"There is a great line from gabriel and the vagabond a song by Foy vance. The story goes that the angel Gabriel stops and meets a vagabond he shows the man love and salvation and gives him hope
The next verse goes like this:
"When the vagabond turned around well without a sign
Gabriel just smiled and disappeared
Then he looked to the crowd and they were laughing out loud
But he could not see them fore tears
When his vision came round
There was a young girl on the ground
I knew she was finding it hard to cope
She never was a fighter until he laid beside her
And gently whispered hope"
I love that line at the end "gently whispered hope"I guess for me it's not about preaching, or trying to win someone over to my ideology it's about gently whispering hope. We just want to be a gentle whisper here, a whisper of goodness and compassion. A whisper that says don't worry we'll get you home, don't worry we'll feed you, don't worry we'll listen, a whisper of kindness here in the westend.It's not hard, it's my call.
Monday 4 May 2009
problems with school
It seems that Im not the only person who thinks the world is on its head.
“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more “successful” people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.”
From his speech What is Education For? by David Orr
From “The Dangers of Privilege and College Admission”, an editorial by college consultant William Caskey in the Chicago Tribune:
As they near college, we drive exhausted teens toward milestones of success ruled by grades, standardized test scores, and the ultimate mark of achievement these days: a brand-name school. Spent and busy parents expect me, their college consultant, to nag, drag, and, if necessary, carry their reluctant, exhausted, and often passionless kids toward the finish line and a “top-tier” college. When I ask what would happen if their kids were left alone to complete this process without parental fuel driving them, they are often confused by my question.
…
I see many teens of means with few interests and little idea how to pursue those mild passions they do have. Ironically, many are successful academically. Rarely, however, is their success driven by a quest for knowledge. Rather, they tie academic achievement to eventual financial success.
Is there, as Ghandi said, more to life than increasing its speed?
What did my education do for me?
Yes it made me do things I didnt want to do which is actually a useful thing to learn.
Yes it allowed me to get good marks on tests
It taught me to integrate socially, it gave me some good experiences, it gave me the ability to work to a routine.
Yes there were some good teachers who taught me more than this but still within that framework.
But it didnt stretch me as far as I could have, it made me tick boxes and go at everyone elses pace, even a better school would have done the same but maybe at a higher level with more stress. It didnt prepare me for life. It didnt teach me about my emotions and what to do with them. It didnt teach me about settling my soul and finding the things which make me happy to just be. It didnt teach me to follow my thirst for knowledge in the direction I want to.
It didnt teach me how to live the life I want to live as an adult.
Where AM i supposed to learn that?
“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more “successful” people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every shape and form. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these needs have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.”
From his speech What is Education For? by David Orr
From “The Dangers of Privilege and College Admission”, an editorial by college consultant William Caskey in the Chicago Tribune:
As they near college, we drive exhausted teens toward milestones of success ruled by grades, standardized test scores, and the ultimate mark of achievement these days: a brand-name school. Spent and busy parents expect me, their college consultant, to nag, drag, and, if necessary, carry their reluctant, exhausted, and often passionless kids toward the finish line and a “top-tier” college. When I ask what would happen if their kids were left alone to complete this process without parental fuel driving them, they are often confused by my question.
…
I see many teens of means with few interests and little idea how to pursue those mild passions they do have. Ironically, many are successful academically. Rarely, however, is their success driven by a quest for knowledge. Rather, they tie academic achievement to eventual financial success.
Is there, as Ghandi said, more to life than increasing its speed?
What did my education do for me?
Yes it made me do things I didnt want to do which is actually a useful thing to learn.
Yes it allowed me to get good marks on tests
It taught me to integrate socially, it gave me some good experiences, it gave me the ability to work to a routine.
Yes there were some good teachers who taught me more than this but still within that framework.
But it didnt stretch me as far as I could have, it made me tick boxes and go at everyone elses pace, even a better school would have done the same but maybe at a higher level with more stress. It didnt prepare me for life. It didnt teach me about my emotions and what to do with them. It didnt teach me about settling my soul and finding the things which make me happy to just be. It didnt teach me to follow my thirst for knowledge in the direction I want to.
It didnt teach me how to live the life I want to live as an adult.
Where AM i supposed to learn that?
Good Christian blogs
Anyone know of any good Christian blogs?
I want something to read which gets me more excited about God, which will help me get closer to him, and something that won't make me feel bad for how my relationship with him has been for the past five years. I've been through tough times and I want gentle nurturing inspiration.
I want something to read which gets me more excited about God, which will help me get closer to him, and something that won't make me feel bad for how my relationship with him has been for the past five years. I've been through tough times and I want gentle nurturing inspiration.
Friday 1 May 2009
Priorities
Song for a Fifth Child
by Ruth Hurlburt Hamilton (1958)
Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.
by Ruth Hurlburt Hamilton (1958)
Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.
The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.
life
I marvel at my insensate folly,
that with such enriching favours within my reach
I am slow to extend the hand to take them…
Quicken me, stir me, fill me with holy zeal.
Strengthen me that I may cling to thee and not let thee go.
May thy Spirit within me draw all blessings from they hand.
When I advance not, I backslide.
From The Valley of Vision
Am I embracing what God offers me at this very moment?
New life? New Identity? New beginning? New day?
How do I respond to God’s personal visit to me?
Do I come to Him expecting wrath or open arms?
Questions taken from My Children: A Lenten Devotional
that with such enriching favours within my reach
I am slow to extend the hand to take them…
Quicken me, stir me, fill me with holy zeal.
Strengthen me that I may cling to thee and not let thee go.
May thy Spirit within me draw all blessings from they hand.
When I advance not, I backslide.
