I have moved- change your links!!!

http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

Nothing to see here..... move along now.......

http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

Change your links to

http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

visit me...take my count up...inflate my ego....

http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

Last posting on this blog

I have now moved and you can find me on....
http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

It is not yet complete but it is fit to move into....... it will be updated and changed over this week...

I'm leaving!

Well.....leaving blogger anyway and moving to a new site 'soon' (and by the way, whichever way you look at it- the above picture is 'wrong'. Why would you need to move a church building anyway- why not demolish or do without? Hasn't this been the western Christian way- 'church' is something fixed, immutable and unchanging.... grrrrr). If I have time, it will be tonight....although you know that a good minister never has time; he (and it is always he, never forget that) is too busy (business is a sign of holiness) doing church stuff.....being overweight, having bad hair etc to ever have time to do normal things...

This will be the site: http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/ it is still being constructed- so it is not complete. I like it- a friend in Seattle, an all round good egg, is completing it...

It will be just like moving into a new house- getting used to it, working out what works and eventually being proud of a functioning space. Hmmm, so nothing like a manse then, which is rarely new, often doesn't function and 'OK that is fit for the tip and we were going to tip it, but we wondered whether you want it' (mayhaps a smidgen of irony there.... just a smidgen...).



While I'm at it, isn't a blog the ultimate vanity project, like the 18th century gentleman's habit of wearing powdered wigs? We laugh at powdered wigs now, but then...... they were just as trendy and upper class as insulting someone of a different ethnicity is now (upper class people in GB don't do that anymore though do they.....do they.....hmmmm...why can't they all be as upstanding as Prince Harry?).

No, no vanity here in my blog. That is 'my' blog..... my blog... my blog .... MY BLOG...... I am ever so 'umble.....

check it out http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

but I'm not boasting about http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/

No you won't catch me boasting (by the way it is http://diggingalot.org/diggingalot/ did I mention it?).

Quote of the Day

“Nothing makes people in the church more angry than grace. It’s ironic: we stumble into a party we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus’ irresponsible love, we decide to make grace ‘more responsible’ by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out (which as I understand it, are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include.)”

- Michael Yaconelli in Messy Spirituality

HT:http://www.nakedpastor.com/

Church

Did it!

With thanks to a small floppy earred quadruped of unusual hue for the advice! (HT:http://raspberry_rabbit.blogspot.com/)

Church

For some reason I can't wotk out how to upload videos, so you will have to click on the link.....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc80G6Yzu04

Go on....you know you want to and it is only 2:30 of your time.

It could be any church- any issue...

This is not me; for one thing, I am not an angry woman (at least not time I checked in the bathroom, although there are many industrial chemical factories not far from here) and for another I had one of those mellow Sundays that was beautiful (a baptism of some good friends' daughter and their farewell service before emmigration. Just beautiful- a thin place and some very affirming comments).

This is not me, but why o why o why o why o why? Just these last few days I have witnessed some unseemly spats ( did you like the 19th century english just there?) on an e-group I am part of (of Methodist ministers of all people) and on one or 2 websites that I like.



I know why...people get upset, angry, furious even. I do and I do often. It is so easy to post first and ask questions later. I wonder if part of it is the nature of being a Christian/being in full time ministry?

Even my postmodern, casual, ironic, slacker self wants someone to like me/affirm me as a success or at least better than someone else. I want to be 'right'. I get angry with people who I think are 'wrong'.

It is hard to get in touch with your own insignificance, acknowledge it even; especially as a 'professional Christian'. This is not to wallow in middle-class guilt (looking at my last few cd purchases, I do seem to be like that); you can't lose your perspective that although you screw up big time, you are valued and unique.

But as a 'professional Christian' I think that it is essential to know that although you are gifted and have a calling, you have to know that you are at the same time not the centre of the universe, not the new messiah, not annointed beyond flaws, not indispensible.

I came across this a day or so back. I first came across it during my sabbatical. It reminded me of important stuff. It is from Romero. I think I ought to print it out. I could mail it to a few friends....which would really make me a self-righteous prig that most right thinking people would want to deck. A lot. No best to think on it myself........

