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  • Time for a Poem 1. Mindful, by Mary Oliver

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    Time for a poem, which speaks for itself.

    Have a good (mindful) day all you bloggers.

    Mindful by Mary Oliver

    Everyday 
        I see or hear
           something
              that more or less

    kills me
        with delight,
           that leaves me
              like a needle

    in the haystack
        of light.
           It was what I was born for —
              to look, to listen,

    to lose myself
        inside this soft world —
           to instruct myself
              over and over

    in joy,
        and acclamation.
           Nor am I talking
              about the exceptional,

    the fearful, the dreadful,
        the very extravagant —
           but of the ordinary,
              the common, the very drab,

    the daily presentations.
        Oh, good scholar,
           I say to myself,
              how can you help

    but grow wise
        with such teachings
           as these —
              the untrimmable light

    of the world,
        the ocean’s shine,
           the prayers that are made
              out of grass?

    The photo was taken in Glen Dye, on a June day, when it was hard not to be mindful of the beauty, fragility and sheer isness of life.

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  • When the Preacher Takes his Stand and Falls Anyway

    I was preaching yesterday with some of the good Baptist folk up the Coast.

    After the service discovered talking, laughter and post service banter and not paying attention to direction comes at a cost to personal pride.

    Not having eyes in the back of my head didn't see the raised step behind me while walking backwards fully engaged in exchange of views on Dave Crowder's new CD Give us Rest.

    Preacher falls backwards, backside first, and his impetus enables him to almost complete a backward roll, with legs waving asymmetrically like an exercise class gone wrong.

    Great concern by the remaining congregation wondering if this is the Preacher demonstrating Dave Crowder's new CD Give us Rest!

    Preacher gets up quickly assuring the quick on the scene pastoral care team he is perfectly OK.

    Preacher explains he is quite used to this kind of thing as it happens to him nearly every Friday night.

    Detects puzzlement, laughter now combined with raised eyebrows and renewed pastoral concern for a fallen preacher.

    Quickly explains, plays five a side football on Friday nights and sometimes forgets he isn't Lionel Messi.

    Aaahhhh! That's all right then!

    Glad I wasn't preaching on "Let him who thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall…" 

     

  • The Things You Find in a Charity Shop 🙂

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    A multi-purpose floor standing tapestry frame. That's what it's called. And it ususally costs anything from  £70 up to the deluxe at £120 or more. This one is nearer the bottom of that range, but it does all I need it to do. It can hold any of my other four frames. It allows you to use both hands in stitching, one behind, one in front. Its adjustments make it fit any seat; it's portable, lightweight and made with good wood and substantial wing screws. What more could a man want, eh?

    I concede it looks like a wooden skeletal robot. And it could become a pretentious piece of interior design with a part worked tapestry on display to impress whoever. The good news is I bought it this morning in my favourite charity shop for £10, and it's virtually unused. I've a couple of larger pieces I want to work on so I'm hoping it will make the working easier and a little quicker. I don't mind the slow, time expensive work of creating something that has its own integrity. 

    Meantime one of my good friends has reminded me there's more to life than tapestry, and while my recent experiments in using colour, shape and image to express theology and explore textual and exegetical possibilities is all very well, it;s time I got writing again. As it says somewhere, or ought to, in the book of Proverbs, "Aye OK! Gie's peace!" But he's right – and part of my sabbatical time in July to August will be creating from a different kind of frame. I want to bring together much of my recent research, teaching and reflection into what I hope will be a publishable volume. So I will try to create a theological framework within which to work out a viable book proposal focusing on Trinitarian theology, kenosis, and the christian community as embodied pastoral care.     

  • Losing Ourselves because We’ve No Time or Space to Find Ourselves

    In 1968 in his book Faith and Violence, Thomas Merton wrote about the news as a stimulant,an indulgence bordering on addiction. What would he make of the News Channels and the pervasive news chatter of the cyber world?

