Fresh Paths

Here's a lovely little reflection from (Friday Theology) for those of us who go back to what (or not) we were doing before the summer break:

As the summer is drawing to a close, a new season dawns. For some it will have a hallmark of newness: first day at school, freshers’ week, new class, new rota. New places to go, new fears to conquer and new opportunities to look out for. For others it means going ‘back’ to the well-known rhythms. Back to work, the school run, the drawing board of job applications, back to the same problems, the same people and the same roles. Back on the tramlines - what’s new about that? “People say ‘I'm taking it one day at a time.’ You know what? So is everybody. That's how time works.” Many a truth is said in jest. Hannibal Buress’ above joke came third in the top 10 best jokes at this year's Edinburgh Fringe festival. Besides hosting the annual celebration of comedy, arts, and literature, the city also hosted the International Television Festival. It was the first time that the prestigious MacTaggart lecture was given by someone not principally involved in television broadcasting or production. How good to invite new perspectives. There’s power in the ‘margins’. Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, rightly dominated many of the headlines this weekend, ranging from the British education system and media regulation, to TV and internet convergence. My attention was drawn towards his challenge to “return to a ‘Victorian’ age of bringing science and arts together”. Deploring the current boxed approach of various disciplines, Schmidt gave credit to the creative genius of Steve Jobs: "an artist's eye as well as a definition of what great engineering is". Similarly, in his high profile resignation as CEO of Apple, Jobs ascribed the success of the Mac to a synergy of multiple talents, "because the people working on it were musicians, artists, poets and historians who also happened to be excellent computer scientists". We do well to listen to such giants of innovation. Whether we enter a new season not so much depends on the calendar, but mainly on whether we start new conversations, ask new questions, forge new links, listen to new sounds, create new patterns and ask new people to crash our parties. Leave the tramlines - it’s biblical. Blessed are those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage (Psalm 84:5). In his beautiful poem The Road Not Travelled, Robert Frost reflects Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference Even when the route ahead is seemingly familiar, the time can still be opportune. When Joshua went round the walls of the city for the seventh day for the seventh time, he was listening out for a new sound. And that attentiveness made the ‘same old’ trajectory new. For, the circling was set in the context of a promise. The city would be devoted to God. May He who makes everything new renew your school run, academic year, your work and worklessness, your home and your mind. May the eyes of our heart be enlightened so that we may know the hope to which He has called us and may choose the road in that light. He will make all the difference. Marijke Hoek, coordinator Forum for Change

NAKED SPIRITUALITY

Brian McLaren was one of the speakers I appreciated at greenbelt this year.

In fact greenbelt was an amazing experience for me this year.

Back to one of Brian's talks:

Naked Spirituality, 4 stages.

Stage 1. Simplicity.

dualistic, you're either for us or against us.

Authority figures are godlike, life is war!

Committed but judgmental.

Stage 2. Complexity.

More than one way of doing things.

Pragmatic, success and winning is important.

God helps us to succeed.

Authority figures show us the way to success.

Enthusiastic but superficial and naive.

Stage 3. Perplexity.

Everybody has an opinion.

Relativism, pluralist, critical.

Motive: honest and authentic.

Suspicion of authority figures.

God is a mythic authority.

Depth, honesty, sensitivity to others but cynical, withdrawal, elitist, depressed and uncommitted.

Stage 4. Harmony.

Seek first God's kingdom and righteousness.

Love God, love your neighbor.

Focus: wisdom, integration.

Beliefs: mysteries.

Authorities: people like me, just 'ordinary' people.

Life is what you make it with God's help.

Life with expanding vision & understanding of God.

Give me depth/ manifeste awe & wonder.

Show me deep connections

Confident/humble.

Goal: love

Fulness of time for life - no hurry!

I think these stages are quite an accurate way of explaining 'spiritual journey' and where we should be heading...

stage 4

I guess it takes a whole life and a whole lot of grace...

The Wonderful Kingdom of Mickey!

Disneyland Paris...

Got in at 11.30am left at 11.30pm and did 7 rides!!!

The crowds were gigantic, the queues up to 1 1/2 hours... :-(

but after saying this had a great day...

3 times on Thunder Mountain :-)

Rioting and restoring

here's the email from the Evangelical Alliance (FridayNight Theology) :

It’s not only the Kaiser Chiefs who predicted a riot. It’s been a topic of conversation in my circles of friends for a while. And yet, it seemed to erupt suddenly. What started as a call for clarity on the shooting of Mark Duggin became a spark for a wildfire.

