In good time

In these hasty train catching days it's easy to miss the connection. As things stand, I'm still amazed by the number of awesome moments over the last two weeks which sometimes leave me too weak for words.

There was an article I wrote about prayer in Reform in January (see http://www.urc.org.uk/ for Reform) in which I mentioned my tendency to pray the hours. This habit goes back to my days with Benedictine Nuns in the 1980s, as does my ulitmate wish to live on a roundabout in a hut and grow vegetables. This articles resulted in an avalanche of correspondence about prayer. Well aside from breathing it maybe one of the most widely practiced human arts: 90% of people say they pray (obviously 100% say they breathe at some time or another). So in some ways I shouldn't be surprised by the volume of correspondence. But I do want to say thanks. Thanks to all who wrote, or texted, or phoned or even just thought about it. It humbled and amazed me.

It has been a time of gifts. As I walked around the park with Angela and Hilary today (that was 2 miles in 33 minutes!) I saw a leaping squirrel. It reminded me of this written in 2008:

Acorn time

It’s acorn time again:
A bounding squirrel zigzags across the lawn,
mouth full, tail flashing like quicksilver,
finds a spot and looks around,
then quickly buries the treasure for harder days.

Darting Spirit,
may the treasure buried in us,
be the store we draw on in difficult times.
May acorn time remind us of the unexpected hoard
that is contained within each person.
Give us a Vision4life so that
like the squirrel, we may find
with surprise, the gifts we each have
and unearth them to share with our community.

Among the dead

On Jane's blog she had a joke by a Bishop (I think his name was George) about how he didn't want to get up and go to church. The hymns were dreary, the sermons were dull, the people hated him, but he had to go: he was the Bishop. I think I need to met George before too long. I'd like to tell him he doesn't have to go. I know many people think they do and faithfully go on doing it. But I do not share this view. On Monday I hope to go to Cardiff where I have been asked to share some bible studies using RB (of course) for a Council for World Mission group on Evangelism in Europe. Well, of course I was surprised. But I'm going, even if I'm not giving the bible study they wanted: What does the bible say about evangelism? I told them I couldn't do that because I didn't know. I said I do some RB and they said I could if it wasn't too scary.

That's what it has come down to. Not being too scary. The dying church doesn't like its gospel too scary. Back in Bethany (where else) the neighbours are still talking about Lazarus and the scare they got when he came out of the stinking tomb, bandages flapping. Me, I'm with Lazarus. I hope to meet George sometime and invite him along.

Among the dead

Whisper softly,
speak in hushed voices
but do not disturb the dying.
Be respectful,
keep your eyes lowered,
as it dies little by little.

But you,
you who have already been in the tomb
three or four days,
who have smelt your own stench
and then emerged
at the call of the Life Giver:
you are not afraid.

For you,
you who make up words
who use your own given name
and dance on graves
flinging bandages about
celebrating release:
you are not afraid.

You already know
that body is not here.
There’s no point in seeking the living
among the dead.

JAL: 23.01.2010

Rejoice

Bob came back this morning and said 'Our bins have been emptied'. This is a joyous event! The first bin emptying of 2010 - due to challenging conditions. So here's a prayer for bin emptying.

Rejoice greatly

Rejoice
Rejoice
Rejoice greatly:
our bins have been emptied,
been emptied
been emptied.

We rejoice for the emptying of bins,
the cleaning of streets
and the sorting out of communal space.

When the snow came everything stopped
and the white washed out our collective memory
our rubbish and mess,

But now our lives are getting back on track.
The council workers are getting back on schedule
and our neighbourhoods are getting back in order.

Mindful of the need to sweep our lives clean,
to recycle what good there is in what we’ve done in the past
so that we may make a better attempt at today and tomorrow,
we ask you to refresh us in our efforts to make good our community.

And so we rejoice.
happy to have a chance to try again
and to have empty bins to refill carefully.

JAL: 22.01.2010
The first stanza in italics should be sung lustily in the style of Handel.