From The Valley of Vision
Am I embracing what God offers me at this very moment?
New life? New Identity? New beginning? New day?
How do I respond to God’s personal visit to me?
Do I come to Him expecting wrath or open arms?
Questions taken from My Children: A Lenten Devotional
Wednesday 15 April 2009
Hmm
So here I am continuing to bumble through life - Im not sure if this is the best way to go or if a more concrete plan would be better?
I'm still making some jewelery but have also got a part time job at our local co-op. And Im going to do some volunteering at a local school to help me decide about maybe teaching? I have NO idea what I want to do really. Does that mean i will be happy doing anything? Or never happy?
David has his job until next september and then may candidate although not straight away if i am doing training too. If he doesnt candidate we dont know what he will do.
We may buy a house is the court case goes ahead in the summer. Or we may rent.
Should I be more ambitious? Be making more plans for the future? Thinking about being more financially stable and waiting for the perfect time to have kids? Or is a little bit of future planning, and a lot of living in the present and enjoying it ok?
I'm still making some jewelery but have also got a part time job at our local co-op. And Im going to do some volunteering at a local school to help me decide about maybe teaching? I have NO idea what I want to do really. Does that mean i will be happy doing anything? Or never happy?
David has his job until next september and then may candidate although not straight away if i am doing training too. If he doesnt candidate we dont know what he will do.
We may buy a house is the court case goes ahead in the summer. Or we may rent.
Should I be more ambitious? Be making more plans for the future? Thinking about being more financially stable and waiting for the perfect time to have kids? Or is a little bit of future planning, and a lot of living in the present and enjoying it ok?
Wednesday 4 February 2009
Have we lost the values of Methodism?
Maybe I'll just ramble my thoughts here instead of thinking I have to write about the humdrum of my daily life. And I keep track of all the wonderful blogs I like to read.
Last night as I was trying to sleep this is what I was thinking about.
Have we lost the values of the Methodist church?
Further conversation with my husband revealed that the original idea of the Methodist church was for God to be reachable by everyone. The poorer people couldnt read the bible readings, couldnt read to find out about God and so couldnt really connect with Him on the same level as those who could read. So the Methodist church tried to teach them to read and starting singing hymns so that they could learn the theology without needing to read as they could remember the hymns. It was about EVERYONE being able to understand and communicate with God.
Yet now we are in the same situation but with generation problems instead. The (mainly) older church members find they can learn about and communicate with God in their traditions of sermons, prayer and hymns in a structured format. The (mainly) younger members find that they do not understand the language of the hymns and prefer to discuss rather than to just listen to long sermons. The traditional format isnt a good platform for them to learn about and comunicate with God from. And so we have kept the traditions but lost the values!
I know this is generalising a lot, and I dont mean to say I see no value in the current traditions because thats not true but I can't work out what the future for the church is going to be. What are our options - to carry on as we are and not entirely satisfy either group as we try and find a middle ground? Or to split into an old church which will gradually get smaller and a younger church that will get larger? But then we will lose the guidance and wisdom and knowledge of the older members.
I dont want to lose that, but I dont want the compromise to be that I am made to try and relate to, learn about and worship God in a way which is difficult for me and which limits and restricts my worship. I think a lot of people think youth just want loud music but its not for loud musics sake, its the need for a style which we are comfortable in, which allows us to worship without having to translate ourselves into something we are not. Imagine having to speak to God in the Spanish you did at school?!!!
So is there a way to combine the wisdom and knowledge of the older members with the frustrated hunger and thirsting of the younger members? To have a church where peoples praise is not limited by the format they are forced to worship in? But where there is a community of everyone and an understanding that there are things in other peoples styles which CAN be beneficial for us to learn?
Last night as I was trying to sleep this is what I was thinking about.
Have we lost the values of the Methodist church?
Further conversation with my husband revealed that the original idea of the Methodist church was for God to be reachable by everyone. The poorer people couldnt read the bible readings, couldnt read to find out about God and so couldnt really connect with Him on the same level as those who could read. So the Methodist church tried to teach them to read and starting singing hymns so that they could learn the theology without needing to read as they could remember the hymns. It was about EVERYONE being able to understand and communicate with God.
Yet now we are in the same situation but with generation problems instead. The (mainly) older church members find they can learn about and communicate with God in their traditions of sermons, prayer and hymns in a structured format. The (mainly) younger members find that they do not understand the language of the hymns and prefer to discuss rather than to just listen to long sermons. The traditional format isnt a good platform for them to learn about and comunicate with God from. And so we have kept the traditions but lost the values!
I know this is generalising a lot, and I dont mean to say I see no value in the current traditions because thats not true but I can't work out what the future for the church is going to be. What are our options - to carry on as we are and not entirely satisfy either group as we try and find a middle ground? Or to split into an old church which will gradually get smaller and a younger church that will get larger? But then we will lose the guidance and wisdom and knowledge of the older members.
I dont want to lose that, but I dont want the compromise to be that I am made to try and relate to, learn about and worship God in a way which is difficult for me and which limits and restricts my worship. I think a lot of people think youth just want loud music but its not for loud musics sake, its the need for a style which we are comfortable in, which allows us to worship without having to translate ourselves into something we are not. Imagine having to speak to God in the Spanish you did at school?!!!
So is there a way to combine the wisdom and knowledge of the older members with the frustrated hunger and thirsting of the younger members? To have a church where peoples praise is not limited by the format they are forced to worship in? But where there is a community of everyone and an understanding that there are things in other peoples styles which CAN be beneficial for us to learn?
Monday 19 January 2009
Maybe
Maybe I'll never be a good blogger - but I love having this blog anyway to keep track of al the fabulous blogs out there!!
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