Monday night, the 144-year-old House of Reeves in Croydon burned to the ground; a shop that had survived two world wars and the Great Depression went up in flames in one night. The riots in Hackney caused millions of pounds of damage in Pembury. Tuesday, Manchester experienced "one of the worst days the city has ever seen". Wednesday, three men died in Birmingham while protecting their property. Thursday, Parliament was recalled.

The reckless behaviour fueled by greed without a sense of responsibility to the community, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, actually reminded me of the banking crises. Albeit different social layers and different sums, both the financial crises and the riots displayed similar human characteristics. Earlier this year Barclays’ chief executive Bob Diamond told the Treasury Select Committee that the period of remorse and apology for banks was over. While the harshest of public spending cuts were about to bite and people were losing their livelihoods, the bankers moved on: bonuses and all.

The loss of a sense of responsibility for the public good is expressed in many ways. Yet each of these dysfunctions highlight that society is a complex network of mutuality. We are actually in this together. “Tied in a single garment of destiny”, as Martin Luther King Jr. would say. And so, reckless behaviour comes with huge price tags on both a personal and a communal level.

The broom has to sweep the streets, the boardrooms and beyond. Living in a city that was hit hard, a night of madness nearly makes you think that the decades of praying and building were ‘burned up’ in a night. And while not only the fires but also shining expressions of community action and prayers were lighting up the sky, the imagery of restored community life at times seems light years away.

Fortunately, there are the ‘ancient’ scriptures. When the streets and public squares were filled with misery, the prophets’ visions for restored community life lit up the world as they knew it. And they still do. Zechariah, Joel, Isaiah… they help us to lament and glimpse again the hope for rebuilding the ruins and raising up the age-old foundations.

The young are meant to have dreams beyond a new pair of trainers. The old are meant to live in sound communities. Resources are meant to serve the whole community. The prophets offer an alternative vision for the future. They point to personal responsibility and remind us of the price tag: spending ourselves on behalf of others. Raising the aspirations, unlocking the creativity and engaging people in their own redemption has everything to do with listening and giving the precious gift of time.

Isaiah actually uses the Hebrew word for ‘soul’, our whole persona (Isaiah 58:10). In whatever capacity - banker, community leader, teacher, police officer, journalist, shop owner, academic, pastor, pensioner or parent - may we be called ‘Repairers of Broken Walls, Restorers of Streets with Dwellings’.

refresh you in a scorched land and strengthen your frame.

Marijke Hoek

John Peel

I bought John Peel, a tribute to the much-loved DJ and broadcaster by Mick Wall a few years ago second-hand from an Oxfam shop in England (ican't remember where, possibly Peterborough, but who cares anyway?)...had some time over the summer to do some reading...so thought i'd start on Peely...i couldn't put it down...
remarkable man who played remarkable music...
i remember listening to the John Peel show when i was a wee nipper...
the Smiths, The Fall, The Undertones, Joy Division, The Clash...
reminiscing...
I discovered the Glasgow band Bell And Sebastian after reading the book...
John Peel launched PJ Harvey's career. I saw her a few weeks ago at Arras, to be honest I wasn't too impressed. But I bought a second-hand copy of her 'Dry' CD in Paris (her first record)...
what a delightful LP :-)

York

Went to York for the first time yesterday.

Only 2 hours 1/4 from Peterborough.

We enjoyed the day.

Ate a yummy pub grub at the Cross Keys (I appreciate the pubs in England)

I was disappointed that they charge to go in the Minster. (£9.30 for adults).

Went into Yorvic - a centre that explains the

viking period with a mock village.

Went into St Michael le Belfrey Church where the late David Watson was the vicar.

I was surprised by the smallness of the city.

Acedia

reading Abbot Christopher Jamison's book 'Finding Happiness' and came across a word unfamiliar to me - acedia ; which is spiritual carelessness.

Our society on the whole is too busy to keep spiritual disciplines we don't have the time and if we did what good would it do us?

Quite a challenge for one living in such an age!

The Abbot goes on to say that prayer is essential - to come back to the present moment.

He describes monastic prayer as ' carving out a sacred time and space dedicated in rejoicing in God's goodness and repenting of the thoughts that impede that goodness in my life...so each of us need a sacred time and space that becomes as integral to life as brushing our teeth.'