(HT: http://wesroberts.typepad.com/)

A Future Not Our Own...

It helps, now and then, to step back

and take the long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of

the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.

Nothing we do is complete,

which is another way of saying

that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church's mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:

We plant seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted,

knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders,ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

Quote of the Day

"I'll be long gone before some smart person ever figures out what happened inside this Oval Office."

George Bush Washington DC, 12 May, 2008


...and there are many more from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7809160.stm

Football result of the day

Manchester United 3- Chelsea 0

I make no further comment.

Cartoon

HT: http://raspberry_rabbit.blogspot.com/

I think that this works on several levels; I counted at least 17 (or it could be 18).

What I've always thought.....

From the incomparable http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/

Quote of the day

“Apparently Suggs is marching against racism and homophobia - I mean, it’s just madness gone politically correct”

(from Stephen Fry on Twitter HT: http://theconnexion.net/wp/ .... perhaps incomprehensible to anyone not British...).

Cartoon

(HT:http://www.internetmonk.com/)

Quote of the day...

Serious this one...I'm going to use it on Sunday...

‘A fairly new worshipper shocked her friend; ‘Before I became a Christian, I told lies; now I sing lies.’….. can we allow ourselves to ‘tell it like it is’ in worship?’
(Roots magazine Jan/Feb 2009 p2)

...not always..... see this http://revjph.blogspot.com/2009/01/cross-rewritten-for-modern-people.html and leave a comment. This site is always interesting and frequently controversial..

Comments please!

Image from www.lawyersconveyancing.com.au/img/im_gagged.jpg. It is amazing what images come out when you put the word ‘gagged’ in…


Ok- I know that some people read this blog. A chosen few I actually know; most of you I don’t. You do it either because:-

(1) You know me and it is to keep me quiet.

(2) You accidentally clicked on ‘diggingalot’ when you were looking for gardening supplies or you are a hep hip cat kind of dude that ‘digs’ things.

(3) It is part of your asbo/community service order /rehabilitation to surf the net.

(4) You do not have a life.

(5) You like it (really…?)

(or it could be a combination of all 5).

But not many of you comment!!!

Therefore, to make it easy for you I’ve put some sample comments below. All you have to do is cut and paste into the comments field! It couldn't be easier! (well breaking wind and picking your nose probably is....).

Sample comments:-

* 'Thanks for your blog; it is the most wonderful thing written ever! '

*'Amazing; have £60,000 a year and come and work for me.'

* 'I will report you to your church; you are a heretic and should be burnt at the stake or at least forced to watch God Channel for 65 hours a week'.

* 'Sorry, I just stopped by whilst looking for Dutch porn (you are not by any chance from Zeebrugge are you….thought not…)'

(visitors should note that I often use a concept called 'Irony' (TM) in my postings...)

Quote of the Day

....I never meant this to be a daily thing.....I just keep finding quotes.... I guess I always did...just never had anyone to inflict them on..... plus they got lost....



'The Seldom Seen Kid': another CD I must blog on soon (still yourselves...settle down...). I have always had a soft spot for Elbow as one of the lead singer's friends was once part of a former congregation (Don't you just love hanging on the coattails of fame? Did I ever tell you the story of when I saw 'Wham' in a service station?....ok I won't).



This CD is beautiful, yearning and just lovely. Take the mystic yearning of 'The loneliness of a tower crane driver':-

'Now I live off the mirrors and smoke.

It's a joke.

A fix.

A lie.

Come on tower crane driver.

Oh so far to fall.

Send up a prayer in my name.

Just the same.

They say I'm on top of my game.

Gentle gentle love.

Send up a prayer in my name.'

Ah..... turn the lights off...kick your shoes off...light a candle...light several.....find a mature single malt... lie back... and once you know this song. I defy you to sing it in this mood and not have tears pouring down your face.

Church...what is it good for? (again)

(From 'Naked Pastor'- see links. It is such a brilliant site...)


The blog title says it:- 'musings from the web'...


