Blessing Audit - Running Water

Saturday 11
Two-thirds of the population of Chad do not have access to safe, clean running water.
Give 5p every time you turn on the tap today.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.

(10p so far)  ¶ 10:05 am 0 comments

  Two sides to everything (Category: faith)

I dont' tend to do much about round-robin emails. Often by the time you get through the multiple forwarding chevrons the end result is both predictable and disappointing.

This, however, seems worthy of posting, if only for comment. It is a prayer, allegedly said at the opening session of the Kansas Senate (no date given).

Any thoughts?

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your
forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word
says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have
done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us
from every sin and set us free. Amen!"

  ¶ 4:24 pm 1 comments

  Potential Service Interruption (Category: life, faith)

A question and an announcement, both of which may result in delays to blogging and email responses in both the short and medium term.

Question: Do any of my regular readers (about a dozen if the sitemeter report logs are reliable, discounting indexing 'bots and would-be spammers) have any experience of Tiscali broadband, especially the 1Mb and inclusive telephone calls package?

I know that my ISP provision counts as a work expense, but I'm sure I can get better value than the current yahoos at BT (especially with work calls rarely exceeding £12 a quarter). I'm sorely tempted to move, especially as most of my emails are aliased anyway through a third party. If I choose to change there will be some disruption.

Announcement: We're getting Becky baptised this Sunday in Tea Time Worship, by no less than the Suffragan Bishop (Bishop Brian, a very nice man indeed). Not to mention the Archdeacon doing the talk. And all to my little congregation in MLPK! So, no pressure on the Vicar then!

However, it also means we'll have an full vicarage (GLW's parents and one set of godparents plus daughter) are staying. Since I'm also, at least in theory, trying to keep working (ha, ha, ha) blogging might suffer.

Please accept my apologies in advance.

But first I need to clock up another 20p on the Blessing Audit and go and buy a new pair of shoes. The last set of "proper" ones died two weeks ago, and if I have a Bishop and an Archdeacon assisting at Tea Time Worship I really shouldn't be wearing trainers!

(And on top of that it looks like the aliasing of www.cofe-kingshill.org.uk has broken down again. Bother! Bother! Bother!)  ¶ 1:26 pm 2 comments

  Blessing Audit - Air Pollution

Friday 10
11,000 = estimated number of people who dies in Kolkata [that Calcutta to most of us], India each year as a result of air pollution.
Give 20p for every car journey you make today.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.

(Oh dear, that's 60p already...)  ¶ 1:23 pm 0 comments

  Blessing Audit - Neighbours

Thursday 9
20=the approximate number of ongoing armed conflicts in the world today. Most are civil wars.
Give 10p for every neighbour whose name you know.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.

(Hmmm - a rather poor 50p then)  ¶ 1:20 pm 0 comments

  Blessing Audit - Transport

Wednesday 8
Many people worldwide walk miles each day for water and food.
Give 50p for every car your household owns.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.

(Another 50p in the kitty then...)  ¶ 9:56 am 0 comments

  Do you wear a cross? (Category: life, faith, trivia)

with thanks to St Casserole.

Do you wear a cross? If I am clothed, then 95% of the time I do so (unless I have misplaced it, which is not that uncommon an occurance)!

Is there a particular time or place that you consider wearing a cross? See above, so "no"

Where do you wear it? Attached to a leather bootlace, around my neck usually outside of my clothing.

What does the cross look like? For those in the know it's a silver Worcester cross (apparently) about 3/4" across (equal length arms, quite deeply incised) with enough tarnish to look "lived in" (which it is). I have two others - a small wooden one, also on a brown leather bootlace (my "spare") , and a plain silver one on a silver chain. I rarely ever wear it. It was a Christmas present from my parents but it's too "clean", too "normal" and the chain is too short to comfortably fit over my robes. I think it makes me look like a wannabee bishop without enough money to have a real episcopal cross!

Who gave the cross to you or did you choose it? My parents gave me the Worcester cross too. I think it took a good number of years before I started to wear it regularly, though.

