Monday, 12 September 2011

The vulture tweets between his meals...

And that's the reason why
He very very rarely feels
As well as you or I.

His eye is dull, his head is bald
His neck is growing thinner.
Oh, what a lesson to us all -
To only tweet at dinner!

Friday, 9 September 2011

Small is Beautiful by Schumacher

Having read Tim Jackson's brilliant book 'Prosperity without Growth' over the summer, it's interesting to see that Schumacher was prophetically saying many of the same things nearly forty years ago. 'Small is Beautiful' is still very much worth reading.

'The substance of man cannot be measured by Gross National Product. Perhaps, it cannot be measured at all, except for certain symptoms of loss...such as crime, drug addiction, vandalism, mental breakdown, rebellion etc...There are poor societies which have too little; but where is the rich society that says: 'Halt! We have enough?' Where indeed?

Waste Collection Sans Frontieres...

Anyone feel like starting this up?
Having just been travelling in the Middle East, I'm amazed at the beauty of the region, the kindness and warm spirituality of the people and - despite all the recent concerns over security - the great sense of peace and quiet there.
Nonetheless, one of the biggest shocks was seeing so much rubbish both in cities and in the desert and sourrounding country - just piled up everywhere. Our guide was careful to warn us not to drink the local water - 'even the locals drink bottled water,' he said proudly. And the evidence to back up this claim was everywhere - even in the smartest streets and locations. And, of course, in poorer parts of the cities and in the rivers - things were far worse. And no one seems to care.
One night we climbed Mount Sinai (took me over 4 hours - even with assistance of v charming young Bedouin) and the scenery by moonlight was amazing. Coming down again the following morning after sunrise, however, I was dismayed to see that, even on Mount Sinai, plastic bottles were strewn everywhere.
It's not just unhealthy, unsightly and generally demeaning - but none of this plastic can be recycled.
We desperately need to help developing countries get access to clean drinking water on tap and clear up all this terrible mess.


A Life Worth Living

A Life Worth Living is an exciting and practical seven session course that helps people explore our innate calling to live a virtuous life and how this is embodied in the Christian faith.

Each week we will

· Share a meal

· Share feedback from our journals on practice and reflection over the preceding week

· Explore a particular virtue - such as justice, generosity, courage - through a story from one of the books in the Bible that tells the story of Jesus - Luke’s gospel

· Listen to a short talk on this

· Have a time of silent meditation or prayer

· Make notes in our journals and reflect in small groups

· Take away a specific practice to work on over the next week

Is A Life Worth Living for me?

If you would like to learn more about how Christ makes life worth living, then YES this course is for you!

  • You do NOT need to have studied theology
  • You do NOT need to go to church
  • You do NOT need to know anything about Christianity

Where? The Crypt, St Mary’s Church, Upper Street, N1 2TX

When? Wednesdays 7.30-9.30pm from 12 Oct to 23 Nov 2011

How much? The course is free but you will be invited to make a contribution to the cost of the meal

To register Call or text Revd Martine Oborne on 07950 743 878

www.stmaryislington.org

Advice on building up your following on Twitter?

Believe it or not - it's in the Bible! Matthew 4:18-19. Jesus goes down to Lake Galilee and invites 2 people to follow him, then a few more and then he asks them to make more followers and here we are now - Jesus with a top following of over 2 billion. Certainly beats Lady Gaga on a mere 13.3 million.

OK - Test 3...

Really think I may have done it this time...

Another test

It seems I can update the blog from phone. Good. But how do I do automatic link to twitter when I post?

This is a Test!

Trying to link my resurrected blog to Twitter...

Time to Resurrect My Blog

Crikey, it's been over TWO YEARS since I set up this blog and posted a few posts. Time to resurrect it, I think. Let's hope it proves to be more vital and long lasting in its second life.