This was our favourite beach, Marinah. The car park was at the top then there were endless steps down to the beach and you could climb over rocks to get to other bays that were more secluded. Absolutely beautiful. Can't wait to go back.
Then it was back to school for a week to show off the tan. Mind you, everyone thought it was fake, until I started peeling!
The weekend was a residential at London Colney. Much better that the last time I was there (January - cold and dark) . I went for a lovely long walk around the grounds and fields on the Sunday morning. It was good to have the time to stop and look at the little things we so often miss in our day to day rushing around, like the dew on a cobweb, the sun on the petals of tiny flowers, the roots of an ivy plant winding themselves around an old tree trunk, the patterns on a butterfly. It's something I intend to do more of.
I've also been to see Archbishop Desmond Tutu! He was preaching at St Albans Cathederal last Saturday as part of their annual festival for St Alban. He was really great, so down to earth and genuine. It was a privilege to hear him.
Its also time to write my end of year reflection for ERMC. My tutor has also had to do one. It was all OK except for my own minister and church. Having negative comments from them was hard, especially as they weren't about my ability as a preacher, but about me as a person. I found it really upsetting. I know how much I have changed in the last year, but people who have known me on a more casual basis, like just on Sundays, have a preconcieved idea of who I am based on previous knowledge, so can't see how I've changed as they only see what the expect to see, if that makes sense. I don't fit their preconcieved idea of a Methodist minister, so they don't think I'm ready to candidate. But I don't want to fit the mold, because I don't want to lose sight of who I am. So I'm having second thoughts about whether or not I candidate this year, if at all.
On a lighter note, my unofficial God-daughter (she's not been christened as her parents have no beliefs and felt it would be hypocritical) has got a puppy. Scooby is a 9 week old Jack Russell and she is adorable. I taught her to fetch when we babysat for Amelia on Saturday night. I can't wait for the time when we are home enough to have one of our own, or two. We hope to get a retired greyhound, and I want something small, maybe a chihuahua or a dachshound. Or maybe just a little rescue mutt.
Also been watching lots of Glastonbury. Must get Get Cape, Wear Cape. Fly's album. Great horns and I loved some of the lyrics too. I'd love to go as I've never been, but wouldn't fancy quite that much mud. Call me a wimp, but I'd rather watch from the comfort of my own sofa!
So I think that just about catches up from the hols to now. I've got a tally chart on the board in the classroom counting down the days till the end of term - 19!! Can't wait. Might even blog again before then!!
2 comments:
Reading the penultimate paragraph, the last line in this excerpt from U2, "Acthung Baby", comes to mind:
"... No, nothing makes sense
Nothing seems to fit
I know you'd hit out
If you only knew who to hit
And I'd join the movement
If there was one I could believe in
Yeah I'd break bread and wine
If there was a church I could receive in
'cause I need it now
To take a cup
To fill it up
To drink it slow
I can't let you go
I must be an acrobat
To talk like this
And act like that
And you can dream
So dream out loud
And don't let the bastards grind you down ..."
In that spirit, hang in there, and don't give up. If nothing else, the church needs people who "don't fit". One of my favourite quotes from Karl Barth, one of the greatest theologians of the church (!) in the 20th century, touches on this, viewed from the other side, as it were:
"And now one final thing: where there is church, she has one goal: the Kingdom of God. How could it be otherwise than that this goal of the church results in perpetual disquiet for human beings in the church ... It must not happen that that one allows this to spoil the Christian, ie. ecclesiastical and also theological existence. ... One may often feel sick in the face of the whole ecclesiastical thing. The person who does not know this oppressive feeling, who simply feels at ease inside church walls, has clearly not seen the full dynamics of this issue. In the church, one can only be a bird in a cage ... At issue is something bigger than our little preaching and liturgy!
Und nun noch ein Letztes: Wo Kirche ist, da hat sie ein Ziel: das Reich Gottes. Wie könnte es anders sein, als dass dieses Ziel der Kirche eine dauernde Beunruhigung bildet für die Menschen in der Kirche ... Es darf nun nicht geschehen, dass man sich dadurch die christliche, d.h. die kirchliche und auch die theologische Existenz verleiden lässt. ... Man kann wohl oft einen Ekel bekommen vor dem ganzen kirchlichen Wesen. Wer diese Beklemmung nicht kennt, wer sich einfach wohl fühlt in den Kirchenmauern, der hat die eigentliche Dynamik dieser Sache bestimmt noch nicht gesehen. Man kann in der Kirche nur wie ein Vogel im Käfig sein ... Es geht um etwas Grösseres als um unser bisschen Predigt und Liturgie!"
(Karl Barth, 1947. Dogmatik im Grundriss. München: Christian Kaiser Verlag, pp.171f)
can't be as eloquent as Holger Sarah- but yeah hang in there- as for Glastonbury- I'm going next year how cool is that??? :-)!!!
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