Sunday, December 11, 2005
(A) History of Advent
Maggi gives us some of the history behind the season of advent here. It seems you can always count on Maggi to either know this sort of stuff or the places to find it out.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Advent; about God or us?
Apologies first of all for not blogging yesterday, my dad locked the office then went off to Edinburgh with the key in his pocket! Sorry, this is meant to be for the 9th.
Advent - a time of waiting. For lighting candles, praying, meditating, anticipating, looking forward, waiting with all our hearts. But what is this in reality? Are we really waiting on a God so amazing, to give us the ultimate present of all time? Or have we put God in a box again, forgetting to open the lid, squishing Him out of our busy routines each day?
What are we actually doing for Him this advent?
Walking down the street today, amongst the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, past signs of "Tis the seasin to be merry!" and other such revelating messages, it struck me how pointless it all was. We dive in and out of shops, picking up useless rubbish, indoctrinated about the fact that we must buy stupid pointless stuff for the sake of buying... Aren't we meant to be waiting? Aren't we meant to be waiting and watching and seeking for Him to make a move in our lives, our hearts, our souls? How many of us, every time we pick up a future-present for someone actually think what the giving is all about? Not many I'm guessing. We shove it in our bag, with a mutter of "Cath will like that, this'll do for Aunt May..."
I know this is turning into a rant... forgive me for that, please!! But, my message is this: God gave us the most astonishing life-changing present there is. To us. Sinful little earthlings. He gave us his son, His most valuable thing. And all we do in return is skit around being pressurised by one another to buy everyone rubbish and put God on hold for a while, while we get our shopping done.
I think it's time to stop. I think it's time to see where we stand. I think it's time we did something different this advent, and, indeed, this Christmas. Let's give a present back to God. Let's give Him our lives. Let's truly and thoroughly wait on Him. Let's seek Him with every ounce of our being. Let's ask Him where we are, what we should do, and listen for the answer that comes.
Let's give this advent back to God.
Advent - a time of waiting. For lighting candles, praying, meditating, anticipating, looking forward, waiting with all our hearts. But what is this in reality? Are we really waiting on a God so amazing, to give us the ultimate present of all time? Or have we put God in a box again, forgetting to open the lid, squishing Him out of our busy routines each day?
What are we actually doing for Him this advent?
Walking down the street today, amongst the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, past signs of "Tis the seasin to be merry!" and other such revelating messages, it struck me how pointless it all was. We dive in and out of shops, picking up useless rubbish, indoctrinated about the fact that we must buy stupid pointless stuff for the sake of buying... Aren't we meant to be waiting? Aren't we meant to be waiting and watching and seeking for Him to make a move in our lives, our hearts, our souls? How many of us, every time we pick up a future-present for someone actually think what the giving is all about? Not many I'm guessing. We shove it in our bag, with a mutter of "Cath will like that, this'll do for Aunt May..."
I know this is turning into a rant... forgive me for that, please!! But, my message is this: God gave us the most astonishing life-changing present there is. To us. Sinful little earthlings. He gave us his son, His most valuable thing. And all we do in return is skit around being pressurised by one another to buy everyone rubbish and put God on hold for a while, while we get our shopping done.
I think it's time to stop. I think it's time to see where we stand. I think it's time we did something different this advent, and, indeed, this Christmas. Let's give a present back to God. Let's give Him our lives. Let's truly and thoroughly wait on Him. Let's seek Him with every ounce of our being. Let's ask Him where we are, what we should do, and listen for the answer that comes.
Let's give this advent back to God.
In the Beginning
The trinity was from the beginning Father, son and Holy Spirit!
Yet God sent his son into our sinful world not as a fully-grown man but as a helpless babe, fully human but at the same time fully God.
Just think for a second, what it was like for the “son” Jesus to be born into this world with the wisdom of God in his head and heart yet being fully dependant on us mere humans, eek to look after him!
This brings the hymn Servant king into a whole new light for me.
From heaven you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled;
Not to be served, but to serve,
And give Your life, that we might live.
This is our God, the Servant King,
He calls us now, to follow Him,
To bring our lives, as a daily offering
Of worship to, the Servant King.
There in the garden, of tears,
My heavy load, he chose to bear;
His heart with sorrow, was torn,
'Yet not My will, but Yours,' He said.
Come see His hands, and His feet,
The scars that speak, of sacrifice;
Hands that flung stars, into space
To cruel nails, surrendered.
So let us learn, how to serve,
And in our lives, enthrone Him;
Each other's needs, to prefer,
For it is Christ, we're serving.