This is one I unearthed a few days back, quoting from someone who trained for the ministry (Chris Hedges http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081229_why_i_am_a_socialist/) who now rarely attends worship. It is from a USA perspective (I think):-

'the inanity of the sermons and the arrogance of many congregants, who appear to believe they are "honorary" sinners. The liberal church, attacked by atheists as an ineffectual "moderate" religion and by fundamentalists as a "nominal" form of Christianity, is as its critics point out, a largely vapid and irrelevant force… it does not understand how the world works or the seduction of evil. The liberal church is largely middle class, bourgeois phenomenon, filled with many people who have profited from industrialisation… and global capitalism. They often seem to think that if "we" can only be nice and inclusive, everything will work out. The liberal church also usually buys into the myth that we can morally progress as a species… [and has a] naive belief in our goodness and decency - this inability to face the dark reality of human nature, our capacity for evil and the morally neutral universe we inhabit……

Religious institutions, however, should be separated from the religious values imparted to me by religious figures, including my father. Most of these men and women ran afoul of their own religious authorities. Religion, real religion, involved fighting for justice, standing up for the voiceless and the weak, reaching out in acts of kindness and compassion to the stranger and the outcast, living a life of simplicity, cultivating empathy and defying the powerful. It was a commitment to care for the other. Spirituality was defined not by "how it is with me," but rather by the tougher spirituality of resistance, the spirituality born of struggle, of the fight with the world's evils. This spirituality, vastly different from the narcissism of modern spirituality movements, was eloquently articulated by King and the Lutheran minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was imprisoned and put to death by the Nazis'.

(HT: http://pluralistspeaks.blogspot.com/)

His bile is against the 'liberal church', but it could be any of us. Is church really worth anything if we just attend from time to time or even attend regularly, but spend ages on what goes on inside (and just become banal and safe)?


I was leading something this week based on something that 'Fresh Expressions' http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/index.asp?id=1 produced. It talked about how if Western churches make a move from isolated souls just happening to share the same space once a week, they move towards a 'pastoral' model- caring and loving each other, but that is where it stops. We have to move to a 'missional' model (horrible, horrible jargon) where our relationships show Christ, where we bleed and rejoice together, but where we turn outwards at the same time... so the hungry are fed and the humble lifted high (hmm... wonder where I have read that before?).

I guess when we just look at ourselves and get all pastoral, we end up getting obsessed with stuff that, although important, just doesn't matter in the global scheme of things: worship styles, defining the word 'missional', is this a 'proper' communion?, are they ordained? etc etc etc. Or is this just me? Or is this just one of my dark January rants?

Quote of the Day

‘This leads me to something weird about the power that music has, it’s transportive ability. Any time I hear a song or record that meant a lot to me at a certain moment or I was listening to at a distinct time, I’m instantly taken back to that place in full detail.’

Warren Gamaliel Bancroft Winnipeg Harding
Chicago, Illinois,
April 6th, 2008

Sleeve note- Fleet Foxes: Fleet Foxes (2008)

I must blog about this CD sometime. It is incredible. Cool name as well. 'Gamaliel'....wow. The quote is 'right' as well. Music takes me to another place.

Praying.....

....Praying..... most Christians talk about it like going to the toilet...it is assumed that you do it...you just don't talk about it in polite society.

I spent some time today at a church prayer breakfast. As always there was a lot of breakfast. That is why I have put these pictures in; to brighten up this posting. There wasn't a full cooked English, but there was a lot of food......

I have been musing on a friend's blog posting of a day or so ago. I have worked with this friend before. I respect him immensely. He has taught me a lot about abandoning my English reserve (which I have not effectively put into practice!).

Check out his web site....a good illustration of what happens to a retired Boeing Exec who hits 60 & decides there must be more to Christian retirement than going to church and dying on the golf course http://efmdg.org/efmdg/

This is the blog posting:-

***WARNING: THE MAN IS NOT, I REPEAT NOT, ORDAINED SO READERS OF A NERVOUS DISPOSITION SHOULD SCROLL DOWN***

Answers to Prayer for What I Want

I struggle with prayer. In many ways it seems so pointless. I’ve seen more rationalization about prayer than any other spiritual topic.

