It reminds me in a way of that lottery advert they had a few years ago with the giant hand coming down from the sky and pointing at someone with those booming words “IT COULD BE YOU” and I think that’s why this element of the story strikes me. It COULD be any one of us. Mary was no-one particularly illustrious or famous. She was just like one of us until that day. And God sent her this message as her to serve him.
Now I’m not saying it’s going to be that clear for each of us when God calls us to do something. I don’t think there’ll be hundreds of different of classical paintings of the moment that God called one of us to be a teacher, to help at a local charity, to befriend a neighbour or sit with someone who is ill.
The second part of this story which really sparks something in me, is not actually the news that Jesus is to be born. That is an amazing gift to each and every one of us. A gift we may take for granted or be so unable to grasp that we can’t even begin to describe it. No the element that gets me is Mary’s response.
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Ok so there’s some initial doubt that she can possibly have a child without there being a physical father. Yet so very quickly she comes back with this YES. This complete submission to God’s will. God calls her and she answers that call.

That’s what I would want to show in a painting. Not just a passive beatified and serene Mary but a Mary saying YES with all her being.

So my painting would be of the otherworldly coming into our world with that call and Mary responding YES to that call.

The reason I’d want to paint that is because I think this story really encapsulates God’s call to each of us. I don’t know what God might be calling you to. I do know that he is. I know that God says to you, as he says to Jeremiah, “For I know the plans I have for you… Plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” And if that’s true at any time it’s all the more true at Christmas. A future and a hope. That is what we look forward to and we find that future and that hope in listening to God’s call and in answering it as Mary did.
So when the Lord calls. Will you answer as she did
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Saying yes to God

1. When is it hardest for us to say yes to God?
2. What makes Mary able to say it?
3. How can we follow her example?
4. What is one way we can show God's love this Christmas?

Christmas Card in Video form

For those of you who don't receive one of the rare cards I've sent out (Yes I actually HAVE sent some this year - it's a "oh we've moved house" thing!) I've put together a little video using some of my paintings and doodlings and a track from a CD recorded at the fabulous church of St Mary and St George in High Wycombe where I guest non-starred with a friend of mine in the alto section for a choir from Stokenchurch. It's a setting of the words below which is, somewhat appropriately considering we're now next door in Worcestershire, the "Herefordshire Christmas Carol" preserved by the great Ralph Vaughan Williams (who's anniversary year it is!)

I love these words and won't be singing them this year for the first time in many years as I'm not in a choir at Christmas for the first time since ... er... well probably since I could string two words and a few notes together!

The words tell us what Christmas is all about. Not something that happened 2000 years ago but something which began so much earlier and continues today:

This is the truth sent from above
The truth of God, the God of love
Therefore don't turn me from your door
But hearken will both rich and poor

The first thing that I do relate
Is that God did man create
The next thing which to you I'll tell
Woman was made with man to dwell

Thus we were heirs to endless woes
Till God and Lord did interpose
And so a promise soon did run
That He would redeem us by His Son

And at that season of the year
Our blessed redeemer did appear
He here did live and here did preach
And many thousands he did teach

Thus He in love to us behaved
To show us how we must be saved
And if you want to know the way
Be pleased to hear what He did say.

If you're very clever you may pick up a few unspoken Scriptural references through the pictures - not just the ones with words!

Christmas blessings one and all...

Muppets vs Puppets

The young people who came with me to a national event down in London about the Youth Evangelism Fund couldn't quite believe I was so freaked out by the puppets that were shown. I don't know what it is but the human puppets that feature in most incarnations of Christian puppetry wig me out completely. The animals and weird muppety creatures... all fine. People puppets - FREAKED.

This is peculiar really as I LOVE the Muppets (Beaker is sitting on my desk right now!) and am holding out as long as I can before watching Muppet Christmas Carol this year. Yet there is that big difference. In the muppets, humans were always humans and muppets were always muppets in all the colours of the rainbow (even though it's not easy being green).

My youthwork colleagues in my last job thought I was joking when I told them of this phobia but realised it was true when we went to the Christian Resource Exhibition and I had to run the gauntlet of smiley pink furry faces. They did try some aversion therapy and Costa (my mini monkey puppet) still travels around with me in my work bag!

All this has got me thinking about The Muppet Christmas Carol. The followign will have to do for now though... apologies to my more catholic readers... they don't do an Advent song but I have put it in seasonal colours!