Imagine if you will for a moment a helpless babe throwing stars into space?
Why did God put himself through this, why not just turn the air off and start again afresh with a new set of humans, this would have been much easier, but not our God, God loved his son so much and he loves us just as much despite the fact we keep mucking things up!
Imagine if you had a son who of course you loved, would you send him to die without going through all the other possibilities first, weighing up all the pose and cons!
But we can see that he must have done this and the only option he had as our loving God was to send the one sinless thing he had, his one and only son to die for us so we could have that relationship back with the father which he longed for, he died for you and for me!
God came to earth to die for us, is that not a totally awesome thought, he was born and ministered among us knowing that he would die for us, he died for us to live.
God came to us, as at Christmas as a present to a sinful world, at Easter he was broken like an egg for us to have new life!
Yet God sent his son into our sinful world not as a fully-grown man but as a helpless babe, fully human but at the same time fully God.
Just think for a second, what it was like for the “son” Jesus to be born into this world with the wisdom of God in his head and heart yet being fully dependant on us mere humans, eek to look after him!
This brings the hymn Servant king into a whole new light for me.
From heaven you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled;
Not to be served, but to serve,
And give Your life, that we might live.
This is our God, the Servant King,
He calls us now, to follow Him,
To bring our lives, as a daily offering
Of worship to, the Servant King.
There in the garden, of tears,
My heavy load, he chose to bear;
His heart with sorrow, was torn,
'Yet not My will, but Yours,' He said.
Come see His hands, and His feet,
The scars that speak, of sacrifice;
Hands that flung stars, into space
To cruel nails, surrendered.
So let us learn, how to serve,
And in our lives, enthrone Him;
Each other's needs, to prefer,
For it is Christ, we're serving.
Imagine if you will for a moment a helpless babe throwing stars into space?
Why did God put himself through this, why not just turn the air off and start again afresh with a new set of humans, this would have been much easier, but not our God, God loved his son so much and he loves us just as much despite the fact we keep mucking things up!
Imagine if you had a son who of course you loved, would you send him to die without going through all the other possibilities first, weighing up all the pose and cons!
But we can see that he must have done this and the only option he had as our loving God was to send the one sinless thing he had, his one and only son to die for us so we could have that relationship back with the father which he longed for, he died for you and for me!
God came to earth to die for us, is that not a totally awesome thought, he was born and ministered among us knowing that he would die for us, he died for us to live.
God came to us, as at Christmas as a present to a sinful world, at Easter he was broken like an egg for us to have new life!
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Waiting and Longing
From Maggi
Waiting is a bit of a recurring theme on my blog. It's a theme that comes to the fore between Ascension Day and Pentecost, when Jesus told his disciples to go and WAIT in Jerusalem. He was none too specific about how long to wait, or even what to wait for. "Power from on high" was the mysterious promise. But wait they did, and when the curious promise was fulfilled, they were in no doubt that it had happened.
Lent is also about waiting, but not so much waiting FOR as waiting ON - putting the rest of life on hold to wait in a consciously devoted way for the presence of God to pervade the soul. Lent waiting has a wilderness quality to it - a deprivation of the things of ordinary life in order to become one with God.
Advent waiting has a subtly different touch to it. This is a waiting with hope and anticipation for God to break into our world. According to Christian tradition, the first waiting is for the Messiah or Saviour to enter the world - a waiting and anticipation reflected in the promises of God to the Patriarchs, the dreams of the prophets, and the prayers of generations of saints. The second waiting is for the return of Christ in glory, heralding the end of this era. Advent is waiting for Christmas, but it's also waiting for the great maranatha.
Waiting for the Messiah was not a passive waiting, but an aching, a longing, a reaching-towards. I love the words of Simeon, a very, very old man who had spent his whole life waiting and longing for the salvation of Israel. Did he know what he was waiting for? Probably not, in exact terms. But somehow when he saw the child Jesus he just knew that this, at last, was what he had been waiting for. "Now, Lord," said Simeon, "now I can die happy. Now I've seen the thing I've been waiting for all my life. Now I am fulfilled." (Luke 2: 25-32)
There is a paradox in this that sums up so much of our faith - the drive to reach out, move forwards and make something happen is constrained by the need to wait on, wait for, the initiative of God's spirit. You can't force the work of God. Neither can you go to sleep on the job. I suppose that gives us our model of waiting for Christ in glory too - although here, perhaps like waiting for Pentecost, or for death, the promise has very little tangible shape to it because it is a matter of waiting for something beyond our experience. We have no categories or pictures with which to describe what it means that Christ will come again in glory. We just know, somehow, that while we live in celebration that God has broken into our world, yet we are still waiting and longing for something more. Like Bono said, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." Not a passive waiting though - not just lying back despondently, waiting for God to come and fix things. Living to the full, building the "kingdom of heaven" here and now, in the only life that we know we have. But doing it from a well of hopeful dissatisfaction. Waiting and longing.
