still enjoying things.....

I have been toying with this quote for a few days- it is from Maggi Dawn's blog (see links on right):-

Burnout comes not primarily from doing too much, but from doing what we don't really want to do - so that one foot is moving forward and the other foot is trying to run away."
Dennis Linn - Sleeping with Bread, p.13

I think I'm really back in the swing of things, but (at the moment) in a different way. I don't feel so overwhelmed. I'd still like to be on sabbatical, or at least have 'sabbatical moments'.

The Sunday Breakfast? Record crowds- they kept coming & I don't know where from. The challenge now is to work out what 'discipleship' means in this context and I've got a lot to do to find and follow that for myself.......

In the car, following BBC4 documentary on Sunday on the Hammersmith Palais, rediscovered 'The Good, the Bad and the Queen'.......just an excellent, excellent album...

Cartoon...try again

Next time I'll use the 'preview button'. D'oh...

Cartoon

I'm not sure how this is going to paste, definition-wise, but this is a cartoon I was going to use tommorrow for the main service. Never got round to it though..... check out http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/.

I just read this (M.Moynagh 'emergingchurch.intro-Monarch 2004 p25):-

'Emerging church is a mindset ('we'll come to you') rather than a model. It is a direction rather than destination. It rests on principles rather than a plan. It arises out of a culture. It is a mood,scarcely yet a movement.' (p25).

I'd like to think that is where I'm coming from...

The picture is of a breakfast (as a comment that ranks level with 'water comes out of taps' , 'cars go on roads' or 'England didn't play very well' (I watched the 2nd half- despite 5-1 they were poor and slightly less boring than something very boring)). It is 'The Sunday Breakfast' tommorrow in Hutton Rudby.

On and off in 9 years of paid ministry I've been doing stuff like this. I'm never quite sure whether it is emerging from a community or I'm imposing it. Is it God moving or my ego projecting ('look at me, I have an earring, I'm trendy and a vicar, love me...please'). Perhaps a strange mix.

Anyway, its my first since sabbatical and I've heard that so many won't be there....hope it 'works' (and what is 'works' anyway?)...........actually, now I know that I'm back and will be around for ages, will I have the courage to develop it/stop it/ explore what emerging discipleship looks like/add as applicable......

Can you see why my theme song is 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for? I can!

Pray for me!

Back at work...still

I've finally started proper lessons on this...... I am slowly trying to unlearn my bad technique...

My posting is slipping- that is a bad sign.

I made all sorts of informal promises to myself about how I would handle the return and what I would do....blogging was supposed to be a discipline to help that.

So here I am on Friday...the day that I get most stuff done for Sunday, trying to keep that vow.

Here is something from Jonny Baker (see blogs I follow) from a couple of days ago:-

'one of the interesting sections in clay shirky's chapter is a story of a firm that had new management and a piece of research was done to see which managers came up with the most creative solutions. the discovery was that those that were least locked into their own department brought the most creativity i.e. lots of their connections were external. as he put it bridging capital puts people at greater risk of having good ideas. in any network there is a balance to be had. the temptation is to want to keep it tight - i.e. relate to people with similar passions/interests etc as you share concerns, struggles etc. but the network will stifle if it is too tight - it needs random elements and connections that are totally different to bring a creative edge. how you strike that balance i have no idea but for some people i think it's counter intuitive'.

That says to me, don't get sucked in.... keep reading, networking etc etc and make space for that. When I don't I get too serious or suffer from 'Messiah complex' (every minister gets it- 'I can solve your problems' or worse still 'I am the cause of everything, nothing can move without me).

I'm going now, back to preparation hopefully, to paraphrase Leonard Cohen, to leave enough cracks in everything so the light can get in.....

Photos- today

Don't you get sick of blogs where the blogger's family photos keep appearing in the blog? Really cheesy.............

Back to work

First day back....... have I stepped off the island back into the sea, or have I come out of the sea and got back onto the island? I am not really sure.

I intended to blog more from Cliff but I couldn't fathom the wireless connection after a while, so being a bear of very little brain gave up.

Back from Cliff, some writing up, a sabbatical report (could I, couldn't I be a little bit transparent...ok I managed it), lots more time with the family... some drinks with a two friends (last night- toyed with doing my sabbatical questionaire, but that is as far as we got) plus.... I picked up a copy of Terminator 3 for £2 from Woolies!!!! Exactly my kind of film; sensitive characterisation, deep dialogue and subtle nuances.....

Still having trouble locating a guitar teacher who can match the gaps in my schedule although I can now (nearly) play one Belle and Sebastian song and one U2 song.

Tired...