Friday, October 16, 2009

time, rage, life, love

So - I'm here in the office at just-past-midnight, waiting to go and get Andrew from the train - he's been in Durham for the day...

I've been entertaining myself with (in order of appearance) un-cluttering my in-box, facebook, Masterchef on BBC iplayer (thanks Beeb), and now TED.

The day didn't begin so well for me, since I heard a report on the Arctic sea having no ice in the summers and the only comment in the 06.30 bulletin was that it would be GOOD FOR SHIPPING. ?!*&?"! WHAT?? Good for shipping?? What about the sea levels? What about the big, wide, open, gaping blue sea that will help warm us up? Anyway, I find the news quite overwhelming a lot of the time, which is why I listen and don't watch it - at least my brain isn't branded for hours...

Apart from that, caved in tonight and opted for Pizza - gooey, hot, greasy mass - now sitting heavily...

Books these days are random. I've still not had my viva - it's a long, long story, longer, longer process... fearfully frightening, well, well, well. (unrepentant captain beefheart reference there for the uninitiated).

TED is something I've enjoyed watching for a while http://www.ted.com which is amazing - lots of things to watch/hear... I love that I can stretch outside of my comfort zones. Currently indulging myself by listening to Vusi Mahlasela... amazing.

Allotment is in need to tlc right now - hopefully there tomorrow - alongside parties - Christenings... graduations... harvests...birthdays...

Longsight is also in a hope-full but challenging place right now - we're crammed full on a Sunday - and thankful for the sense of love... But a lot is messy too - and often I've become sucked in... the challenge of creating goodness, movement, enabling freedom not chains, not enabling dependency... Man. Hard.

Also, it's difficult not to get drawn in BIG STYLE to some of the tensions of keeping the wheels on the road... or of pastoralia... So much of me loves people and wants to be the shepherd/nurturer... But so much of me needs some kind of act of courage/newness/change/fresh-thinking to feel that I'm firing on all cylinders - So, I ask myself, do I need to stay rooted and grow wise... or travel on and grow wise?

So - we're starting our FEAST again soon - a creative type of time and space, in the evenings twice a month- I'm hopeful that it will be a place of renewal, hope, grace and dynamism... maybe even beauty, freedom and formation.

The best to last: My wonderful godly Grandpa is here - I am trying to spend as much time with him as I possibly can. It is hard to describe how special he is. He turns 90 on the 5th December - he is forward thinking, grace-ful, a story-teller. He is one of the four reasons I didn't get married until in my 30s. I was waiting for someone like him. (the other three are my dad, the doc and my brother). My Grandpa has prayed for me everyday for the last 39 years of my life. He moves me. On Sunday in our Word and Table service my husband asked Grandpa to pray the intercessory prayers. The only way I can describe those moments are as liminal. A thin space where the prayers and scripture reading of 89 years came together into a prayer of scriptural proportions and a deep and sustaining love - rooted in earth and in us and in life. He is so loved. Be loved.

1 Comments:

Blogger Ken said...

I like to pop into your blog once in a while to see what you're up to and am never disappointed. Great description of your Grandpa in this one. Also a nice compliment to Andrew - comparing him to those four great men in your life.

3:16 pm  

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