Waiting is a bit of a recurring theme on my blog. It's a theme that comes to the fore between Ascension Day and Pentecost, when Jesus told his disciples to go and WAIT in Jerusalem. He was none too specific about how long to wait, or even what to wait for. "Power from on high" was the mysterious promise. But wait they did, and when the curious promise was fulfilled, they were in no doubt that it had happened.
Lent is also about waiting, but not so much waiting FOR as waiting ON - putting the rest of life on hold to wait in a consciously devoted way for the presence of God to pervade the soul. Lent waiting has a wilderness quality to it - a deprivation of the things of ordinary life in order to become one with God.
Advent waiting has a subtly different touch to it. This is a waiting with hope and anticipation for God to break into our world. According to Christian tradition, the first waiting is for the Messiah or Saviour to enter the world - a waiting and anticipation reflected in the promises of God to the Patriarchs, the dreams of the prophets, and the prayers of generations of saints. The second waiting is for the return of Christ in glory, heralding the end of this era. Advent is waiting for Christmas, but it's also waiting for the great maranatha.
Waiting for the Messiah was not a passive waiting, but an aching, a longing, a reaching-towards. I love the words of Simeon, a very, very old man who had spent his whole life waiting and longing for the salvation of Israel. Did he know what he was waiting for? Probably not, in exact terms. But somehow when he saw the child Jesus he just knew that this, at last, was what he had been waiting for. "Now, Lord," said Simeon, "now I can die happy. Now I've seen the thing I've been waiting for all my life. Now I am fulfilled." (Luke 2: 25-32)
There is a paradox in this that sums up so much of our faith - the drive to reach out, move forwards and make something happen is constrained by the need to wait on, wait for, the initiative of God's spirit. You can't force the work of God. Neither can you go to sleep on the job. I suppose that gives us our model of waiting for Christ in glory too - although here, perhaps like waiting for Pentecost, or for death, the promise has very little tangible shape to it because it is a matter of waiting for something beyond our experience. We have no categories or pictures with which to describe what it means that Christ will come again in glory. We just know, somehow, that while we live in celebration that God has broken into our world, yet we are still waiting and longing for something more. Like Bono said, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for." Not a passive waiting though - not just lying back despondently, waiting for God to come and fix things. Living to the full, building the "kingdom of heaven" here and now, in the only life that we know we have. But doing it from a well of hopeful dissatisfaction. Waiting and longing.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Like a child
You came to us as a child, vulnerable and defenseless, and it's as a child I must come to you this Advent, this Christmas. But not just any child, for most look among the tree's, tinsel, presents, and some event look for you in the 'nativity scene'. But you are not to be found there .....no you are the vulnerable and defensless one and it is amoung them that you are still to be found.
Oh that I could be that kind of child - vulnerable and defensless, able to lay aside my cares and possesions so as to find you were you are and not where I'd want you to be.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Finger Pointing
How discouraging it is to see people pointing their fingers at others so often, passing the blame, whether in business, politics, the church, wherever. And, if we are honest, I suspect that we will find some of this in ourselves as well. When our back is against the wall, when we are confronted, we find ourselves pointing at someone else.
There’s a lot of finger pointing in yesterday’s gospel reading for the second Sunday of Advent (Mark 1:1-8), too. After Mark’s rather bald preamble, he points to Isaiah. Isaiah in turn points to John the Baptizer. John is perhaps the biggest finger-pointer of all time, pointing at the one who is to come, Jesus. And Jesus, perhaps self-conscious from being pointed at so much, doesn’t even enter the scene!
But this is a different kind of finger pointing. Rather than simply passing the buck, these fingers are pointed to bear witness to Jesus the Messiah, the righteous one, as Mark says at the beginning. This isn’t finger pointing to avoid the truth, but to attest to the One who is the truth.
It’s worth spending some time pondering this finger pointing, for as the theologian Karl Barth says, “the church stands in the tradition of John the Baptist. What it can and should do is point an outstretched finger: ‘Behold the lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.’” In other words, the vocation of John the Baptizer is our own vocation: to bear witness to the one who is powerful and worthy and who brings the Holy Spirit; and we are to point to the truth, love and goodness of Jesus Christ both in our words and in our lives.