Is this your favorite cross, if so, why? Yes. It's light, it's like a familiar friend, and I've never seen anyone wearing one like it.

What does wearing a cross mean to you? I wear it as indicator of my faith, and because it isn't a fish! I wear it to make other people think. It 's less of an identification badge to those in the know (like a fish), but it's not of a common "fashion statement" design.  ¶ 10:17 pm 1 comments

  What's the point of Lent? (Category: Faith)

There is a danger associated with traditions and rituals - that we begin to see them not as the expression and demonstration of faith, but as faith itself - making our faith about what we do and when we do it - and not about a relationship with God. Lent can easily fall into this trap - we consider ourselves holy because we've given up chocolate or taken up blogging. Surely we don't fast because fasting in itself makes us holy, but because fasting allows us to refocus on God, who alone can make us holy?

Helen Louise, who I read, and I know reads here, has this well-written and considered entry in a shared Lent blog. It may not be anything new to you, but it's a good, clear and well-written piece of apologetic.

Go, read.  ¶ 10:04 pm 1 comments

  Witness in weakness (Category: faith)

"It's very difficult for me to stand behind an altar and celebrate the Eucharist Communion and lead people in words of peace and reconciliation and forgiveness when I feel very far from that myself... so for the time being, for the moment, that wound in me is having to heal."

There is a very human tendency to need to remain in control. Even if we truly take on board our dependency on God it is so easy to carry on as if everything is all right, as if we've got it sussed. Nevermind the fact that this is in direct contradiction to what God wants to do.

So it takes a lot of courage to admit our inabilities, and even more so if you feel that people rely on you, or that you are known in the public eye. That makes the decision of the Reverend Julie Nicholson whose daughter was killed in the London Underground bombings of last July an all the more brave one. (And , no, I don't know her, and have never met her, so far as I know). It may be the only course of action she feels open to her. That doesn't rob it of it's significance, or it's bravery.

To respond with integrity in our faith, even when it may feel like a defeat and a failure, can itself be a tremendous act of witness to our faith in Christ, no matter how flawed we feel. And so Rev Nicholson stands as yet another Christian whose witness is noticed, and whose responses point to the greater purpose, message and glory of God as revealed in Jesus - a witness that reaches thousands, even millions (certainly all who listened to the 7am news on BBC Radio 4 this morning.

That's a far greater reach than many of us who so often like to think we have to appear to have it all under control, rather than submitting to his control.

  ¶ 3:33 pm 0 comments

  Blessing Audit - Water

Tuesday 7th
£1.7 billion = extra money needed per year to provide clean drinking water to everyone on earth. £46 million = the amount spent per year on bottled water.
Give 10p for every glass of water you drink today. Give 20p if it's bottled.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.

(Now that's an easy one - I hardly ever drink water unless it's hot and got coffee in it!)  ¶ 11:29 am 0 comments

  A stitch in time... (Category: life)

This just popped up on the BBC news RSS feeds (a valuable source of information too, highly recommended). But just how often does anyone listen to the sound advice that prevention is better than cure? (And what's the cure for extinction?)

On a vaguely-related not I remember being told that the best forward planning by clergy was about what they were going to leave the next generation of church. Sound enough... but most of us are having enough trouble with this generation - or to put it another way, how can I worry about the maintenace of a church building which doesn't yet exist...

:)  ¶ 11:22 am 0 comments

  Blessing Audit - Coffee & Tea

Monday 6
Many coffee growers do not receive a fair price for their beans. Christian Aid partner Soppexcca works with Nicaraguan coffee growers to ensure they are paid a fair price for their crop.
Give 5p for every Fairtrade and 10p for every non-Fairtrade cup of coffee or tea you drink today.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.  ¶ 3:04 pm 1 comments

  Blessing Audit - Vaccination

Sunday 5
Many of the world's children remain unprotected against preventable diseases.
Give 10p for every disease you've been vaccinated against.

Take the challenge.

Count your blessings: you can get the PDF from Christian Aid.  ¶ 3:01 pm 0 comments