The most fervent prayers seem to be for things we want. It can be for health, money, relief from suffering, preferred outcomes–you can fill in the blank. After the prayer comes an expectation of an answer in the near future. Sometimes the thing we pray for comes about, more often (in my experience) it doesn’t. Then comes the rationalization. God is saying “no” or God is saying “wait” or something similar to that. Sometimes we think that maybe the prayer didn’t go through and then we think about James’ statement that “the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” Maybe the problem is that I’m not righteous enough. Or again James says “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” Maybe my motives were wrong. As Mordecai says “Who knows?” In the end, we really don’t know why the request was not fulfilled–that’s why we have to rationalize.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus prays for God’s will to be done, the coming of the Kingdom on Earth, daily bread, forgiveness of sins (conditional on our forgiving others), avoidance of temptation, delivery from evil. Nothing there about good health, a promotion and raise, a new car, healing of others. The only time that I can think of when Jesus prayed for himself was in the Garden of Gethsemane and that request was refused. He accepted the answer and moved on albeit sorrowfully.

I tend to avoid praying for specific things or outcomes. There are several reasons for this:
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that God knows what we need and, as a loving Father, provides those things to us. Jesus also points out that God does not give harmful things (stones and snakes). As I look back over my life, I realize that a lot of things I prayed for were best left unanswered. I realize that in so many cases I was praying for rocks and snakes instead of bread and fish. This leaves me with a strong distrust of my ability to discern the difference.

If I pray that God’s will be done, then maybe I should leave it at that. What is my wisdom compared to God’s? If, as Jesus says, that God is a loving father, perhaps I should spend my time finding the benefits of the things that He sends my way–even if they are trials that build my perseverance. Perhaps the time I spend praying for what I want but don’t have would be better spent in giving thanks for what I do have.

There’s a lot more in the Bible on prayer. And there’s a lot more to prayer than asking for things. But praying for specific things and outcomes seems to me to be running into dangerous territory. I think I’ll stick to the Lord’s Prayer.

http://ericsblog.org/ericsblog/

Well it made me think.... a lot....

Then I scroll across to 'naked pastor' (see links)

You have to read this blog- it is an antidote to the 'God has touched me and my life is a state of perpetual bliss' (or 'why I listen to CCM music all the time'). Today's post http://nakedpastor.com/archives/2532#comments deals with existential crisis and actual crisis (note to those who wonder about random pictures- that is why I have the above picture). One of the comments to the posting says:-

In the end the only way through is to find meaning within the the world around you. For those of us who are believers, that means prayer, community and scripture. But the most important of these is healthy, compassionate community which is a precious commodity in our churches. Very few people in our individualistic society are capable of engaging in true community. I have learned too that there are some questions that have no answers and some pains and trials that simply must be endured. No explanations given, despite our pleas. But if you have the Holy Spirit and a friend/lover/dog to walk beside you, its amazing what the soul can endure.

Perhaps that is why the prayer breakfast I went to somehow 'works'- there is prayer, some of it with tears. But there is also food, banality, friendship and community. I can never fathom or give a reason to prayer, but if it is just personal and never corporate and divorced from a community that bleeds...is it ever really prayer?

(picture:http://www.vuni.net/b/dereliction.jpg)

Today.... for our troubled times (although when commentators write that about the developed west, I wonder if they have ever spent any time in Africa... )check out the wonderful http://davidkeen.blogspot.com/ and 'prayers around redundancy.'

Quote of the day

From E.W.Hornung 'Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman' (1899, Penguin 2003) p17:

'The truth is that I was entering into our nefarious undertaking with an involuntary zeal of which I was myself quite unconscious at the time.'

Don't you just love being English? There was a multitude of quotes that I could have chosen from that book, but that one is a beauty. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds just lovely.

What is there to fear from a nation that can come up with phrases like that? How could anyone hate a nation that encouraged phrases like that? True, they could snigger behind their hands at a nation like that... but hate us....Pah unhand me you blaggard, you dashed scoundrel of the first water....

...jazz continued..

Ok, it wasn't quite like this...... but the assembly certainly was 'interesting/vocal/participative' and did stray into rabble territory.

Ministers have a very high opinion of what they say ('I am good at preaching' 'I am annointed by God' etc etc)....recipients less so....

