There goes rhymin Simon

sorry for not writing much recently, been doing lots of work, and by the time I get round to thinking about blogging, my eyelids are drooping.

Had I been blogging I would probably have droned on about Jesus for president, (so good!!) which I am currently reading when I get the chance, the whole thing of post charismatics, todd bentley, and christians who wear bling, I really must get round to writing about the birkman test which was much better than I thought it would be, I’m having a love affair with Miles Davis’ ‘Kind of Blue’ - again, I might even tell you what an impact the slow worm in my garden has had on the slugs, how much better the lettuces I planted up with home made compost grow than ones in shop bought compost, lots of talk about sunshine and beaches (another reason I’ve not been blogging) - and all about the salmon and a brand new dance - killer track from last year - which I’m gonna leave you with.

I’ll be back!  But till then…

“No matter how dangerous the medieval pilgrimage might be, and it frequently was, pilgrims always hoped to return even if they set their affairs in order lest death met them on the way. The Celts set out with no thought of return.”

Rediscovering the Celts, page155, Robinson, 2000. Published by Fount.

Not being brought up in the Church of England and all that, I dont know really very much about liturgy, and proper liturgical ways, but I notice Mark Berry has just posted up his meditation material for tomorrow which is the feast day of St Julian don’t y’know.

He’s got a nifty thing going on with hazelnuts, which looks cool, and is doubtless destined to be deemed a ‘worship trick’ by Jonny B.

In the meantime, and back on the subject of liturgy etc, I’ve just written some stuff for tomorrow too, for the meditational/devotional beginning to our prayer morning. In case you are interested - here it is.

Begin with a welcoming, a corporate chant, and a silent meditation on Bible passage. Then:

The Affirming. (Read this out loud together).

Oh Lord

Our God

We submit again to you today.

Still our hearts

Calm our heads

As you calmed the storm.

Creator, redeemer, companion

Father, prince, friend

Almighty, unstinting, constant.

You who always were

Forever are

Ever more shall be

We who breathe in,

And breathe out,

Know your goodness

*Take some moments to silently resubmit to God – confessing your sins and asking that he takes you forward with him today.

The Asking. (Read this out loud together).

We ask today Lord:

That we would not judge

That we would see beauty in all others.

That we would come before you in humility.

That we would set aside our wants, for the sake of others.

We ask today Father:

That you would provide for your people.

That you would lead us away from temptations.

That we would see the world through your eyes.

That you would raise up more to work alongside us.

We ask today Spirit:

That you would comfort those who mourn.

That you would inspire those whose hearts begin to falter.

That you would remind us of our commitments.

That you would strengthen weary limbs.

*Take some moments to silently ask God for his word for your life today.
The calling. (Read this out loud together).

We call on each other to rise up.

We call on our hearts to stay firm.

We call on our hands to grip.

We call on the Lord – for he is our source, our inspiration, our light.

We call on each other to live today.

We call on our minds to choose life.

We call on our legs to stay strong beneath us.

We call on the Lord – for he is our redeemer, our strength, our all in all.

*Take some moments to silently ask God to be your strength today.
The blessing. (Read this out loud together).

Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.

May this day bring peace to the troubled,

Comfort to the downcast

Clarity to the confused

Joy amidst tears

Laughter amidst pain

Bless the Lord, Oh my soul.

* take some moments to pray for those who are suffering or oppressed. If none come to mind, pray for justice to flow like a river over the war zones of the world.

Closing prayer:

Oh High King of heaven, we worship you.

Have mercy on your children.

Fill us afresh today with your holy spirit.

Revive in us passion for the lost and the least.

That your kingdom may come,

On earth as in heaven,

In Jesus mighty name,

Amen.

Gillian Cross, author of the demon headmaster books (Kel was a big fan), who is a very nice lady.

I enjoyed the conference on New Monasticism, jointly organised by the Anabaptist network, and the Northumbria community.

Not being part of either of these networks, but interested in both, we went along without much of an idea of what the event would be like. We found it both encouraging and inspiring.