    I have watched TV twice in my life. I am frankly not terribly interested in TV anyway. Certainly I do not pretend that by simply refusing to keep up with the latest news I am therefore unaffected by what goes on, or free of it all. Certainly events happen and they affect me as they do other people. It is important for me to know about them too: but I refrain from trying to know them in their fresh condition as “news.” When they reach me they have become slightly stale. I eat the same tragedies as others, but in the form of tasteless crusts. The news reaches me in the long run through books and magazines, and no longer as a stimulant. Living without news is like living without cigarettes (another peculiarity of the monastic life). The need for this habitual indulgence quickly disappears. So, when you hear news without the “need” to hear it, it treats you differently. And you treat it differently too.

    One of the marks of a prophet is prescience, knowing before it happens where events, trends and cultural habits will lead. Merton was deeply suspicious of media generated information, interpretation and opinions clothed with spurious authority. He worried about distortions of perspective by the sheer volume of news; he feared that historical consciousness was threatened with death by bloating; and he was never the naive monk cloistered in secluded ignorance of the world:

    " in addition to the sheer volume of information there is the even more portentous  fact of falsification and misinformation by which those in power are often completely intent not only on misleading others but even on convincing themselves that their own lies are 'historical truth'". 

    Monet-water-lily-pond-NG4240-fmAnd all that before the computer, the worldwide web, the mobile phone, Ipad, tablet and all other forms of connectivity which now contribute to the deluge of information that flows over and around us, denying time and space and unclaimed energy for analysis, critical distance, ethical and political reflection and considered thought and judgement.

    "Where is the life we have lost in living", Eliot asked. Another poet complained, "What is this life if full of care, we have not time to stand and stare"….. and wonder, and think, and dream, and remember, and be grateful, and begin to own the experience that is our life. When Jesus said, citing an older translation, "Come ye apart and rest awhile", he said it to people who were in danger of coming apart, to troubled spirits, torn apart by conflicting loyalties, minds and emotions over-stimulated and under nourished. 

    May Sarton's Journal of a Solitude has the important observation that one of the great frustrations of human contentment is 'unassimilated experience', when so much happens, and so quickly, we have no time to process it, understand it, adjust to it. So we spend our lives wrongfooted by the remorseless flow of a frantic world diluting our own experience, watering down the rich potential of an inner life that is responsive to and nourished by something other than external stimuli, mostly uninvited. 

    I got the Merton quotations from the smallest book in my library, my wee Pocket Merton, 7cmx11x1.5 cm of wisdom from a man who died 55 years ago.

  • The Cycle of Revenge in Jerusalem and the Murder of Our Young People

    "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem"

    "You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth, and a youth for a youth…."

    Muhammad Abu Khdair 16,

    Naftali Frankel, 16,

    Gilad Shaer 16, 

    Eyal Yifrach, 19,

    I didn't know the names of these four young people until the last few days.Now I have seen photos of their faces, and of their anguished families, and however distant, they are the faces of my family and children of my Father, they are our young people. What happens in communities who begin to believe that a youth for a youth is a thinkable option, a solution to anything? The murder of these young men diminishes us all as human beings. I feel depleted, bereaved, personally cheated of the blessing of four young people who embody hope for a more human future.

    The waste of so much potential and goodness is a blasphemy against the God we confess, whether we are Jewish, Christian or Muslim. Alongside the atheism of such acts is another attitude which requires its own discourse, Ahumanism. I'm not sure the word exists, but I use it to describe attitudes and actions that require a stronger word that inhuman. I define Ahumanism as a view of the world and of others that denies to any person their humanity, destroys human community by the evil ingenuity of hate inspired and hate inspiring violence, and revels in the shedding of blood as the discourse of despair.

    In protest, and in prayer I name these four young people; as a follower of Jesus, I pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And while I believe, passionately believe, "Blessed are the peacemakers" and that such are to be "called the children of God", I pray that such faith will be given grace to persist in the face of such Ahumanity as the murder of our young people to secure any human goal, political, religious, tribal or personal.