In what ways do you, your family, your friends, your parish, already point to the coming Lord?
After we have mentioned the obvious (and important) notion of telling others about Jesus, what other ways are there for making our lives embodied “pointings” to Jesus?
Will this always look “religious”? How would it look?
What might the Spirit be calling you to do? What specific, concrete action might you take this week to grow in becoming one who points to Jesus Christ?
There’s a lot of finger pointing in yesterday’s gospel reading for the second Sunday of Advent (Mark 1:1-8), too. After Mark’s rather bald preamble, he points to Isaiah. Isaiah in turn points to John the Baptizer. John is perhaps the biggest finger-pointer of all time, pointing at the one who is to come, Jesus. And Jesus, perhaps self-conscious from being pointed at so much, doesn’t even enter the scene!
But this is a different kind of finger pointing. Rather than simply passing the buck, these fingers are pointed to bear witness to Jesus the Messiah, the righteous one, as Mark says at the beginning. This isn’t finger pointing to avoid the truth, but to attest to the One who is the truth.
It’s worth spending some time pondering this finger pointing, for as the theologian Karl Barth says, “the church stands in the tradition of John the Baptist. What it can and should do is point an outstretched finger: ‘Behold the lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.’” In other words, the vocation of John the Baptizer is our own vocation: to bear witness to the one who is powerful and worthy and who brings the Holy Spirit; and we are to point to the truth, love and goodness of Jesus Christ both in our words and in our lives.
In what ways do you, your family, your friends, your parish, already point to the coming Lord?
After we have mentioned the obvious (and important) notion of telling others about Jesus, what other ways are there for making our lives embodied “pointings” to Jesus?
Will this always look “religious”? How would it look?
What might the Spirit be calling you to do? What specific, concrete action might you take this week to grow in becoming one who points to Jesus Christ?
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Waiting and Preparing.
Advent is a time of year that the Church has largely neglected of late. There is so much, in our western culture, to prepare for in December. Christmas, of course, with it's family get-togethers, gifts, dinners, parties, visits to pubs, church services... And of course there is New Year's Eve at the end of the month. It's not suprising that Advent get's relegated to chocolate "count-down calendars" in the wake of Christmas itself.
I think the blog thing here is largely about re-capturing Advent. In days gone by, where Christmas wasn't quite so shiney and musical, the Church held Advent as a time of waiting, preparing for the coming of the Christ Child. Preparing, in a spiritual sense, not just preparing dinners and wrapping gifts. Imagine the anticipation. the excitement. Imagine how you felt at 8 years old waiting to see what santa would bring... and times it by a million. Let us look forward to Christmas with anticipation and longing, and let us prepare, now, our hearts for that miraculous event.
God of the watching ones,
give us Your benediction.
God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.
God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.
God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
and of the angels in heaven,
and of the child in the womb,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.
And evening prayer for blessing during Advent, from Celtic Daily Prayer, The Northumbria Community, Collins, 2000
I think the blog thing here is largely about re-capturing Advent. In days gone by, where Christmas wasn't quite so shiney and musical, the Church held Advent as a time of waiting, preparing for the coming of the Christ Child. Preparing, in a spiritual sense, not just preparing dinners and wrapping gifts. Imagine the anticipation. the excitement. Imagine how you felt at 8 years old waiting to see what santa would bring... and times it by a million. Let us look forward to Christmas with anticipation and longing, and let us prepare, now, our hearts for that miraculous event.
God of the watching ones,
give us Your benediction.
God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.
God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.
God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
and of the angels in heaven,
and of the child in the womb,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.
And evening prayer for blessing during Advent, from Celtic Daily Prayer, The Northumbria Community, Collins, 2000
Friday, December 02, 2005
before
IT DON'T MATTER IF YOU'RE BLANK OR WHITE
And I thought - haha
to sit in his sight, even before his eyes.
The more I thought of it, the sillier I became.
Maybe I'm overcome, maybe he'll come.
And I thought - haha
to sit in his sight, even before his eyes.
The more I thought of it, the sillier I became.
Maybe I'm overcome, maybe he'll come.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
our watching time
And so our watching time begins,
time for watching and waiting, for looking and longing,
for dreaming and wishing.
It is our time for lighting candles and looking for stars,
for opening calendar windows and counting the nights.
It is our time for the story,
the ancient story that weaves into our winters
stitching mystery and hope and a pure-gold thread into our long dark evenings.
It is our time to gather around the yule log that’s burning in the grate
and listen for the shepherds knocking at the door.