The morning sessions included a time of worship led by the Northumbrians who took us through their morning office.  Then Pete Askew of the community introduced Stuart Murray Williams of the Anabaptist network, and Roy Searle of the Northumbria Community.  Roy plays cricket with my old P.E. teacher!

There followed two talks - one about Anabaptism, which I went to, and one about the Northumbrian community which Kel went to.  I found the explanation of the history of Anabaptism very interesting, and was able to corner Murray Williams at lunch time to quiz him on whether Anabaptists, with their adherence to non violence and peace making, can take an active part in politics outside of anarchism. His answer boiled down to: “there are a number of different opinions about that!”

I also bumped into Mark Berry, the emerging church leader from Telford, who I recognised from his dodgy hair do.  It was nice to have a chat, after having commented on his blog occasionally and read a lot about what he’s doing over there.

Other emerging church types knocking about included Ian Mobsby from Moot in London, and Ian Adams from Maybe in Oxford among others.

Brother Samuel from the Aglican order of Franciscans added a touch of gravitas and extra dollops of wisdom.  Although he’s not a ‘new monastic’ it is fair to say that his order is less than ancient itself!  I really agreed with his remark that one of the key things for a committed ‘monastic’ type community is that they work together manually.  His comment ‘there is some very deep spiritual wisdom in making bread’ is so true.

After lunch there was a choice of workshops - I went to a discussion between Ian Mobsby and Brother Samuel - conparing and contrasting the old monastics and the new.  Just how monastic are the new monastics?  Good question.  One of the main themes coming out, and well made by Mobsby and others, was that its more about being frianrs than being monks.

The distinction being that Monks tended to seclude themselves, while friars went out into the community to live out their faith.  This is true to a degree, but of course only really applies to certain streams of monkism.  Anyhow, I liked the concpet of ‘re-friaring’ the church, but it’s easier to say re-monking!

This session allowed more of a discourse between  those in the meeting and the speakers than the first session had - which was very valuable.

More conversations and question and answer sessions followed, with a final session of worship in an Anabaptist style, which included a lovely way of singing the Shema Yisrael among other things.

In all, Kel and I were both really encouraged by what we saw, and the people we met.  There were a lot of different types of people there, from the rather posh, to the decidedly not posh - from the emerging church smoothies to the Jesus Army.  I’d have liked to have seen some more of the missionary community there, and perhaps some of the 24/7 folk, but that would have just been more icing on an already rich cake.

Well done to all the organisers, I thought it provided a good platform for those who are interested in finding out what others are doing in this area, but arent perhaps able to make all of the connections themselves!  Looking forward to more.

Train journeys (not including tube trains): 9

Car journeys: 5

Old friends met: 4

Entertaining pieces of brick based graffitti seen: 2

Beds slept in: 5

text messages sent: 24

books read: 2

newspapers read: 3

talks given: 1

talks listened to: 1

emails downloaded late at night: 847

I’m in Grimsby now, having eventually got up here last night after a thoroughly enjoyable, if slightly tiring wonder around the UK.  In edited highlights - the trip consisted of a cup of tea with Wes Sutton, leader of the Oasis Trust ‘church.co.uk‘ network, at the Oasis base in Waterloo.  I was really impressed by what the network is doing in Waterloo, and excited to hear their plans for other projects, some alreadty on the go.  Later that evening I returned to the same building, to hear Shane Claiborne speak about his experiences living as an Ordinary Radical. I found out about that event by signing up to a Chrisitan Anarchists mailing list, even though I’m not really an Anarchist.  (Shhhh! Don’t tell!)

That night (Wednesday) was spent with Kyber and Mrs Netikos, at their flat in South London.  Conversations ranged from virtual reality, to killlng sheep with bolt guns, to archery.  And places in between.

Next day, I got to spend some quality time with a friend who wants to expand his clothing company to include a fully ethical range.  He’s already working as hard as he can to ensure his suppliers meet the hghest standards of looking after their workforce, and is trying to integrate organic and fairly traded materials into his supply chain.  Seems like I’ll be able to help him, which is great.

