Celebrate good times come on!

I had the blessed (interpret that at will) task of leading team worship this morning and decided we'd look at the theme of "celebrating". If we really have some 'good news' how are we living that out?

We remembered God saying to Jesus "this is my son with whom I am WELL pleased" (which always makes me smile because it's like God has gone ghetto but...) and taking time to listen to why he may also be 'well pleased' with us, which we duly did.

We then shared our celebration with another person. Next, numbered 1 and 2 all the way round the room, every 2 moved to a new number 1 and shared what their original number 1 was celebrating. It felt like boasting about someone elses achievements which was overwhelmingly positive...and pride seemed to be jumping all over the room.

Finally we all summed up in one sentance what we were celebrating before sharing communion.

I thought the idea worked really well, even though I didn't felt I presented the whole idea very effectively (but hey I was tired after my weekend sortie to north yorkshire), I certainly forgot alot of the stuff I'd planned to say. Most importantly what I forgot to tell everyone was that I was actually celebrating something incredible ....the fact that at 32, whilst in the supermarket buying wine for communion I'd been asked for id!!!

Reasons to be cheerful!

Great Yorkshire Amateur Chef of the Year

That's my brother that is! Yes, Tim beat off stiff competition to scoop the coverted title yesterday.

Only just 18, he remained cool as a cucumber whilst roasting the other competitors in the final held at Harvey Nichols, Leeds.

He now has to demonstrate his dish to the great and good at one of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's shows ... and amazingly he wasn't originally going to enter!!!

Shoot for the moon kiddo ...we'll be back up for dinner soon!

(Ed note: This article previously used the title Yorkshire Young Chef of the Year we apologise for the inaccuracy of this statement and recognise that the correct accolade really makes Timbo a whole lot more clever!So in that case we're coming up for dinner AND dessert! ;-))

Don't stretch that metaphor

The 9th September saw my 4th annual LCET service. It's so amazing how we've grown in that time from about 12 when I first started, to 26 this year, including our lovely volunteers and two interns.

Our challenge as a team is to go into the deep end ... deeper with the young people, deeper in the scope and reach of our work and deeper in our spiritual lives both as team and as individuals.

To start that off the chaplaincy team had our first termly half day of prayer and God really challenged us to accept that we are loved and to live in the strength of that this year.

We were using the metaphor of the deep end as we prayed which was helpful to a point until I heard myself saying "and what are the blown up pyjama trousers of your faith?" - take me now!! In mitigation (not that I suspect there is any after that question but...) we had been remembering swimming survival lessons - the mystifying diving to get a brick ('really it's only a brick, I'd let it drown') and the jumping in with your nightwear on (see the headline 'sleepwalking ends in tragedy') - taking your bottoms off, tying a knot in each leg, inflating them and enjoying your blue-peter style bouyancy aid (which as with all bp projects didn't actually work).

It was a firm lesson that imagery should be carefully controlled!

Whipsnade!

Had a great day at the zoo with Quinladen and Mr Flower yesterday - leaving aside the whole ethical debate about zoo's and the chimps bad skin condition - it was great to see so many animals and we managed to time all our stops to fantastic displays whether the hippo wallowing, the lemur love-in or the elephant walk. Enjoy!

Virus Warning

I don't usually post these but this one's serious ...

There is a dangerous virus being passed around electronically, orally,
and by hand. This virus is called Worm-Overload-Recreational-Killer
(WORK).

If you receive WORK from any of your colleagues, your boss, or anyone
else via any means DO NOT TOUCH IT. This virus will wipe out your
private life completely.

If you should come into contact with WORK, put your jacket on and take
two good friends to the nearest restaurant. Purchase the antidote known
as Work-Isolating-Neutralizer-Extract (WINE) or
Bothersome-Employer-Elimination-Rebooter (BEER). Take the antidote
repeatedly, until WORK has been completely eliminated from your system.

You should forward this warning to 5 friends. If you do not have 5
friends, you have already been infected and WORK is controlling your
life.

With thanks to Wickedx

Wise words...

love is to reaveal the beauty of another person to themselves.

(Badly) quoting Jean Varnier, founder of L'Arche community

Duke (Extra) Special

Unexpected highlight of Greenbelt this year were (or was) Duke Special. I'd heard the song "Last night I nearly died" on Radio 2 but never caught who it was, just loved the conceit.

Then we caught Peter Wilson at the Rising (song writers panel)with Martyn Joseph and he was soulful and introspective, then live on mainstage complete with costume and ragtime band it was full speed and larger than life.

The sound is like nothing else, lyrics are deep and real, bone-marrow exposively (if that's a word)so.


There's a touch of the Pierot about Wilson,as his act projects a dark vulnerability. The songs are vaudeville, Kurt Weil and then Keane-esq anthems too. It's like a waking dream at once surreal and plausible. It's also a very shrewed attempt to do what you want to do (artistically)... and still live (commercially), you can hear the singles but the tracks hang together perfectly as an album and manage to sound diverse not duplicitous.

As soon as I figure out how to put tracks into this blog I will, until then I urge everyone to buy the cd or better still go and see them/him live.

If your life is missing something poignant and beautiful this is the place to find it.

So many blogs so little time...

I don't know if I'm alone in this but I have a running list of blogs in my head and often life is too hectic to get them down and then there is a quandry. Do I go back to the beginning or do I store blogs and start with the most recent life happening? Decisions, decisions, but don't worry I'm not losing sleep over this!

So some blogs that never got fully formed this months are...

Nature is cruel - Mum and I went for a lovely walking the Worcestershire countryside and spent a while watching three hares. They are utterly amazing creature and so rarely seen. Then a man came along with a gun and started shooting at them! Which in itself was a wierd metaphor for village life at that time. There you are enjoying all the happenings and experiences of rural village life and then someone comes along with something explosive! We live through these experiences no matter how painful and somehow hope they change our understanding/compassion for the better.

Heaven in ordinary - Greenbelt 07 was awesome and I only went for a day, it's so creative and vibrant and just inspiring, heaven on earth and THAT'S far from ordinary!

Soul Survivor - so good, so different from Greenbelt but fab to be in worship with 10,000 people.

Mark Yaconelli - he may have knocked Delia Smith off the left hand of God spot. Much more on his wisdom at a later date. (Oh and he served me communion!!!!).

And it's a new term at LCET, and I'm in charge!!! whoooooaaa haaa haaa!!!!

So if you're lucky you're saved from reading the waffling versions of those forrays into the dark space that is my mind....ooo and little-flower might have made it into print!! Where? (Mumbles) Er,(mumbles) the west midlands moth spotters monthly mag - see the truth is stranger than fiction!