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....
Monday, January 26, 2009
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Genesis 3
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!
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!
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Hartbeat
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?
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?
Friday, January 16, 2009
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!!
Reminds me of this clip which I used to use in my history class... perhaps it should have featured in the confirmation course!!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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
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
Monday, January 12, 2009
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.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
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.
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.
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.
Monday, December 29, 2008
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:
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?
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?
Monday, December 22, 2008
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:
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?
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?
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
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:
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...
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...
Monday, December 08, 2008
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!
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!
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!
Monday, December 01, 2008
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)
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!
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!
Friday, November 28, 2008
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.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
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 Christin
gles 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!!
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 Christin
gles 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!!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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!
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!
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