I thought it was good/ok- but it was noisy.

And then I got to thinking...if that is what you do...jazz/improvisation/participation etc..... then there are going to be times when there are bum notes, things that don't quite work. Then (he said, moving further into the territory of self-justification), shouldn't worship reflect life and be messy....isn't there something artificial about 'dignified and reverent'?

school's back for winter....

School starts today. And it starts for me with an assembly.

I love assemblies and work in schools. Often I come out of a school class/assembly and think 'Wow, I get paid for this!'

It can be any age: 2-18 and it is fantastic (in fact, a group of 13-18s that don't want to listen feels like gladiatorial conflict- in a good way ie without the casual murder and ritual disembowling).

Today it is a primary school- lots of people that I have a link with. I read some assembly websites and the assemblies come across a bit didactic and 'Dear children- let me get you to learn something drippy.' I think a good assembly is like jazz.

I don't do jazz (think Spinal Tap and 'free form jazz')- hence my dated jazz picture here......

What I mean- you go in with something- you listen to God and the kids and suddenly what you have got starts riffing and changing. It becomes alive and creative and pregnant with possibilities.

It's 8.15am and I'm raring to go!

Quote of the Day

From the Observer Sport section yesterday p6. An article about Middlesbrough v Barrow:-

'How ironic, then, that Barrow's big day should be played out in another northern coastal town only too familiar with the ups and downs that come with being built on the sweat of heavy industry.'

Mr Spencer Vignes ( for he was the journalist); please look at a map before writing a 'it's grim oop north article'. Last time I was in Middlesbrough (Saturday) I did not notice groups of people queueing up to buy candy floss, buckets and spades, and 'kiss me quick hats'. And there is a simple reason for this (apart from the temperature currently being about -1 centigrade); there is no coast in Middlesbrough- we are inland.

Also 'another northern coastal town' is like writing that Penzance and Brighton are 'southern coastal towns'..... grrrrrrrrr.......... why is the media so southern?

I'm just off now to have tripe butties for my lunch, feed the whippets, put some more coal in the bathtub and find my flat cap. 'appen lad- there's trouble at t'pit'

grrrr grrrr grrrrrr

The first day of the year....

Well it's not.....it is the 5th and the 11th day of Christmas (and my 100th post......wahey....woohoo and other sounds of merriment)..... but this day always feels like the first day of the year: the first Monday 'back at work' proper. It used to be the day when I had a 'proper job' that I would sit at my desk, head in hands, drinking coffee (hmm..... have you ever tried holding your head in your hands and drinking coffee at the same time? It is not easy) and thinking 'when can I have another day off?'


('Addictive to Coffee' cartoon from littlefunny.com)

But- that was then, this is now and I'm always full of beans (mainly coffee) and the joy of the Lord and raring to go (well my study is next to the toilet, so that helps...)....hmmm- maybe a 'hint' of irony there....


3 quotes/ideas that are going round my head at the moment and helping- only one is original; I 'magpie' constantly:-


(1) Something that I picked up from Maggi Dawn's blog a year ago (see links section):-

'The danger of seeing our present actions as only steps to some future goal is that we will find ourselves waiting to start living, postponing present possibilities in the vain hope of some future state of bliss. The secret of happiness is to make peace with the present.'

(2) I was reading a blog on new year's day about action/seeking God and thinking about a baptism/leaving service I am doing for friends who are emigrating (this Sunday- Huddersfield- be there or don't be there). I was also thinking about what it means to 'Go' and this thought came to me...

'There is no point in a restless adventure without a still centre'.

(3) This is off Jonny Baker's blog (see links) a day or so ago. I used it yesterday and plan to use it on Sunday. I like it!

May we be blessed.

As we look to the year ahead, and the year gone by.

As we return to our schools and workplaces and find New rocks and New brambles.

May you be blessed as you engage with others,

as you find the time to participate and give others the chance to do the same.

May you have the courage to create and take risks,

and may you find your rest in God.

May you be blessed,

as you show your weaknesses and accept God's Grace.

May others see that you are fragile that they might join in your fragility.

May our broken edges fit together to become one body.

