Moving On

It’s been a long time since i last felt the desire to post. At lot of this has been tied up with stuff going on with me and my family. The long and short is that we will be moving on from Winchmore Hill this summer after 6 years in post. It just feels the right time and the work which i’ve been involved with will continue. It’s been a masively hard decision but is great to be able to move on with things being healthy and on great terms with the church. They really are my family which has made it all the harder. I will be moving on from my role with Oasis that i will have been doing for just over a year, this again is a real shame but the change of role and georgraphy would not make it practical to continue.

So what will i be doing. I’ve been offered the role of Parish Community worker for St James’ Church in Alderholt, Dorset. My role involves helping the church to engage better and more creatively with their local community and also to look into former some kind of fresh expression of church within the village. It’s an exciting step for us as a family, leaving London and much of our family behind. It seems right though. There is much to do, housing to find as well as many other practical details.

I don’t know what role my blog will play if any over the coming months. It would be good in some way to chart and help people to keep up to date with what is going on with us, but exactly how that will be done, we will see

quote

“that wonderful vocation provided by the good Lord for displaced Christian intellectuals who are useless at proper work.”

picked up this quote off the brilliant blog of Maggi Dawn’s about ministry.

Gone?

written by Bishop Brent, who was a missionary bishop to the Phillipines at the turn of the last century.

I am standing on the sea shore,

A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.

She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:

“She is gone.” Gone! Where? Gone from my sight – that is all.

She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.

The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “She is gone”, There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:

“There she comes” – and that is dying.

A horizon is just the limit of our sight. Lift us up, Oh Lord, that we may see further.

 

Shoes

from nakedpastor

Thoughts

interesting post by comedian and broadcaster Dave Gorman.

I love water shoots

Anyone know if this is fake?

A proper return

Blogging has taken a large back seat over the past months and i am still not sure if i have the motivation, energy or enthusiasm for it in the coming months. It has been a very hard few months, blogging at this time didn’t feel of much use although my journal has been an important companion.

While I’ve been away the major news has been that my mum passed away about a month ago now. Her battle with leukemia ended fairly suddenly over the course of a weekend. Words cannot express how it feels seeing a shadow of the person you once new lying in a hospital bed barely recognisable. The funeral was a lovely occasion however as we remebered and celebrated the fact of a new risen body and the hope of new heaven and earth.

The things around this seem a little insignificant in comparison but have none the less been important. My new role as volunteer coordinator with oasis is going well. We have a new team of 4 working with us who i am responsible for looking after as well as the other volunteers involved in our work. At church we have emplyed an associate youth worker to work with me as well as a new gap year student and things seems to moving along quite nicely.

Coming out

Great pic here

wonder if that title might give me a few unexpected hits!

Defenseless

A child as an adult you stand,
Heals, push-chair, a mask made with gossip
Beneath the surface what would be revealed?
Hurt, pain, disappointment or envy
All this quite possibly.
As you and baby stand seemingly defenseless against the world
I still believe you model hope, courage and love
Above all things love
You are not alone, You are not alone

Plain and Simple

Plain and simple really, that’s me
A good books great but the TV just fine.
Some see me read the times
But really the Daily Mirror’s more mine.

Watching sport or a less than witty retort
Plain and simple that’s me.
Champagne and caviar might give the right look
But sausage, beans and chips is more what I cook.

Some say I look trendy,
But really spending money sends me into a frenzy.
Opera may be cosy
But walking around the park for me is just rosy.
Plain and simple that’s me.