A bit of a rush over to Euston station then, where I was able to grab a few minutes with Dan Radice of Cokoon.  It was good to find out what he’s up to, and to consider what possibilities there are for the future.

Off on to Northampton then, to spend some time with Julie, who is planning to join World Horizons in the summer.  I also got a chance to meet Julie’s church, which is an interesting ecumenical fellowship in the heart of the town, very engaged with their community, and offering a whole load of services, from a shoppers coffee shop, to counselling rooms, and various other things throughout their five separate congregations.

On Friday I headed to Shrewsbury via Birmingham - Shrewsbury is home to Ian Matthews and his family.  Ian is now working for Zondervan in the UK, but I remember him from our first meeting over ten years ago, when he came to work on a late and unlamented Christian magazine that I worked on at that time.  Ian became a friend then, and has remained so, despite not having seen him for a long time.

It was fascinating to see how he and I, through very different paths and in relationship with very different people, have arrived at a very similar place theologically and philosophically (although he’s a left wing libertarian, and I’m not) - it was as surprising as it was encouraging.  We both share the same desire to find a way of living in community as families that really works well - I think we agreed that the ideal scenario would be for a group of families to form an open cooperative, the co-op would then own the property, and the families would pay rent to it.  Given that it nullifies the effects that personal ownership of property have, and allows for a vaiety of people to live in community in a wholesome way, it seems like the best option.  Now, if we could find some other families in Grimsby who were up for that…

A reunion with Kelly and the kids (hooray) meant a short journey to Walsall where we spent the night, and after dispatching the kids to their Grandparents, we went off to the New Monasticism conference in Coventry - which was excellent.  I shall blog further details of that soon.

A last laid back drive along the A46 took us all the way to Grimbo - and tea.

I’m off to London today, then to Northampton and other destinations before ending up at the New Monasticism conference in Coventry on Saturday - that means dont expect to hear much from me over the next few days, not that you have over the last few

Some very talented and ambitious friends of mine are setting up a large scale organic cotton project in China.  One day soon perhaps, I’ll be able to help them by marketing their enterprise in the UK and Europe, but right now I’m worried.

How can I take to the ethical marketplace, a Chinese project?  The current backlash against the olympic torch, the promotion of the free tibet movement, the Zimbabwe debarcle, and general fears of China’s growing political and economic might, have swung the niche ethical consumers well and truly away from China.

Howies have had flack in the past for making their jeans there - they seem to have survived.  But with big brands keeping a wary eye on their ethical products for signs of a dying off of demand… how can I convince the buyers that this excellent chinese project will actually be worth them becoming involved in?

I’ll post any progress…

Could it be true that the expansion, or indeed explosion of mobile phone use is killing off bees?

The honey bee, bumble bee and other pollinators are vital to human survival, an apocryphal quote sometimes attributed to Einstein claims that humans would have four years of life left if the bees died out.

But for the last few years, the bees have been dying out, as the condition known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) takes its toll on the hives and colonies that support our native bee population.

As yet we dont know why CCD, which leaves abandoned hives in a Marie Celeste type condition, takes place - various explanations have been proffered from insectisides (I wrote about this for Organic life a couple of years ago), to fungi, and also to mobile phone masts.

Some suggest that the fact that bees navigate using magnetic particles in their bodies, may mean it is possible that radiation could interfere with this navigation process.

Some dramatic evidence - albeit limited - of the effect that DECT radiation (the type given off by masts and portable phone base stations) is available here in a document which gives the results of a study carried out by german academics.

The report   chronicles an experiment with four bee hives, in which two were exposed directly to a DECT base station, which emits a similar kind of radiation as a mobile phone mast.

In each case, bees were selected from the hive, and released 800 metres away - in the case of the unexposed behives, lots of bees quickly returned to their hive.

But in stark contrast, in the hives which had been fully exposed, none or only a few bees returned and much more slowly.

Not only this, but in the exposed beehives, there was significantly less honey comb constructed, and that was of a lower weight or density than in the unexposed hive.

Given this evidence, is it time we reconsidered our massively widespread use of mobile phones?  Or at least called for a in depth examination of the potential effects?