As Christ kept the holes in his hands and feet having rose from the dead,

may we keep our wounds even after we have healed.

May you be blessed as you are healed by Christ's own wounds.

May you become broken in order to become whole.

May you become whole by knowing you are broken.

May you remember your wounds and embrace your hurt.

May you go into the places that scare you.

May you deal with anger and with sadness

And may God be with you all the way.

May you be blessed, that you are perfect in your imperfections -

as you are forgiven, but never forgotten.

May you be blessed, as you are accepted as you are.

As you are broken.

As you are wounded.

As you are hurt.

As you are loved.

Amen.

Quote of the Day

From p32 of the current Q magazine (John Harris):-

'As far as I am aware, no rock career crisis has ever resulted in its victim going off to their local Anglican church, and resolving to make it down there most Sundays and help out with jumble sales.'

...I can add no meaningful comment to that...

Covenant

'One of the liturgical jewels that methodism brings to the ecumenical table'.

Don't you wish that there was a church version of 'Pseuds corner?' (for non British readers, that is a column in 'Private Eye' for overblown, stuck up your bottom, language). What for instance is a 'liturgical jewel'- is it more or less valuable than a small diamond/piece of gold/ruby/zirconite/beach glass? And what, pray tell, is an ecumenical table? Is it stored in a cupboard at a church HQ somewhere to be bought out for ecumenical discussions: 'Sorry lads- that is the 'Real Presence' table; please could you get the Ecumenical Table in; you know the one that doesn't quite balance and is a bit battered and embarrasing. Whilst you are at it; phone Security- we have an ecumenical jewel coming in today'.


I like the Covenant Service- it is a kind of health check, a reminder at the start of the year. I don't like the service fully from the service book. It can become too po-faced and stern (and why do we often think that that is good in a church setting?). It can confuse seriousness with plain boring and tends to shut all ages out IMHO.

See this from the excellent Dave Walker:-http://www.cartoonchurch.com/blog/
However- this morning I will use one of the versions of 'the prayer' in its entireity. I always do. I/we face many big possible life changes in the next few weeks. I haven't a clue what to pray. Sometimes written stuff helps. This prayer, said in a community with others, stops my prayers becoming 'Me Me':-

'I am no longer my own but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you, exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full, let me be empty,

let me have all things, let me have nothing:

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,

you are mine and I am yours.'

(check out: http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.content&cmid=1499)


That will be one of several moments of stillness in an 'all age' service this morning (I like 'all age'- lots of opps for light and shade, stillness and movement and formality and informality- ie a life-filled occasion).

I did google 'comedy vicar' for a picture for this post and it only came up with this, which I like immensely (see asbojesus in links):-




nb: Middlesbrough v Barrow yesterday was not like watching Brazil, but it was exciting (and very cold).

Thank you

I'm sat here designing 'thank you' cards for my children to send. I used to have to write them myself and they always followed the same formula:-

Dear Uncle Saddam,

Thank you for the weapon of mass destruction that you sent me for Christmas. I liked it a lot and I keep destroying my enemies with it. I hope you had a nice Christmas. Give my love to George.

love Graham

.....it seemed I had to do it over and over and over again. It was a sign that the fun part of Christmas was over. And now they feel the same way.

Why?

What is it that makes playing a joy and writing 'thanks' a pain? How do we manage to seperate the two so that we get 'pleasure' and then 'duty'---- could they both be intermingled?

I don't know- I hope so this year- if I have a hope for this year, it would be to live more in gratitude and thanks...

Anyway...here I am blogging when I could actually be writing 'thank you' cards...history is repeating itself..... back to 'work'......

Hey--- some pleasure to look forward to this afternoon- Middlesbrough v Barrow in the FA Cup. It will be just like watching Brazil. Not

Wearing badges is not enough in days like these....

Red Wedge, Newcastle 1985 (it could have been 1986). I saw the Smiths there! But I also saw the wonderful Billy Bragg. I can rememember Morrisey's gladioli, I can remember the Style council and I can also remember Jimmy Somerville singing with a woman who seemed at least 5 times his height. My strongest memory, however, is hearing Billy Bragg talking about the Labour Party (remember, these were the dark days of Thatcher) and talking about how it was so great that the concert was a sell out, but that meant nothing unless the 'real work' continued and grew after the concert. I can remember leaving, singing his closing song 'Wearing badges is not enough in days like these'. I can remember thinking that I was a Labour Party member in badges only...