Beard, madam?

I'm grinning to myself a bit today as I received a rather bizarre request yesterday. If they can't find anyone else and as I'm quite new would I dress up in a red coat and don the white beard for the sunday school party. "You'd have to speak in a deep voice, of course" said someone who was recently dressed up as a human sized Christingle (yes there does appear to be a recurring theme going on here!!).

It has all made me think about those very silly scenes from the Life of Brian now, by the wonders of modern science and the generosity of the Pythons themselves available on Youtube.



The Life of Brian really was misunderstood as being against Jesus. All the Pythons, in preparing to make the film, re-read the Gospels and came back decided that they couldn't knock this guy as he was honourable... the CHURCH however... totally open to ridicule for some of its curious practices and sometimes lemming like behaviour!

If you're sitting comfortably

You might not be in too much shock that I'm blogging twice in one day!

I had the privilege of doing a lot of waiting over the weekend - a true introduction to Advent. Unfortunately about seven hours of the waiting was in trying to get Photostroy to save my intercessions video only to resort to redoing the whole thing on Windows Movie maker (grrr!).



Anyway the service at Alvechurch was in fact great and the video and other alternative prayer opportunities went down really well. people had the choice of planting a seed of prayer, making bead crosses (thank you Fiona!), colouring celtic knotwork or watching the video as an inspiration to prayer.

I was also oreaching for the service and wanted to give peopel a powerful image to help them think about the value of waiting and the difference between waiting around and waiting actively.

I used the symbolism of bubbles and balloons.
Bubbles take no effort and are pleasing but don't last and you can blow as many as you like but they will never stay long.
Balloons take more effort and skill (knot tying) and will last that bit longer. Without the effor thtough a balloon is just boring.

I then took out a rocket balloon and poitned out that these took stretching, a special inflating straw and much more puff. However the extra effort is worth so much more as it produces something exciting.

I went on to speak about how much more effort it would take to inflate a hot air balloon but how much MORE AMAZING that would be.


Below is the text of what I might have said had I stayed by the lectern but, as I am wont, I wandered around and spoke slightly different (no doubt better) words.

(to be added later today)

Take that you doubter!

Ok so I had a scary moment last week. It was a bit of a shock...

A few weeks ago while ont he way to the Diocesan Board of Education meeting, I switched on YouthComm radio (as I tend to when I'm in Worcester as I can't get it for much more than a few miles outside the city or at home!). A song came on which had really powerful words and was then followed by another song as I pulled up in the car park so I wasn't able to catch who was playing it. It went roudn in my head and the lyrics stuck with me. the words I heard were these:

"Let’s make a new start, The future is ours to find...
Arms open wide
Yea the world starts to come alive
Today this could be the greatest day of our lives
and the world comes alive and the world comes alive"

I had images of using them at Christmas or Easter for talks etc.

Then shock! horror! I discover it's a Take That song. Noooooooo!

I remember htis happened before with Will Young. Iheard three songs over a few months which I thought were by George Michael ... only to discover that I liked Will Young's music. It was good. I even bought the album.

Does this mean I'm turning into a Take That fan??? Please, no!

Something for the weekend

Has your youth group done every outdoor activity there is? Stuck for some new ideas? I picked up information about a fabulous organisation called Treasure Trails. Not only does the pack offer you a walking guide to help you get them out in the open air but it also gives you a puzzle to solve - either a treasure hunt, murder mysery or James Bond style spy trail. There are trails in Worcestershire and Herefordshire (particularly handy of you're staying at Woolhope Cockshoot - there's one in Ledbury!) There are also trails for Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Enjoy!

Jesus Christ is waiting in the streets

I loved this nativity scene by our local street pastel artist. I have a better view of the pastel drawing itself but I just like the way the artist is in this one and so is CHRIST. Despite the lovely "Christmassy" Victorian Market in Worcester today, I have to say this was the moment that most reminded me of Christmas. I just hope he wasn't sent on and the picture washed away as it so often is.

Oranges are not the only Christingle

Having been described as "former blogger" just one too many times by a certain prolific and wise blog hero, I thought it really was time to get back here.

I was at a meeting last night with the planning group for a parish Sunday School. They were a fab group of dedicated and enthusiastic people full of love for all the members of their group, even those whom they have found challenging over the years.