    Of such murderers I try to pray, and struggle to pray, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do…"

    For these young people and their families, I pray sharing their tears, may their pain and rage, their anguish and despair, their wailing and tears, become streams in the desert and the hope of blossom in the wilderness.

    All three faiths honour Isaiah and his vision of light for the nations. May the loss of these for young men be impetus for peace in Jerusalem. 

    Muhammad Abu Khdair 16,

    Naftali Frankel, 16,

    Gilad Shaer 16, 

    Eyal Yifrach, 19,

  • First Corinthians is Hard Going; It Can Be Explained for a Fee.

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    In 1987 Gordon Fee's commentary on Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was published. For near 30 years Fee on Corinthians has been the benchmark commentary for scholars and preachers. More recent commentaries bring the discussions up to date, build on contemporary hermeneutical models, reflect recent interests in socio-rhetorical and political readings of Pauline letters, and in the case of Thiselton's monumental commentary on the Greek Text, open up multiple doors in reception history, history of interpretation and hermeneutic horizons.

    But Fee remains a favourite for many, and for a variety of reasons. He is one of the finest exegetes of the last 50 years, an Evangelical serving within the academy with a passion for excellence in scholarship and integrity in dealing with historical material. He is a Pentecostal theologian whose work on pneumatology and christology in Paul is exhibited in two volumes of erudition harnessed to spiritual purpose, and scholarly activity in the service of the church. As if that isn't enough he is a trusted guide in the disciplines of exegesis as these underlie preaching that takes seriously the integrity of the text and the spirituality of communities committed to reading, learning and living Scripture.

    So it was with great sadness that we learned Professor Fee has retired from formal academic appointments, due to the onset of alzheimer's disease. Sadness because I have for 30 years sat at the feet of this Gamaliel, and learned from such a wise and penetrating mind, deeply and gladly how to handle sacred texts responsibly, and responsively. But I feel great gratitude too, for a life of such dedicated joy, positively revelling in New Testament textual criticism and exegesis. His commentaries on First Corinthians, Philippians and Thessalonians, his books God's Empowering Presence, and Pauline Christology, his several volumes of occasional essays, are exemplary works of scholarship, and his commentaries especially are like Emmaus walks for preachers and students and scholars – using them, the heart burns within as he opens the scriptures. Does that sound overstated? Maybe, but just a little. His co-authored book with Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth, could easily describe the gift he has given to generations of students, and sum up his own life's work. It is all a first year text book should be - accessible, enthusiastic, affordable, readable, instructive and sensible.

    Eerdmans have just announced a revised edition of Fee on First Corinthians, the revisions carried out latterly by Professor Fee before his illness and subsequent retirement. Whether it will be a significant revision interacting with the vast cataract of Pauline studies in the past quarter century, remains to be seen. But in affection, gratitude and because I love the NICNT commentaries, I will use a recent book token to replace my old Fee, which was bought all these years ago and is so split it is more like a pile of pamphlets in a board folder – my edition was one of the first to be glued rather than stitched – sign of a decadent culture, glued books!!

  • Does the Tragic Lives Industry Trivialise Tragedy?

    I like to think I'm reasonably open minded, even to the point where I'm prepared to listen to people who say I'm not! As one feature of my alleged open-mindedness I have a fairly omnivorous approach to reading, so much so that I swing between discipline and dilettantism, between focusing on deep study or acting like a tourist with a camera more interested in capturing than enjoying.

    Still. I do find it hard to have much patience with that genre of literature now established in the book markets, "Tragic Lives". It isn't  only that I am impatient with those who tell their story for self-therapy, or skeptical with writers who tell all to encourage others, or cyncial about those whose drastic revelations aim to inspire those who think they've had it rough but just wait till you read this. I've thought all these thoughts, and by and large avoid the genre. But there's a more fundamental point I want to suggest as the reason for my ambivalence to the tragic lives industry.