I have often thought on those words. I'm thinking on them now as I start a year with soul searching (as ever). I am a Christian, I am a minister- but I'm wondering if these have just become badges. Soon, our income will increase. It will be possible to buy clothes, food, heating, even treats without wondering how we are going to afford it. After 7 years, I can't tell you what that feels like. Maybe I will feel less like an outsider in this village; I don't know

Thing is, I'm already plotting how to spend it..... and a few days in, I'm wondering 'where is God in all this?' See- I have the new(er) car planned, ideas of holidays etc and it seems like God/Christian living has got pushed to the edge of my actions- what about giving/living generously and not just trying to reflect the values of my (over) affluent community? I have no answers at the moment..... but I keep hearing those words- 'wearing badges is not enough in days like these.'

And now, a continuity link leap that even someone in local radio would wince at.......I found this yesterday about the badge 'missional' that has been at the centre of my thinking for I guess, 5 or more years. It made me wince and think 'wearing badges is not enough in days like these.'

Where to now, O Lord?!

http://brackishfaith.blogspot.com/2008/12/are-you-mino.html (HT: the always excellent http://www.backyardmissionary.com/- and see his recent post (today?) on ‘Post-Missional’ - More Than a Dash of Truth?)

'But an idea that has been brewing in my head is that part of the misgiving some have over the word missional comes from the fact that some (many?) who use it are misusing it. I’d like to suggest that there are a lot of churches/individuals out there that are Mino (or Missional In Name Only). And before I continue - I not claming the higher ground on this one because that would just make me a hypocrite. I’m defiantly still trying to overcome my own Minoness.So without further ado – Are you Mino?

+If all the talk is all about ‘going’ and no one goes anywhere – you might be Mino.

+If the majority of your money, your leaders time and your buildings are still used to meet your needs – you might be Mino.

+If your idea of church is still just one hour out of your life each week – you might be Mino.

+If I can come to your church, be anonymous and just blend in – you might be Mino.

+If you spend any significant amount of time perfecting the show – you might be Mino.

+If your worship is little more than an act of spiritual masturbation – you might be Mino.

+If church always has to feel good – you might be Mino.

+If you like to talk about being missional because you think it might help grow ‘your church’ – you might be Mino.

+If you have added a ‘missional program’ – you might be Mino.

+If you bare no resemblance to your surrounding community – you might be Mino.

+If you bare too much resemblance to your surrounding community – you might be Mino.

+If your church sold its building, cancelled all services and programs, fired all staff and gave all its money to the poor but then the church didn’t exist anymore – you might be Mino.

sweeties

Christmas. Christmas week. Lots and lots of sweets.

That is one of my abiding memories of childhood. We hardly had sweets. Or at least sweets freely available. Except for Christmas week, when plastic pots of Quality Street and Licorice Allsorts would appear. And then...it was sweets before breakfast, in between meals and in between sweets....

Someone bought my children some marshmallows. They don't like them. I do. To be more exact, I like anything sweet. Particularly sweets composed entirely of e numbers and the remnants of the colouring used in biological warfare, like these.

I know it's Christmas as I eat sweets a lot. I eat them when I want to and when I don't want to. I eat them if I have to go into the kitchen. I eat them if I have something difficult to do- in order to put it off. They become comfort- kind of a la recherche du temps perdu I guess......

I think at this time we all do stuff that casts us back & helps us recall childhood or imagined childhood.

Back to the present....... is it just me or is this a common experience(?)- I have such a comedown contemplating my first official day 'back to work' in January (a bit of work 2moro, a service on Sunday- so Monday 5th.... In fact its getting me so much that I have to go to the kitchen to do some jobs and eat some sweets.....

How do you do that 'imagined childhood'/ 'Christmas warmth' bit? And no- you can't have any of these sweets. They are all mine. Besides, there soon won't be any left....