Hutton Rudby »

Here is my attempt to engage the village where I live in the monthly newsletter delivered to all houses. It is always difficult to know how to do this: do you do a Conservative Party Conference thing- preach vociferously to your ‘home’ crowd in insider language (so you have ‘given ‘them’ the Gospel….even if none of ‘them’ understand it or are put off by your tone) or attempt, tentatively, to engage people where you might just be dismissed as a bumbling old fool? I usually try the latter approach.

Some of you will know the old W.H.Davies poem that begins with:-

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

There is more ‘space’ in summer: holidays, long days and light nights. Plenty of time to get the garden sorted or get round to all those jobs that you have not done during the rest of the year. There is also plenty of time to;

• do nothing
• sit down and let the grass grow.
• take your foot off the accelerator and watch the world go by.

In other words, time to realise that what we are and what we do is not the centre of the world.

We can all do this, but Christians talk about ‘Letting go and letting God’ and one of my favourite Psalms says:

It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;

 I hope you manage to find and make that space this summer, for as the poem finishes:

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Birthday, random »

Five years ago today I started this blog: initially on BlogSpot and now on wordpress.

5 years: if I was a human of that age, I would be barely able to read and write, lacking concentration and unable to mount a logical argument: ’nuff said.

5 years: is an age in blogging terms- all the trendy kids have left blogging for twitter etc (I do that- you can follow me on @revgpp), leaving the blogosphere full of the terminally maladjusted, narcissistic and middle aged: ’nuff said.

I blog for the reason I always did- putting up stuff that I find interesting and that I would otherwise file and forget. Thanks for reading and persuading me that I am not the Jonny no mates of cyberspace.

5 years and my brain hurts a lot….

random »

(Yes, it was just like that…)

I have heard it said that you would invite your minister to your Christmas parties but never your New Year parties. That’s because they are not like normal people; if they are feeling particularly racy they may have the occasional chuckle once a year, but never accompanied by more than a single glass of weak sherry. But staying up after 10pm; never, unless it is to write a sermon or an important committee paper.

Last night was a first: a kind of stag night for someone whom I am doing a wedding for a week today. He is part of a group of us who meet every Friday teatime at the pub- teatime never ends until we leave. I occasionally join them for orange juice and a half of weak shandy (let the reader understand).

When I was 10 or 11, I remember a minister who used to come into the Boys Brigade company I was part of and tell us stories. A lot of those stories have stuck with me. I remember one story about a man who was trying to reach people in American gang culture. He lived with them, went around with them and did what they did (the details are hazy- I struggle to remember what I did yesterday let alone nearly 40 years ago). I found some of the details shocking- I was an over moral 10/11 year old- but I do remember the idea that Jesus became one of us so we could become one with those around us…… no one stands a chance of that if you become something totally removed from them. In hindsight, I spent too much of my 20s just socialising with other Christians. My 40s, consciously and unconsciously, have been different. And no, I am not perfect, I have made lots of mistakes…

Well, that’s my excuse- not that I need any- for being out last night. And I will be up the same time this morning, running round a football pitch from 9.30-11, fresh as a daisy….

The Velvet Underground, Uncategorized »

I blame the comprehensive education system. I had heard of the Velvet Underground but never really played them: I am sure Michael Gove- that clear thinking and sensitive Education Secretary- will remedy this for future generations (oh dear, my IronyGenerator TM is stuck on ‘full’ again).

And then, miracle of miracles, a well stocked charity shop with a stack of cds at 99p that were not all ‘Blue’s Greatest Hits’ or that one by Toploader that includes that well known one that the TV plays every summer. And in that stack that I found 5 good cds, I found one by The Velvet Underground. There is nothing like playing music composed under heavy drug taking and extolling heavy drug taking that gets one in the mood for church meetings in rural North Yorkshire I find.

Mind you, I almost couldn’t get past this song: wow!

quotations, rant »

‘You’ve got to be in it to win it!’

‘Aim high!’

‘No pain no gain!’

I have increasingly had an uneasiness about sporting maxims being applied to life. Sport is easy (actually, it is not; it is complex and few make it; another reason why I wouldn’t fully apply lessons from sport to life…and while we are at it- lessons from large churches to the rest of us): there are clear rules and there are defined winners and losers. I read this from Brian Moore in this week’s Observer (‘This much I know’ p10)

I believe Brian Moore played rugby at a high level. Don’t ask me: despite being bought up in Leicester, I have almost no interest in Rugby.

‘Sport is very simple: you win or you lose. There’s a comfort in that. But nothing is ever like that again. It’s come as a bit of a shock to me: life is not black and white and if you try to live it like that you’re going to be in trouble.’

True. And the next time I see a ministry or a church that mainlines on sporting cliché and calls itself  ‘Achievers’, ‘Overcomers’, ‘Destiny’ , ‘Victory’ etc etc, I will not be accountable for my actions.