Among other things we were discussing the construction of Christingles in preparation for their service. (ah memories of discussions on Dave Walker's site and his great alternative Christingles cartoon - to see it properly go to the church times archive or BUY THE BOOK or the other book - great Christmas presents for churcgoers) Not only did I get a chance to see the HUMAN CHRISTINGLE costume (which is a work of pure genius! I do have a pic but would hate to embarras the person who was demonstrating it at the time) they're going to be using but we also had a chat about what sweets would be used, what ribbon/red tape, what sweets/raisins do you use. I remember hours of agony with Dolly mixtures in a previous year. Not only are some dolly mixtures utterly impregnable but we had enthusiastic helpers putting four on each of the four sticks which meant we had to go to the pick and mix at Woolies (where would we go now?? So sad to hear of their demise!) and trawl through the pick and mix trying to pick out only the easily-spikeable-with-a-cocktail stick sweets.So our experiment last night was ... Can you spike a Haribo with a cocktail stick? Answer yes though it looks kinda cruel with the bears!!)

All this was great fun but I have to admit giggling FAR too much when we were esting if you could sellotape the ribbon to the fruit (rather than use pins which are a little un-child-friendly (never mind the fire, spikey cocktail sticks, potential nut/citrus/gluten/dairy allergy to sweets and the slip hazzards due to orange juice all over the floor!). The peopel hosting the meeting didn't have any oranges so we tested the sellotape theory on an apple. It got me thinking...

Why an orange? It represents the world... yes... why not an apple? a peach? I had great images of a Christingle pineapple (impressive but expensive!) and miniature Christingle grapes with hundreds and thousands for sweets (stuck to the sticks with icing!) Fellow youthworker Lizzie tells me she tried a melon Christingle one year.

So why an orange? Well, I like to do my research and apparently he story goes that it was an orange which Bishop John De Watteville used at the first Christingle in 1747. So that's why it's always been an orange before... but now... anyone doing alternative fruit Christingles PLEASE send me pics!!

Birthday Presence online

Ok so I thought my BEST birthday present was the curry book from Michael - source of some fabulous food already... well that was until I saw this video.

I may be a year older but I still appreciate a good slice of Monty Python. Aaaah ...fond memories of singing Eric the half a bee with the youth group on our last youth holiday (and surprising some of them by knowing the words!)
For the joys of the Silly Olympics, The Four Yorkshiremen and the Ministry of Silly Walks plus some classic clips from the films and some great songs (Sadly :( no Eric the Half a bee yet though!)

The launch video is beautifully subtle Python (So you won't be surprised when I say **CAUTION** there is some mild swearing).

Head on over there! Not suitable for all ages but genius nonetheless!

Training and experience

I'm off to a deanery chapter meeting next week to talk about youth work. I've decided to help the clergy experience what youthwork is like as well as discuss it. So I've got some worship from The Book of Uncommon Prayer supported by the video below. I'm also getting them to do some activities from Frontier Youth Trust's Mission and Young people at Risk and maybe some games


I'm very pleased with the three part reflection from Psalm 126

• What in your community makes you weep?
• Where have you/might you sow seeds?
• What have you/might you reap with joy?

Parable of the sower

Saw this great claymation version of the parable of the sower. The sun has never seemed so evil!

Breath of God

I'm listening online to the morning worship led by the young people from St Barnabas in Kidderminster who are part of mass@barnabas a service designed and mostly led by young people through the help and inspiration of their vicar Fiona. I was privileged to have them lead prayers at my licensing earlier this year and to be with them on Thursday when they recorded the service for BBC Hereford and Worcester. They are a fabulous group of young people and I am unbelievably proud of the wonderful service they have presented. It's rather different to what we often have on a Sunday. It focusses on the Breath of God in Genesis and in the upper room after the resurrection. The radio station also picked up on what I said about Youth Work week so introduced the service as part of that celebration of what we do with young people.

The recording on Thursday was a classic example of teen culture. I think the chap recording was worried they were going to muck around - indeed they were joking around about a few things before we started - sharing the memory of the liturgical dance actions for happy God, sad God and angry God which they devised for a non-existant service, for example. Despite the BBC chap's worries, as soon as they began recording, they became the professional, prayerful, capable group I've come to know and respect them for. I still like the dance actions too though!