Our watching time is our precious time,
to wait for the moment that we will gather
around the tiny baby and the exhausted mother
and bring our treasures and lay them at their feet.
It is our waiting time.
For the travellers to arrive,
and the birth to begin.
And so we watch.
For the singing in the skies and the change in the wind.
For the light through the winter fog and the pull in our souls
It is our watching time
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
What's Andrew got to do with it?
Today is St Andrews’s day, a day on which the Scots, Russians and Greeks who have him as their patron saint do ….? Well what do we do? To be honest I’m not sure what most Scot’s do, we seem to have kept the day and lost all the traditions.
I must admit that I’ve struggled a bit with this falling within advent. I mean whose idea was it to let St. Andrews day fall within advent, should our focus not be 100% on Jesus? Is this not a distraction from the “main thing?”
I thought about this as I walked home last night and concluded that it is actually quite appropriate for us to think about St Andrews day during advent.
My sense of knowing that as a Scot I’m supposed to do something today but I know not what is perhaps like many who know there’s something special about advent and that there’s more to it than candles and coat hangers (this only makes sense if you grew up watching Blue Peter). But they don’t know what to do. We (i.e. society at large) have this period of advent and Christmas day but we’ve lost the context. So here’s the challenge….do I spend advent reflecting upon Emanuel in a privatistic or narcissistic way? Or is part of my reflection upon the birth of Jesus the imperative to help others to find Him, to this advent discover what it’s all about. This leads me to my second thought.
I must admit that I’ve struggled a bit with this falling within advent. I mean whose idea was it to let St. Andrews day fall within advent, should our focus not be 100% on Jesus? Is this not a distraction from the “main thing?”
I thought about this as I walked home last night and concluded that it is actually quite appropriate for us to think about St Andrews day during advent.
My sense of knowing that as a Scot I’m supposed to do something today but I know not what is perhaps like many who know there’s something special about advent and that there’s more to it than candles and coat hangers (this only makes sense if you grew up watching Blue Peter). But they don’t know what to do. We (i.e. society at large) have this period of advent and Christmas day but we’ve lost the context. So here’s the challenge….do I spend advent reflecting upon Emanuel in a privatistic or narcissistic way? Or is part of my reflection upon the birth of Jesus the imperative to help others to find Him, to this advent discover what it’s all about. This leads me to my second thought.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
God is Emmanuel
Advent a time of preparation, preparation of the heart and mind, Like Lent it’s also a penitential time to reflect and seek forgiveness in readiness to receive Christ a fresh in our lives!
God is Emanuel which means God is with us, he’s right in the depths of over lives, of our very beings, experiencing everything we go through, and saying its ok I’m here!
But isn’t it sometimes (maybe all the time) hard to see Christ at work in the lives of:
The Homeless
Drug Addict
Person with Mental Illness
Person with a Terminal Illness
Those who have just given up
Those in Prison
God comes to all of us and says I am here, rest on me I will give you strength for today and forever. Our challenge today is to seek God in each other to encourage each other on our Advent journey to our Bethlehem!
God is Emanuel which means God is with us, he’s right in the depths of over lives, of our very beings, experiencing everything we go through, and saying its ok I’m here!
But isn’t it sometimes (maybe all the time) hard to see Christ at work in the lives of:
The Homeless
Drug Addict
Person with Mental Illness
Person with a Terminal Illness
Those who have just given up
Those in Prison
God comes to all of us and says I am here, rest on me I will give you strength for today and forever. Our challenge today is to seek God in each other to encourage each other on our Advent journey to our Bethlehem!
Monday, November 28, 2005
questions to ponder
As advent begins ...
some questions to ponder ...
Who are we looking forward to?
Who are we hoping for?
Who are we anticipating?
Who are we dreaming of?
Who are we in love with?
Who are we thinking about inside?
Who are we eager to avoid?
Who are we trusting in?
Who are we uneasy around?
Who are we giving our time to?
Who are we shopping for?
Who are we ambitious to become?
Who are we forgetting?
Who are we guilty of lying to?
Who are we impatient with?
Who are we loved by?
May God bless you
may God shine his face upon you
and give you peace
some questions to ponder ...
Who are we looking forward to?
Who are we hoping for?
Who are we anticipating?
Who are we dreaming of?
Who are we in love with?
Who are we thinking about inside?
Who are we eager to avoid?
Who are we trusting in?
Who are we uneasy around?
Who are we giving our time to?
Who are we shopping for?
Who are we ambitious to become?
Who are we forgetting?
Who are we guilty of lying to?
Who are we impatient with?
