how would i react?

went to church for Good Friday reflections. sat in the auditorium and watched the montage of images and words three times. must have been their for over an hour. in this time of contemplation it struck me that people have different reactions to the death of Jesus - religious people don't understand him - not in the same book, let alone the same page, they react to guard their own interests; authorities don't understand him, they are perplexed; Jesus' is far beyond their ideologies of order and control, the crowd don't understand him, they want a celebrity king and he just won't play their game; the commercially minded just see the chance for a quick profit, they sell his clothes; the mob, they just do what mobs do, allow themselves to regress to some primeval, animal state - giving the weak a good kicking. and what about those who thought they understood? those that had seen him as messiah, the special, chosen one; how did they react as they saw all their hopes and dreams literally being kicked down the streets to his death; seemingly failing them proving by default that he just couldn't have been who he'd said he was, couldn't save himself let alone the whole world. what did they do? Well, some denied ever knowing him, stricken by their own confusion and doubt. some however stuck by him in his hour of need, powerless to do anything to save him yet doing the only thing they could to remain faithful, by exuding the same compassion that he had in life by being with him in death. Some did what was in their power to do, by lending him the only possession they had no use for in life - their grave.

one, at least one confessed:

surely this was the son of god.

Holidays / Holy Days

Holidays - HOLY days - Something special days.
Do something different, do one of those things you've promised yourself you'll do on a 'quieter' day. Do something special, with someone special.
Don't let the everyday things crowd in - switch it off...
enjoy!

Christian Humanism?

Liked this Post by brian mclaren on 'Christian Humansim.'
We had a lecture the other day where they explained that, as social workers, we are to take a 'humanistic approach' when we work with clients. the philosophy is basically that you take a very positive stance, beliving that there is good in everyone and that good outcomes are possible (whatever gahstly past or present they are in)
As i said to a guy in our class who is also a church pastor 'they have just explained pastoral ministry but forgot to mention God!'
Leaving God out is a problem though - where does the energy to bring out the good come from if not from God? (whehter you believe he brings good implicitly ie he just does whether you ask him to or not! or whether you believe that you have to be explicit ie you have to mention Him and pray etc.)

also see my comment on a recent Jason Clarke blog (its a bit bleak, but it got something off my chest!)

Be careful how you measure success.

article in the Times last week on Tiger Woods. For some reaason i am always facinated by insights into the weakenesses of others. i guess it helps me make sense of my own failings (or should that be makes me feel better about my own failings!)
if you don't know the story, 'the greatest golfer that ever lived' and one of the biggest earning people on the planet, has admitted to having an affair (amid lurid rumours of a whole gaggle of affairs) for which his wife beat him up good and proper. he tried to cover it up by faking a car accident, and then locked himeself away pretending no one could see him like a three year old. finally he decided to come clean, and today he has confessed to the world, asked for forgiveness and declared he is taking an indefinate break from the game of golf to sort out his private life 'I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.'
Shocking?
Not really, maybe the shock is that he has finally admitted to being human after years putting on the show of a machine. Others have commented far more eloquently on the matter than i could, Ed Smith in the Times article says:
Woods has been fighting the imperfections of humanity all his life. Being human demands weakness, vulnerability and unpredictability; Woods has always eschewed all three. His template has been half-god, half-machine — a god to his fans, a machine to himself. Who can be surprised that he is starting to crack under the strain?
Well put, and he's not the only one who is letting it all hand out at the moment. if you follow the radio and TV celberity-interview-i'm-publishing-a-book circus you wont have been able to miss the voice/face of Andre Agassi thsi past week (Simon Mayo radio 5 tuesday, Jonathon Ross BBC1 Friday) Agassi has been telling everyone who will listen (and will hopefully buy his book) how miserable he was. Wretched in fact. apparently he hated tennis, hated his marriage, hated his father, heted well... life. and then it all turned around, steffi Graf and all.
Agassi speakes with saged clarity about himself. precient of his own feelings and particularly weaknesses. 'Be careful how you measure success' was the advice he gave one caller to a radio show. Wise words indeed.
so what about you and me? We are never likely to have the attention/fame/notoriety 'success' these guys have. We may think that our fall from grace could never be as bad as theirs. But think on that a minute - we can only measure any human rise or fall in the context of the life surrounds it. what would it feel like if your biggest darkest secret came to light? How would that affect your family, your mum & dad, your kids?
so 'fess-up guys (and girls) at least to yourself. it may be that God gave these guys success (and failure) to teach us all a lesson -at their expense - to help us all to wake up to the fact of our own imperfections. Lets deal with what we can, with ourselves, our loved ones, with those that can help us in the process. Or (possibly AND) with, as the 12 step programmes put it, the Higher Power. Surely Tiger, Andre, me and you need Him/Her more than ever?

Suffer the little children?

this letter in the guardian really broke my heart. here's just one bit of it:
Many thousands of children are isolated, unhappy, have eating disorders, self-harm or commit suicide. One in three children has a diagnosable mental health disorder – and that's just the ones that have been classified.
it seems so helpless. what can we do?
i heard one guy on the radio yesterday say that his civic duty was to bring his kids up well 'and they've never been in trouble' was his proof. but is more than that required?
The letter of James in the bible says: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
it's not jsut about our own kids, its about other peoples kids too. i take my hat off to anyone who works with kids to make their world a better place - teachers, kids club leaders, youthworkers, play groups, those who go out of their way, out of their life, even to offer life and hope to children who most need it.
here's a quick shout for some of these people of 'true religion'
Dave and his team at 'thursday Club' S0uthcourt Baptist Church in Aylesbury - years of dedication and loving kids, so may lives have been changed. http://www.southcourtbaptist.org.uk
Tim and Maz in South Africa - check them out, an amazing story, amazing impact on the lives of children http://thembavillageofhope.blogspot.com/
Viv and Karin At Vineyard Aylesbury - what a big hearts! More than just 'Sunday School' http://www.aylesburyvineyard.org.uk/about-us/young-vineyard.html
Ron & Jackie - somewhere in Devon. Real Kids heroes. (mine too)
Binu and the team at OM india - god bless their passion for giving kids a step up in life. if you have a few coppers to spare - send it this way. http://www.dalitnetwork.org/
all these people are heroes to me.
who else could you add to the list?

knee surgery

Video of what they did do my knee
http://video.about.com/sportsmedicine/Medial-Meniscus-Injury.htm

it is so amazing that this procedure was done to me yesterday, and today it is pain free.
we so often complain about medical care, but i am truly grateful that there is a service, free to me, that is so brilliant!
thinking back 100 years, i would have been 'crippled' by this injury for the rest of my life.

Spiritual Practices

Here are some on-line helps to spiritual practice that i am using at the moment:

listening to daily bible readings

listening to a 'daily office' or short service called "pray-as-you-go" its like a cross between radio 4's daily service and an 'everyday with jesus' type thing. there are other useful stuff here as well, like an evening meditation based on ignatian practice

one i am experimenting with is an online personal and collective bible study where you an add your reflections/insights on a bible passage and see what others are saying. could be good if a group of us decided to study a book/passage together. Let me know if you want to do this and i will invite you in. my online name is 'treforW'

one i havent found yet, or at least not a satisfactory one is a proper audio 'daily office' where set prayers and readings are read out daily. there are plenty of text ones, the best being the Northumbria Community, which is based on celtic spirituality. but i want one that is audio.

a final one worth metioning is sacred space which takes you through a 'led' meditation. needs some time though, to really benefit.

hope something here helps, and let me know if there is anything that you have found useful