The new economy?

I love my Fiat 500. its zippy, zesty, purrs like a tiger, fits in small places and is very economical - as well as being environmentally friendly. It's also quite retro.
It is perhaps a trend of modern times that we are rejecting bigger, costlier things in favour of economy and intimacy.
Thinking about Church Without Walls today, I was reflecting on how folk, although ostensibly rejecting the institution that much of the church has become (sometimes large and impersonal) are nonetheless seeking overt ordinances of religion and traditions with which to mark rites of passage and other important ages and stages of life as well as seeking daily spiritual disciplines.
It seems that the old ways, rituals of the past are once again coming to the fore and observing some of those ways has led to a growth of new kind of monastic communities.
The order and the connectedness of these communities allows for a depth and a sharing as well as the freedom to explore that isn't always possible in larger gatherings.
Perhaps a good sign for the growth of faith.


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Guides Own

At Easter time, my friend, Beth gifted me a copy of Anne Lamott's "Help, Thanks, Wow!
I enjoyed reading this simple exploration of three prayers that accompany and often carry us through life.
So, when asked to lead a group of Girl Guides in worship on a mountain top in Switzerland, I could think of nothing better than to share with them these three prayers.
With the help of bubbles (everything is enhanced by bubbles) we breathed in the beauty of our surroundings and breathed out our help, thanks and wows in rainbow bubbles.
A memorable offering of worship.

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Gal-ship

A few years ago, I undertook, with colleagues, a six week introduction to Mission Shaped Ministry. There are few opportunities to share intentionally with colleagues in ministry. So many of our interactions become opportunities to grouse or to transact business and fellowship is pushed way down the agenda. So I welcomed this opportunity to study and to share fellowship.
One of the sessions in the Mission Shaped Ministry intro was on "Community". We were encouraged to think of all the different types of communities of which we are a part. That was one of the first occasions I found myself trying to explain the amazing community that is RevGalBlogPals. It's hard to put into words the amazing support that can be obtained from a virtual community and the incredible sense of fellowship that can be experienced with colleagues, many of whom I may never meet in this life. But the fact that I was still working as an ordained minister of word and sacrament (and continue to do so) was largely attributable to this group of supportive mainly women clergy. And, of course, to God, who brought these women, prepared to share their strengths and vulnerabilities, into my life at just the right time. During a particularly testing spell, I experienced many Elijah moments when angels in the form of RevGals offered virtual manna for the journey.
Since those early days of being sustained by virtual community, of reading in blog posts the struggles of others and beginning to process my own challenges through blogging, I have had the joy of meeting some of those women in real life, putting faces to the stories and the journeys. And it has also been a joy to introduce some of my Scottish colleagues to this community, offering gal-ship, both virtual and real life.
And so, for me, the gal-ship experienced through RevGalBlogPals has been life enhancing. Thanks be to God.
Gal-ship - Guardian Angels Loving, Supporting Holding in Prayer.
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Sacred stories

Like a giant ball of wool
plunging in
pulling out a strand
Unravelling
Seeing where it goes
Inviting someone to tell their story
to chart their journey with God
makes for sacred sharing
Those fragile threads
and gossamer layers
so generously given
must be handled with care
They are the stuff of dreams
Easily shattered
Vulnerable
Offered to be honoured
and given wings
Taking flight
to the next stage
of the journey
leaving in their wake
the awed hush
when words are simply
not enough.


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Story Traditions

Tonight we shared bread
as the shadows lengthened.
Bread broken and dipped in wine
Communion celebrated among friends
As we shared, we told stories
Not read- simply recounted as remembered
An old tradition
to keep Communicants from impure thoughts
And so, with common elements
and familiar stories
we kept the faith
And knew the presence
of the one who said:
"Do this to remember me."


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Fighting a way out of the darkness

I spent a good part of today at a meeting of the Scottish Dementia Working Group. This group comprises people who have a diagnosis of dementia in varying forms and who are involved in campaigning to raise awareness and acceptance in community and to change local and national government policy. They are also involved in changing the practice of health and social care services not just in Scotland and the UK but in Europe and the rest of the world.
They are people of great humour, compassion, energy and wisdom. None of them are "sufferers" as they are all too often described. Rather, they are living with a diagnosis or awaiting diagnosis and re-orienting themselves in life.
Members spoke articulately and movingly of some of the struggles they had faced and of the progress they had made in educating others in their different social and community settings about their needs and challenges and achievements. All of this was done with incredible humour.
One man described the excruciating darkness through which he journeyed in the first year of diagnosis, the isolation and fear he experienced, and then had everyone laughing as he regaled us with tales of how he can now go into the local newsagents, pick up his daily newspapers and leave without paying because the local shopkeeper knows which papers he likes and that his wife will pay for them next time she is there. He has a similar arrangement with the local barbers.
None of the folk there today would consider themselves exceptional and yet each is making a vast difference in their own way and in their own community and, in turn, making a difference for others living with a diagnosis of dementia as well as giving others the opportunity to be more inclusive and aware.
There are few families untouched by dementia today so it is incumbent on all of us to transform our communities into places of safety by listening to those who are living with a diagnosis.
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Withdrawal

There are days
when these tired introvert bones
weary from constantly being out there
simply want to retreat
to curl up in some bright sunny spot
and soak up some warmth
or even wrap up warmly
and wage a solitary battle
against the wind and the rain
For the facade of bonhomie
wears thin after a while
and is too exhausting to maintain
So, before it shatters or dissolves
it needs to be nurtured and replenished
Topped up from the well of silence
in which it finds renewal
Then, brand new
those bones can once again
be out there
doing the work
to which they are called
but which comes at a price.


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