Who are we loved by?
May God bless you
may God shine his face upon you
and give you peace
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
advent blog starts next week ... (updated again 29 nov)
Our advent blog will start next week. Thanks to all of you who have agreed to blog with us over the next few weeks, you should receive an invitation via blogger soon ...
Feel free to blog anything as long as there is some kind of link to advent.
Try not to make your posts too long ...
Looking forward to see what happens ...
Please indicate a day or days (in comments) when you would like to, or be happy to, blog / don't worry if someone's taken your day, we can 2 blogs a day ...
28 nov - andy goodliff
29 nov - anderson marsh
30 nov - brodie mcgregor
1 dec - yasmin finch
2 dec - laurence craig
3 dec - ashley beck
4 dec - day of advent blogging rest
5 dec - jason fout
6 dec - brodie mcgregor
7 dec - maggi dawn
8 dec - steve goodliff
9 dec - flick
10 dec - anderson marsh
11 dec - day of advent blogging rest
12 dec - lorcan
13 dec - maggi dawn
14 dec - yasmin finch
15 dec - jason fout
16 dec - laurence craig
17 dec - flick
18 dec - day of advent blogging rest
19 dec - ashley beck
20 dec - maggi dawn
21 dec - brodie mcgregor
22 dec - steve goodliff
23 dec - Steve Jones
24 dec - andy goodliff
Feel free to blog anything as long as there is some kind of link to advent.
Try not to make your posts too long ...
Looking forward to see what happens ...
Please indicate a day or days (in comments) when you would like to, or be happy to, blog / don't worry if someone's taken your day, we can 2 blogs a day ...
28 nov - andy goodliff
29 nov - anderson marsh
30 nov - brodie mcgregor
1 dec - yasmin finch
2 dec - laurence craig
3 dec - ashley beck
4 dec - day of advent blogging rest
5 dec - jason fout
6 dec - brodie mcgregor
7 dec - maggi dawn
8 dec - steve goodliff
9 dec - flick
10 dec - anderson marsh
11 dec - day of advent blogging rest
12 dec - lorcan
13 dec - maggi dawn
14 dec - yasmin finch
15 dec - jason fout
16 dec - laurence craig
17 dec - flick
18 dec - day of advent blogging rest
19 dec - ashley beck
20 dec - maggi dawn
21 dec - brodie mcgregor
22 dec - steve goodliff
23 dec - Steve Jones
24 dec - andy goodliff
Saturday, November 12, 2005
advent blog coming soon ...
at the end of november advent - the beginning of the christian year begins, taking us to christmas.
ash beck and myself are hoping to get a group of people together to blog us through, reflecting on its meaning and helping us open our imaginations ...
so keep a look out ...
ash beck and myself are hoping to get a group of people together to blog us through, reflecting on its meaning and helping us open our imaginations ...
so keep a look out ...
Thursday, August 11, 2005
Charlie and the Chocolate Family
The other night I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Tim Burton-directed, Jonny Depp-starring blockbuster. What was interesting to observe is how much of Roald Dahl's book is now even more true than when he originaly wrote it in 1964: Augustus Gloop represents all the children with weight and poor diet problems; Vercua Salt represents all the children who know only the language of 'I want'; Violet Beauregarde represents all the children for who first place alone matters (encouraged by an education system that says results, degrees and top-earning jobs are life's only priority); and Mike Teavee all the children who are addicted to television and computer games.
What perhaps the Tim Burton film also brought out, intentionally or not, was the childishness of our adults, especially Willy Wonka. Willy Wonka represents all those adults who remain children. Perhaps more sad was the fact that Willy Wonka's childishness is, the film suggests, due to his father. It seems today everyone has a problem with their dad - or that is what the media (and the church?) would suggest. We never see good examples of good dads. To the point if you have no real problem with your dad, you are somehow strange
What perhaps the Tim Burton film also brought out, intentionally or not, was the childishness of our adults, especially Willy Wonka. Willy Wonka represents all those adults who remain children. Perhaps more sad was the fact that Willy Wonka's childishness is, the film suggests, due to his father. It seems today everyone has a problem with their dad - or that is what the media (and the church?) would suggest. We never see good examples of good dads. To the point if you have no real problem with your dad, you are somehow strange
Monday, July 04, 2005
Edinburgh, 2/7/05
When we got to The Meadows, the place was packed. A little later, we saw that there was, in fact, another area with another stage that was as big as the bit we were in, which was more amazing. The media report there were 225,000 people in Edinburgh for the march, and I can well believe it.