Rocking the cradle

Over on Jane's blog she is blogging about her sermon this morning on the parable of the woman looking for the lost coin, and prayers for Haiti. So here are more prayers to add to the world's prayers for Haiti today.

God is sweeping

God is sweeping up the dust,
clearing away the rubble
checking every pile
that was once a house or school,
hotel or office block,
for the precious ones
who are lost.

God will keep on sweeping,
checking, looking, weeping
as the numbers mount up
and the mass graves are filled.

God will keep on rocking,
rocking the world
in the cradle she has made.
She only asks that we help
to rock as we can.

Today, please help to rock the cradle for Haiti.

God of all,
give us life
one more time.


JAL: 15.01.2010

Learning to talk

'Learning to talk is very important', parents in NE Sheffield agree. This was the stunning conclusion of my PhD. Learning to talk is also very complicated and so you can appreciate why the appointment of a Communications Champion by the current British government has aroused my interest, despite heaps of snow in West Yorkshire.

Dr Jean Gross, the new CC, was reported across the British press yesterday. The Daily Mail went with 'Middle-class parents too busy to teach children how to talk, says "communication champion",' Whilst the Guardian had 'Parents too busy to help children learn to talk, study suggests'.

Like I said, learning to talk is very complicated. I realise that is never going to be a sound bite in anyone's newspaper. However, my own study of the life experiences of parents in NE Sheffield parenting children learning to talk makes nonsense of both headlines.

It's nearer the truth to say;
1 parents think that learning to talk is very important;
2 parents expect their children to learn to talk and when this doesn't happen most are surprised, sometimes frustrated and have limited resources for dealing with the situation;
3 parents of children learning to talk are usually juggling many more family life pressures and issues alongside this one;
4 most parents, including those from multicultral parts of NE Sheffield (this study was done in the parliamentary consitituency of Sheffield Brightside) have some parental knowledge about learning to talk. That is to say, they have attitudes, beliefs and experiences on which to build when it comes to parenting in this situation. Few, if any at all, will be completely without this, and few will apreciate the patronising approach of so called experts who act as if parents know nothing.

Meanwhile on her blog, Anita, has something to say about the role of the third sector in supporting and promoting parents of children with communication needs. Check it out: http://www.thecommunicationtrust.blogspot.com/

Raw prayer

I heard today that a local youth I knew, Peter, died on Christmas Day, aged 17. He leaves his mother, Margaret and his father, Stephen. Remember them.

And as you remember, remember this...

At the bottom of the mountain, Jesus meets a boy with epilepsy and his family (I go back ot this incident often) and the father says 'help my unbelief', as any of us might, and the mother says nothing, as any of us might, and Jesus says to the disciples 'this comes right only with prayer' and that's what any of us might discover through the Holy Spirit at the bottom of any mountain.

Dying day

Tomorrow will be my dying day:
the day before yesterday was yours.
You didn’t buy a ticket,
you didn’t book a place
and yet there you were
suddenly at the front of the queue.
Never one to push yourself forward,
you had been propelled there
by a few ill-chosen breaths.
Of course it’s all behind you now,
while we that are left grow old
and still have to face the final hurdle;
waiting for the chance to catch a note
of that endless chorus you now sing
and hoping this will not break us.

For today, God of all,
give us peace, one more time.

JAL: 27.12.2009
In memory of Peter

Today

What sort of day will it be today? There's nothing like unexpected weather to create uncertainty in Britain. Basingstoke has been particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon but there's hardly a corner of the UK untouched by it, according to the news. All this dreaming of a white Christmas that goes on year after year has suddenly become the last thing we really want for Christmas now it looks possible. So what sort of day is our Advent day today? Here's a few possible descriptions:

Present day

Advent day
Waiting day
Snowy day
Weathery day
Slipping day
Sliding day
Travelling day
Biding day
Visiting day
Minding day
Thinking day
Deciding day
Going day
Staying day
Action day
Resting day
Living day
Dying day
Present day
Emmanuel day

Janet Lees: 24.12.2009