    I think there is an enormous difference between stories told as an exhibition of human suffering, abuse, tragic loss, many of which are expoitative, of the writer or of the reader, and another kind of writing which explores the tragic through the lens of human sorrow. This second kind of literature can be illustrated by looking at several monumental achievements in writing, which set a standard of integrity and human authenticity so high that conveyor belts of imitiations are simply multiplied mediocrity. And I avoid entirely that other genre of the celebrity tells all about their briefly flickering moments of fame.

     
    Etty-hillesumThe Diary of Ann Frank, Etty; A Diary    , and the two vilumes of Elie Wiesel's Memoir, All Rivers Run to the Sea, and But the Sea is Never Full; these are another genre entirely, often referred to as Holocaust Literature. Such writing would never be described by the authors as 'tragic lives'. The shimmering characteristics of books like these include human hopefulness, moral courage, literary integrity and a declaration of self-worth and human value that has transmuted self-pity into a passionate commitment to the other.

    Etty Hillesum's account of 1941-43 is as tragic as they come, though not as she sees it. Here is her take on that inner ache we call sorrow – these are words of humane wisdom and emotional precision:

    "Give your sorrow all the space and shelter in yourself that is its due, for if everyone bears his grief honestly and courageously, the sorrow that now fills the world will abate. But if you do not clear a decent shelter for your sorrow, and instead reserve mostof the space inside you for hatred and thoughts of revenge – for which new sorrows will be born for others – then sorrow will never cease in this world and will multiply. And if you have given sorrow the space its gentle origins demand, then you may truly say: life is beautiful and so rich. So beautiful and so rich that it makes you want to believe in God."

      

  • Following Jesus Today: Seeing the World Transfigured Through a Resurrection Lens

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    I mentioned that last week I attended a three day course on Transformative Coaching, and I learned a lot. The course is designed by Youth at Risk and the overall aim of the three days is to enable participants to discover new ways of thinking. Nothing radically new, we spent a lot of time examining paradigms as master interpretive filters with the power to construct thought, form attitudes and therefore influence action; we acknowledged the importance of paradigms, and the necessity of being critically aware of our own; and then the more personal acknowledgement that our current paradigmatic way of looking at the world may distort rather than creatively interpret the world in which we live and move and have our being. Changes in our lives may only happen if there is such a radical deconstructing of a mindset resistant to fundamental change because our paradigm is not on the table for discussion.

    Naturally the course itself assumes certain things about paradigms, and how we construct them, and are not always aware that we do, or that our way of looking at the world is itself open to challenge, question and critique. Every half decent training approach has to make assumptions about how human beings think and feel, the inner climate of ethics, values, convictions, and their intellectual isobars like assumptions, learning experience, cognitive awareness, conscience and the part inner environment plays in the creation of standpoint.This training course is no different in making such initial assumptions, and it is a very good course.

    Another approach altogether is mentoring. Like many buzz words  mentoring carries its own cultural baggage of meaning, and becomes used so often that it becomes unexamined, and the in crowd who use it assume it means a certain way of being and practice. Amongst the strengths of  having a mentor is the benefit of learning from an experienced person, seeing how 'it is done', finding support, guidance and example in this other, more senior colleague or trainer. However I remain gently sceptical about mentoring in these terms, especially if such mentoring has a directive remit, whether explicit or through the authority and influence of someone who in the mentoring relationship inhabits the position of knowledge, experience and therefore power. Mentoring can become a way of shaping people as copies of the mentor. Admiration is its own filter, and is by definition reluctant to see that which might be open to critique and challenge. And the person being mentored is not always in the position of 'knowing better' so that the habits of thought, action and attitude of the mentor consciously or unconsciously, intentionally or not, shape ways of being and doing and thinking and feeling in the mentoree – I know, isn't that an ugly word.