Unlike Hannah, I was not suprised at the anti-G8 messages at the event. I knew in advance that Dissent! and G8Alternatives were going to be there, as well as the Clown Army and all the usual protest crowd. If you read IndyMedia regularly you get to know who is going to go to a protest, irrespective of what that protest is for. To me, I think there is a grain of truth in the idea that the G8 is essentially a part of the problem. It is a meeting of the leaders of the 8 richest countries in the world, and their aim is, first and foremost, to make sure it stays that way. To the anti-capitalist groups, that makes them the enemy.
However, I was disappointed by the amount of groups that were at the event for their own agendas. There was a vast amount of people who go to every British protest held, and frankly I don't think they remember what event they're at from one day to the next. They unfurl their CND and Peace and Anarchy! banners and march with everyone else, not quite knowing where they are or why they're there. There is a grain of truth in most of their claims, but this event is not about war, it's not about saying Bush is a terrorist and it's not about ousting the Imperial War Machine in favour of a Marxist utopia. It is simply about making poverty history; about making sure that we stand up and take responsibility for our brothers and sisters around the world who are dying, regularly, because of things that we wouldn't even take a day off work for.
What did touch me, though, was that there were more "normal" people there than there normally are at protests. Aside from the protest regulars and the odd few people that decided to go along because it was a nice day and all the shops were shut anyway, there were about 200,000 everyday folk. People that don't protest. People that have never been to a rally. People that don't spend their spare time tie-dying shirts and selling Ban the Bomb badges at car-boot sales.
These people were, for the most part, there because they've had enough of the global injustice that is extreme poverty. And, to me, this was amazing.
Being honest, getting to Edinburgh was a chore... I didn't do the driving, but it's a long old trek from Hertfordshire and it's quite uncomfortable and takes a fair bit of effort. The event wasn't too exciting. The closest we got to a celebrity was Billy Boyd, and the music bands I heard weren't especially to my taste. (Unfortunately I didn't see Baba Maal). It was good, and there was a happy atmosphere, but it was no Live8. And I think that is the point.
It's been quite sad to see most of the corporate media didn't report on Edinburgh much, if at all. As Hannah said, there would probably have been more coverage if things had got riotous. Indeed, look at BBC today and you'll see that is pretty much proven: The Carnival of Full Enjoyment taking place today and organised by the anti-capitalist groups, has enjoyed far more corporate coverage because it has enjoyed far more police intervention. Which is sad.
It is sad that, when I asked someone I know if he recorded Live8 he responded "yeah, but I cut out all the political bits to save space." It is sad that Live8, which is clearly run with the best intentions in the world, had overshadowed the real events this weekend in the Media.
My hope is that the leaders of the G8 notice the genuine attitude of the people at these events who are campaigning against poverty, and that they don't lose sight of the real issues in a sea of media gloss and revolutionary sub-agendas. There are other important issues to be addressed, such as climate change, but poverty is what it's really about right now, and this is no time to bring our other agendas into the mix.
Was it worth going? Undeniably.
Would I go again? Of course.
Will it have the effect desired? Let us pray.
Unlike Hannah, I was not suprised at the anti-G8 messages at the event. I knew in advance that Dissent! and G8Alternatives were going to be there, as well as the Clown Army and all the usual protest crowd. If you read IndyMedia regularly you get to know who is going to go to a protest, irrespective of what that protest is for. To me, I think there is a grain of truth in the idea that the G8 is essentially a part of the problem. It is a meeting of the leaders of the 8 richest countries in the world, and their aim is, first and foremost, to make sure it stays that way. To the anti-capitalist groups, that makes them the enemy.
However, I was disappointed by the amount of groups that were at the event for their own agendas. There was a vast amount of people who go to every British protest held, and frankly I don't think they remember what event they're at from one day to the next. They unfurl their CND and Peace and Anarchy! banners and march with everyone else, not quite knowing where they are or why they're there. There is a grain of truth in most of their claims, but this event is not about war, it's not about saying Bush is a terrorist and it's not about ousting the Imperial War Machine in favour of a Marxist utopia. It is simply about making poverty history; about making sure that we stand up and take responsibility for our brothers and sisters around the world who are dying, regularly, because of things that we wouldn't even take a day off work for.
What did touch me, though, was that there were more "normal" people there than there normally are at protests. Aside from the protest regulars and the odd few people that decided to go along because it was a nice day and all the shops were shut anyway, there were about 200,000 everyday folk. People that don't protest. People that have never been to a rally. People that don't spend their spare time tie-dying shirts and selling Ban the Bomb badges at car-boot sales.
