This was my journal during training for the ordained ministry, read that story in the archives

Still digging through the pile of notes I made after Greenbelt.

I think the comment which sparked this off was by Richard Burridge, but it might not have been!!

Reverse the Lord’s Prayer, what would that sound like?  Not the words, but the meaning.  I remember the comment, and the first line, however, he didn’t carry on and complete the job, so i’ve done it for him!
Here’s the original, just to remind you

Our Father,
Who is in heaven,
Hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
On earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us,
Save us in the time of trial,
and lead us not into temptation
for the kingdom, power and the glory are yours,
now and forever, Amen

And here’s the reverse version…

Your Father,
Who is on earth,
your name is unknown,
your kingdom’s got no chance,
your will is ignored,
On earth and probably in heaven as well (wherever that is).
Give us today everything we don’t need,
but don’t forgive our sin,
because we’re not about to forgive others.
There is no time of trial except our struggle for more wealth,
and we like temptation, it fuels our greed.
For the Power the Kingdom and the Glory belong to those who seek it
now, and until someone dies trying to make a difference, Amen

I’ve been watching ‘Big Night’ this evening, a small yet great film from 1996 where two Italian brothers risk everything to save their business on one night of food. I was led to this film whilst looking at material for a confirmation course, the themes relating to Eucharist are replete and muti-dimensional throughout it, however to get back to the title of this, Sara Miles was speaking about a food distribution center she ran in LA and the film reminded me that she had commented that: “We should give food to the poor, not because we want to do good to them, but because we know what it is like to be hungry” It is very much the same with Eucharist, one reason why I guess this film strikes a chord with me, is that it is not good enough to prepare for and preside at the Eucharist in a second rate manner, hungry people deserve to be fed the best food, just as much as those who are fed regularly. I’m not suggesting that there should be one particular way of doing this, just that it must be without compromise. I don’t (surprisingly enough) subscribe to the idea from the film that “if you give people what they want for long enough eventually you get to feed them what you want to give them” I think, like Primo, I would rather not prepare anything than serve ‘meatballs with spaghetti’ as it were!

Keep plugging away, eventually the tide will turn!!

Since being away I’ve realised there is a bit of catching up to do, I’ve just responded to a note I left myself to order some fairtrade shirts.   Maggi Dawn mentioned it a week or so ago, so I’ve taken the plunge and ordered two.  The good thing about these shirts - or so they claim is that the labour is paid for fairly as well as the cotton!

There is now much to un-pack, dirty clothes and lots of notes on scraps of paper - photo’s will have to wait as I had to use an ordinary camera!! Once the clothes have been washed and the scraps assembled, I might even have something coherent to say. It was good to catch up with people I’ve not seen for ages though!!

Picture of the labyrinth

This has been growing now for some weeks, I only got around to photographing it today, I must admit we are feeding quite a few slugs and caterpillars, but it has been used a fair bit. (some of our choir were late into the service because they we walking it!!) The plan is to plant some flowers after the vegetables go over / get eaten.

Why does everything start to come good just as you are about to go away?? Toms are doing really well, courgettes have finally decided to grow, cucumbers are doing well, caterpillars are needing collection every morning and chillies, (sorry for the naff picture.) It has taken two years to grow this plant, (i’m quite chuffed as you can imagine) this year there are loads of small bullet shaped fruit, twilight chillies go through a number of colours before hitting the jackpot and being devilishly hot!! We may make some Chilli jam, mmmm.

Hmmm!!

Following writing on Britain from above, and listening to yesterdays Thinking Allowed I have been pondering on the question of vocational living in any one of these places, rural, semi-rural, urban, city etc.

There must be a vocational element to living in each of these, I’ve always been drawn to the rural setting, I don’t seem to be built for the city somehow…

However after the illuminating picture of Britain from above, and listening to reflections on rural living, perhaps the real challenge is to live in a more heavily populated area and work towards reducing the footprint away from the centre of that geographical area, keeping money and travelling local rather than spreading it across a larger area.  I think, rather than suggesting one lifestyle, (rural, urban etc is better than the other), the thing to focus on is locality.  Following the reflections on Thinking Allowed, it seems to rural has as much to learn about community from urban centres as the perhaps idyllic rural images people may have are either not true or created rather than natural.

Those who seek the urban ‘pretty gardens and perfect lawns’ need to see the real rural life which ocasionally contains a little mud on the road, or perhaps a chicken or two and the idillyc rural seekers need to learn about small communities needing the involvement of each individual and of a life lived more in the open.

So where does that leave to vocation to a rural setting?  Answers to that may be short, but certainly not closed.  It may take on an altogether different style of ministry from the traditional rural…

Andrew Marr investigates Britain from above (BBC1 Sunday) - a revelation - if in reality there is no new information, it is truly a revelation to see Britain in this way, it really does display the preference of the country, in its movements, daily struggle to get to places, the transport networks, infrastructure and information paths. Rather than looking at the ever increasing light trails that the program used to display our movements and those of the transport we use, including telephone and internet, I was more interested in the ‘blank’ patches and found myself wondering where these were, some obvious like Snowdon, or Aldermarston but others not so obvious. These blank patches represented a slower pace of life, a life which perhaps was more in tune with the land around it, rather than racing about around the country. The website dedicated to this program has quite a resource of information… Thankfully Holywell seems to be a little out of the ‘mad rush’ areas, I plan to move (when I get the chance) to an even less ‘mad rush’ area next, (and hopefully expand it!)

It’s been one of those weeks, culminating in today, when I have been humming along to a tune.  Fortunately this week it has been one I’m quite familiar with and fond of!!

I treated the congregation to the full three minutes and five seconds of what is perhaps one of Paul Simon’s best known pieces of writing.  I’m not sure what the inspiration for the song was, I try to find out, but all the official sites seem silent on that subject!!

The sermon took a wide angle lens look at the passages (1 Kings 19:9-18 Matt. 14:22-23)

and suggested that:

“The point at which the miracles happen…    … is the point at which we re-enter and engage with the world”

All this stems of course out of both Jesus and Elijah dwelling with God atop the mountain…

 Hello darkness, my old friend,
I’ve come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.