    So whether I am at a course aimed at transforming my thinking by challenging my existing paradigms, assumptions and ways of being, or whether I am working within a relationship of learning with a mentor, I am still required to be critically aware not only of my own questionable presuppositions, but also of those who challenge them. Everyone has a position, standpoint, worldview, mindset.

    Against the background of all such thinking I hear the words of Jesus:

    Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

    Take my yoke upon you and learn of me;

    for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

    For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

    And no, I'm not making the banal point Jesus is my mentor, or Jesus is my paradigm shift. That kind of T-shirt theology is just that. Neither of those terms or ways of seeing our lives and the world are sufficiently descriptive of the disruptive and regenerative  consequences of responding to Jesus invitation.

    Take up your cross and follow;

    become as a little child; love your enemies;

    inasmuch as you did it unto the marginalised, vulnerable, poor,

    God-forsaken, you did it to me; blessed are the peacemakers;

    anger and hate are murder; forgive seventy times seven.

    We don't just need a mentor for such behaviour, we need an inner renewal, a spiritual invasion of grace, a comprehensive renovation of heart and mind. And yes that will indeed require a paradigm shift, not as a one off, but as a way of life in which repeatedly and continually we see the world anew and renewed. The Incarnation, Transfiguration, Passion and Resurrection of Jesus do not only renew my way of looking at the world – they have renewed the world I look at and live in. The resurrection is, for Christian theology, the ultimate paradigm shift.

       

  • Luis Suarez’ Teeth and the Bear Trap of Commercial Sponsorship

    I play five a side football every Friday night and did so lat night. Nobody got bitten. Most of us know each other well, I dedicated as babies several of the twenty somethings who play. Sometimes people come we don't know which helps us have full numbers for the teams. None of them have ever bitten another player. On display every week from the more mature players (I'm not the oldest, yet) is waning athleticism, glimpses of silky skills from a past era, energetic medicocrity, and people who still live the dream of scoring goal of the season. But nobody bites. Trampled, kicked, tripped, dead legged, hit with the ball in the face, stomach, or what Paul might call the lesser unmentionable organs, but no, not bitten.

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    The global furore about Luis Suarez biting an opponent for the third time, this time in the World Cup, witnessed by hundreds of millions, surrounded by up to 150 media cameras, raises all kinds of questions. Such behaviour has to be punished for the fairness of the game, the safety of the players and as a statement of human values. So I have no difficulty approving the ban, the statement made by such a sanction, and the determination of FIFA and other football authorities to uphold standards.

    But when all that is said, and done, not enough is said, and nowhere like enough is done. Where in all this media frenzy for scandal, gossip and outrage is there the note of redemption, forgiveness, hope, change, and a future for Suarez, who is a man, a human being and only then a gifted footballer?

    His club, Liverpool knew and know he has a pattern of behaviour that threatens his career, and creates enormous pain for his opponents, his club and himself. What have they done for him since the last time? What have they said or done since the latest incident? Why is it only TV pundits who honestly use the terminology of help, therapy and change? To his credit the Italian player he bit thinks the punishment excessive. But it isn't the punishment that is excessive, it is the help and support towards change that is scandalously inadequate. At the very least, he is a huge marketable commodity, why wouldn't you do everything to protect your investment? And while I'm on about marketability, here is a dream scenario unlikely to become realisable.

    Supposing, just supposing, the major sponsor who dropped him within 24 hours of the FIFA judgement, had taken time to think about the person luis Suarez. And supposing they had spoken with him, and were able to announce that they had put in place a programme of treatment that would enable the issues to be addressed and the player to regain the levels of control needed to continue his career. Supposing they had suspended his use advertising their product for a given but limited period, and suspended his income for that time, and given him the chance to play in the most important game of them all – the life he lives, the person he is and the possibilities of change and redemption – I use the word non theologically at this stage?

