Dear BT (Part 1)

Dear BT. Hi. I'm your new customer. Not that you would know that it seems. Thanks for not coming over today. Thanks for cancelling the appointment without telling us. Yours sincerely, your not-so devoted customer.

Cast Your Cares....

A new survey out today highlights the happiest and most unhappy places in the UK.

It seems that contentment does not come with riches but with simplicity. The Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland are the places to live for a happy and worthwhile life. Such out-of-the-way places point to the simple enjoyment of the outdoors, amazing scenery and a lifestyle unencumbered by over reliance on modern appliances, supermarkets, television and speed of travel.

In the same article, my own city of Peterborough sadly topped the poll for being the most anxious. Not all of the city is like that though. Come along to KingsGate Church where on an average Sunday you will find around 1,800 people who would not in the least fit into that ‘anxious’ image. With 58 different nations represented and a number of different church services to choose from, this is Positive Peterborough.

And the reason for the lack of anxiety? We know where to ‘cast our cares’!

Dangling Conversation

Thank you Miss Kerr.

Miss Kerr was my English teacher at secondary school. And she introduced me to pop music.

Ours was a 'classical' home and 'Top of the Pops' was frowned upon. So it was only as I reached senior school that I began to pay attention to the charts. My very first contact was my English lesson where we were given the lyrics and listened to 'Dangling Conversation' by Simon & Garfunkel. Not exactly leading edge rock, but a wonderful song and great lyrics.

The album it came from, 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme' is unbelievably 47 years old now. But good lyrics last the years.

May we never become lost in 'dangling conversations', but make every day of our lives count.

It's a still life water colour,
Of a now late afternoon,
As the sun shines through the curtained lace
And shadows wash the room.
And we sit and drink our coffee
Couched in our indifference,
Like shells upon the shore
You can hear the ocean roar
In the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
The borders of our lives.

And you read your Emily Dickinson,
And I my Robert Frost,
And we note our place with bookmarkers
That measure what we've lost.
Like a poem poorly written
We are verses out of rhythm,
Couplets out of rhyme,
In syncopated time
Lost in the dangling conversation
And the superficial sighs,
Are the borders of our lives.

Yes, we speak of things that matter,
With words that must be said,
"Can analysis be worthwhile?"
"Is the theatre really dead?"
And how the room is softly faded
And I only kiss your shadow,
I cannot feel your hand,
You're a stranger now unto me
Lost in the dangling conversation.
And the superficial sighs,
In the borders of our lives.

The Impossible Divide

We’re all looking for God. Some of us admit it. Others of us don’t.

The thing is, our efforts to find him always fail. Prayer, meditation, ritual, repetition, fasting, feasting…. You name it, we try it. Pretty much every religion ever invented requires us to do things. But whether we are as saintly as Mother Teresa or as evil as Adolf Hitler, we fail to reach God. It’s an impossible divide to cross.

So God reached out to us. He came in human form, died for us (Good Friday) and then rose again (Easter Sunday), breaking death and bridging the impossible divide. The impossible divide to cross was crossed with a real cross.

What we could never do, Jesus did for us. Because of what Jesus did, we can cross the impossible divide and know God. Forty-two years ago, I prayed a prayer that changed my life. Here it is. If you pray it too, please write and let me know. Happy Easter.

Lord Jesus

I know you are alive and are still changing lives today. Please change mine.

Forgive me Lord for my life lived without you.

I invite you in right now as my Lord and Saviour.

Please come and change me.

Please come and bridge the impossible divide.

Amen.

Late Fragment

A fond farewell today to Mon, a former colleague at Emap. This is a short poem read at the service by her granddaughter Sarah-Jayne. Beautiful.

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

Late Fragment by Raymond Carver

Air New Zealand and The Hobbit

If all safety video's were like this we'd all pay more attention! One of the highlights of our trip!

 

Lost party, lost country, lost way, lost mind

David Cameron has lost his party, lost his country, lost has way and lost his mind.

He’s lost his party. (Not that I mind- I don’t vote Tory). The Times records it as ‘Cameron Reels from Huge Revolt on Gay Vote’. 60% of his MP’s are at odds with him on the vote, with warnings from the party they may lose the next election because of it.

He’s lost his country. We are a cautious bunch, careful with change and protective of our roots. Our roots are Christian. Marriage is between one man and one woman. It’s been that way since we became the country we are today.

He’s lost his way. How can a gay marriage be consummated? How can a gay marriage be for ‘procreation’?  Is he really going to change the law and delete all the references to ‘husband and wife’?

He’s lost his mind. Usually pragmatic and clear thinking, he has been persuaded to move in a direction that cuts against all we are, all we have been and all we should be.