These people were, for the most part, there because they've had enough of the global injustice that is extreme poverty. And, to me, this was amazing.
Being honest, getting to Edinburgh was a chore... I didn't do the driving, but it's a long old trek from Hertfordshire and it's quite uncomfortable and takes a fair bit of effort. The event wasn't too exciting. The closest we got to a celebrity was Billy Boyd, and the music bands I heard weren't especially to my taste. (Unfortunately I didn't see Baba Maal). It was good, and there was a happy atmosphere, but it was no Live8. And I think that is the point.
It's been quite sad to see most of the corporate media didn't report on Edinburgh much, if at all. As Hannah said, there would probably have been more coverage if things had got riotous. Indeed, look at BBC today and you'll see that is pretty much proven: The Carnival of Full Enjoyment taking place today and organised by the anti-capitalist groups, has enjoyed far more corporate coverage because it has enjoyed far more police intervention. Which is sad.
It is sad that, when I asked someone I know if he recorded Live8 he responded "yeah, but I cut out all the political bits to save space." It is sad that Live8, which is clearly run with the best intentions in the world, had overshadowed the real events this weekend in the Media.
My hope is that the leaders of the G8 notice the genuine attitude of the people at these events who are campaigning against poverty, and that they don't lose sight of the real issues in a sea of media gloss and revolutionary sub-agendas. There are other important issues to be addressed, such as climate change, but poverty is what it's really about right now, and this is no time to bring our other agendas into the mix.
Was it worth going? Undeniably.
Would I go again? Of course.
Will it have the effect desired? Let us pray.
Make Povery History: My Reflections
The event was quite a learning experience, never before had I been to something like this. I felt quite uncomfortable hearing some of the attitudes held by some of the people who had turned up at the event. Many people were voicing anti-G8 messages and using the event as an opportunity to express their opinions on the war in Iraq. Personally, I found this unhelpful and offensive. It upset me that the event was being hijacked and the focus for some people was not on “making poverty history”. Nevertheless, seeing such a huge turn out was very moving and it was clear who was there for the real cause.
We spent most of our time hearing about the work of the different organisations under the “make poverty history” banner and having the opportunity to make our concerns known to the G8 leaders. People were encouraged to write a message on a white band which would be sent to the G8 leaders. This is something that “The Lounge” had done with us the week before and so we were able to post their messages with ours.
Unfortunately, due to the large turn out we were unable to take part in the march. We had been queuing to do so for about an hour with little progress when the minute’s silence took place. I was feeling quite tired and getting quite impatient at this point. I felt trapped, as there was no other known way out of the venue. That minute reminded me why we were really there. It was not for our own personal gain. I thought of those who are imprisoned by poverty and have no escape. Parents struggling to feed their children and doing anything possible to earn the little money they can. Those people are tired; those people have something to be restless about.
Spending the day considering these issues and hearing about the work of the many organisations involved in “make poverty history” has encouraged me to challenge the way that I live and to get further involved in the campaign.
We spent most of our time hearing about the work of the different organisations under the “make poverty history” banner and having the opportunity to make our concerns known to the G8 leaders. People were encouraged to write a message on a white band which would be sent to the G8 leaders. This is something that “The Lounge” had done with us the week before and so we were able to post their messages with ours.
Unfortunately, due to the large turn out we were unable to take part in the march. We had been queuing to do so for about an hour with little progress when the minute’s silence took place. I was feeling quite tired and getting quite impatient at this point. I felt trapped, as there was no other known way out of the venue. That minute reminded me why we were really there. It was not for our own personal gain. I thought of those who are imprisoned by poverty and have no escape. Parents struggling to feed their children and doing anything possible to earn the little money they can. Those people are tired; those people have something to be restless about.
Spending the day considering these issues and hearing about the work of the many organisations involved in “make poverty history” has encouraged me to challenge the way that I live and to get further involved in the campaign.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Lightning
Just realised I've been spelling it as "Lightening" forever and that is some term to do with late-pregnancy. How odd. Anyway, In the spirit of creativity, I decided to share with you all some of Nature's very own artistry.
Unfortunately, I missed some of the better attempts because I was in awe, and also because, after a while, the computer turned off in a breif power-surge and I didn't want to let it do that again... All these are from my webcam, which i stuck out the window and got a tad wet.
Unfortunately, I missed some of the better attempts because I was in awe, and also because, after a while, the computer turned off in a breif power-surge and I didn't want to let it do that again... All these are from my webcam, which i stuck out the window and got a tad wet.
Monday, June 06, 2005
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