    The irony is his major sponsor is a betting firm, they make their money by people gambling, taking risks, believing against the odds. The betting industry rakes in billions from the influence of people like Suarez, and they need him to be clean, admirable, an embodiment of all those dreams every gambler will recognise. I wonder, I just wonder, what would have happened if this sponsor had announced their support for Suarez the man, and their outrage at his behaviour, condoning nothing. And as a sign of their integrity (should such a quality exist at such a high corporate marketing level) and commitment to their product (the image of Suarez) they announced that this is a man with whom they have done business; he is obviously needing help to continue his career and they will support him as he seeks it? And supposing, just supposing, Liverpool had done something similarly redemptive, supportive but also addressing the concerns of sanctions, discipline and indeed justice?

    The more emotional and passionate fans of Suarez, including his own national fan base, have described his treatment as being thrown out like a dog from the tournament. Their metaphor is unfortunate, but their concern for the human being is laser beam accurate. Oops sorry, laser beams are also now an issue following the one that was used to distract the Russian goalkeeper while a corner was being taken – that's another story.

    But for now, I am simply saying, as a football fan, a used to be no bad footballer, a human being, and yes as a Christian; it's time Suarez' club, sponsors, and team mates recognised this is not solvable by sanctions. The man needs help, support and a framework of hope to deal with issues that are immensely destructive but surely not incapable of resolution.

    Anyway, that's my take on football, biting and the redemptive imagination so absent from the machinations of a world increasingly inhumane in its responses to anything that threatens the bottom line. Feel free to disagree, but no biting comments please…

  • Youth at Risk Training days. And On Another Subject, Taxis and Solcitiors.

    LogoI've been away most of this week at a Youth At Risk Coaching conference. Three days 9-5 with around 40 others drawn from across the campuses of UWS. It was stimulating, annoying, unsettling, fun, tiring, intense, rigid and rigorous, and was aimed at changing the way we think, see ourselves, the world and others. In some ways it was a cross between a three day lecture, a three day argument and a three day retreat. If that sounds a bit confused it's because it's quite hard to categorise into the usual training packages. There was a lot of laughter, sometimes the nervous hide from the deep stuff humour; often genuine belly laugh, ahah, loveable laughter of human beings 'getting it' and wondering why we didn't see it before. You can find out more about Youth at Risk over here I intend to follow up the training once I've had a time to process three days of inner gardening!

    ………………………………………….

    Now sometimes you're driving about minding your own business and then something bugs you. I was driving behind a taxi on the way to Braehead on Wednesday evening. Then I noticed the advert. Do remember this was a taxi, a road vehicle licensed to carry the public safely, driven by a responsible driver hopefully with a clean licence.

    The advert was on behalf of a firm of solicitors called keepmylicence.com.

    Now I have to say as a strap line that one tends to get your attention. But then it is surrounded by words and phrases that make most of us wary of other drivers "drunk driving – mobile phone use – dangerous driving – speeding – no insurance". Now I may be a wee Pharisee, and I make due allowance for what may be idiosyncratic and discriminatory prejudices about the common good, social responsibility and the rest; and I am absolutely committed to the fact that whatever the rime a person has a right to representation and defence.

    So feel free to rebuke, correct or counsel me, but am I the only one who is offended by that selection of driving offences being positively linked with avoiding their consequences? Why should those convicted of these offences often enough to accumulate 12 points, or who commit an offence serious enough to be shown a straight red card and face being banned from driving, keep their licence? Losing a licence isn't only a punishment for the offender; it allows time for changes of behaviour that will make public space safer. To specialise in defending drivers is fine; and of course drivers facing prosecution for whatever offence are entitled to the best defence available to them. But I am very uncomofrtable with advertising and brand naming that inevitably suggests it's possible and acceptable to minimise the inconvenience of those guilty of license losing behaviour, by increasing the risk to the public? All of this of course is within the law and the firm is reputable, has a long experience and obviously considerable success. But then, there is the not irrelevant fact that the advert was on the back of a taxi minibus……? It's a strange and puzzling world and some of its daily observations do my head in…. so I make my own observations 🙂

    You can Google the company and see what you think yourself.