Pilgrim's Progress

Have You Time to Stop and Stare?

Walking on the beach is a great way to destress and remember how to stop and stare. Some "chillout" ideas if you're near a beach ...

1) Play Beach Detective (more fun with kids) - look at footprints and guess how someone must have walked to make these tracks. Attract the stares of bystanders by walking that way yourself.

2) Spell out "Aliens Land Here" with stranded jellyfish (see above).

3) Bury yourself in the sand. Then walk around the beach and try to remember where you buried yourself.

4) Play "Beautiful Day" by U2 on your personal stereo and just let the sun kiss your face and the breeze cool you. Buy an ice cream on the way home. Stop and chat to other people.

"It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away" (U2: "Beautiful Day")

Making Creative Connections

Am spending a fair amount of time with families in the community at the moment in connection with infant baptisms and funerals. It's a great way to creatively rethink how to make connections ...

I bought a Daily Mail today just for that picture of Wayne Rooney yelling in delight. Last Sunday's talk was entitled "What Would Make You Stop Supporting England?" based on the Parable of the Sower.

Someone said to me the "rabbit hole" thing had made a connection ... I scratched my head for a moment then remembered we'd used a clip from The Matrix in a Christian basics session, about choosing to follow this Christian journey to see where it went, and somehow the message had gone home.

For more, see the Article on "Faithlessness Comes Through Inoculation" in Andy and Shona's Blog.

Awakening

Nearly a week since last post! Life is more crazy here than I realised!

Some new arty stuff on the way ... here's the first installment, called Awakening. (Click image for a larger version). This was inspired by a number of things, including this quote:

"Above all, you have to find your "heart" and go with it, otherwise you will be flogging a dead animal, only to discover that animal is you!
(A vicar reflecting on 10 years of ministry, especially his early struggles to adjust).

At the heart of everything lies a stirred up heart. I'm increasingly convinced of that.

More Lord

Another animation ... came out of a time of prayer recently.

A couple of things to note
(1) This is an interactive one - and it takes a while to build up.
(2) All you have to do is move the mouse over the shapes and a pattern will develop.
(3) Do this for long enough and the meaning and significance will become clear! (It might be a bit lateral!).

If you have a slow computer, would suggest
(1) You right click on the animation, and from the menu select "Quality" and select "Low Quality"
(2) Use a smaller broswer window

Click here ...

The Big Picture

Still wondering how it all fits together? (Aren't we all?) ... Click here for momentary relief ... (Flash 6 again)

Also ... OUCH! 2 goals in 5 minutes ... what's going on there?

When Life Doesn't Make Sense

This animation came out of a longing to see how things fit together - I'd love to see the big picture of my own life, and the world I see around me ...

Click here for an updated download. (Thanks Howard for alerting me to the download issue - it jammed for me too)

(Please note:
(1) It may take up to half a minute to download on a 56K connection
(2) The animation builds up slowly from an empty screen - keep watching!
(3) Best viewed with your browser window maximised.

Friday Night at the Movies

Apparently a "kiddult" is an adult that enjoys kids movies ... looking forward to Shrek 2. If you have a spare £15, the Shrek DVD has the excellent "Shrek 3D" movie short on it - great fun!!

... life is so intense at the moment I've got to take time out ... tomorrow I have to talk to a grieving family to arrange a funeral. Also 8 talks to prepare this month!

It is a good season for "Friday Night" movies, depending on your taste ... The Day After Tomorrow is good escapism (with a slightly cheesy, but actually quite sound moral at the end) ... Troy also worth a look. Also Harry Potter, if you're into that.

If half the population is watching these too, apart from being light relief, it's another way to connect with people.

Anything else worth a look?

Creating a Culture of Welcome

Kind of grew up with this CHURCH GOOD - WORLD BAD worldview. Then I realised one day some years back that some of my colleagues were living more integrated, connected, selfless lives than I was ... OUCH!

Today has seen me talking to a number of people who as far as I know are not regular churchgoers, who we have got to know a bit through some Christian Basics work we do as part of baptism preparation, and I came away realising that they were no longer strangers to us, and that many of them have commented on the welcome they feel at church.

(By the way our baptism prep is fairly clear about the basics of the Christian faith and the seriousness of the promises made, but we major on the fact that they matter as people to us.)

My heart leapt inside me - it reminded me of a question that is turning into a mission priority for me a church leader ...

How do we create a culture of welcome? How do we draw people into a genuine belonging so that when we get to the challenging stuff, we've earned an audience with them?

This was one major theme of the main talks at this year's New Wine leaders conference in Liverpool (where Graham Cray spoke).

This is not about being permissive or woolly ... can any of us say we were fully healed up and morally pure before being allowed to belong? Doesn't even the most faithful and holy disciple still have some way to go?

Extreme Ironing

I'm definitely in an "unplugged" mode today ...

Experience "the latest danger sport that combines the thrills of an extreme outdoor activity with the satisfaction of a well pressed shirt". Click here if you dare ...

Eye Massage

Bit of a gap in posts - reflects the brain drain that was last week. Never mind.

Am in the mood for some light relief ... I'm discovering the joys of Flash animation (using the SWISH Flash animation software) and if you need some light relief too, read on ...

... if you're tired of staring at your monitor, click here for an eye massage. (Requires Macromedia Flash Player Version 6) ...