Hope - the beauty that can come from ashes

I came across a short film (20 minutes) called "The Butterfly Circus" through Michael Hyatt's blog.  It seemed to link to my earlier post.  It's well worth watching.

The persistence of hope

Like everyone else, I’ve been thinking a lot about the situation in Haiti – and I’ll write about it later.  In the meantime…

Yesterday we were informed that the Haitian government had called off the rescue efforts.  This is an understandable, rational decision to have reached.  But 11 hours later a 24-year old man was pulled from the rubble (you can find the BBC story here).

This raises questions for me – questions that challenge my rational mind.  Why would the families, and rescue crews, hold out any hope of finding someone alive after all this time.  From previous disasters of this kind, the evidence would clearly indicate that we are way past the point where a human could survive.  Yet, miraculously, they are!

The challenge?  How do you make a decision that eliminates hope for those who haven’t found their loved ones?  How do you choose between the slim prospects of finding any more survivors and beginning the tasks of clearing rubble, providing immediate aid and rebuilding?  Such decisions must be agonising to make – we should pray for those who are faced with these impossible choices.

G20 - after the dust has settled

What to make of the G20?

It would be easy to rant about 'too much talk, too little action'; or about the agreed package being balanced in the wrong way; or about any number of other things depending on your own particular hobby-horse.

On Thursday morning, David Arnott was talking on Good Morning Scotland's Thought for the Day, and he posed the question:

"Does anyone believe that our leaders can set aside their differences and prejudices and actually find a global solution to this recession?"

He wasn't being unduly cyncial. I think he was highlighting the difficulty that the leaders faced - with a range of competing issues to address and desires to be met.

One of the interesting facets of the G20 summit (at least the bits of it that I saw/read) was the efforts that were being made to work collaboratively. There was Gordon Brown's world tour trying to establish a workable framework for the summit, and also Barack Obama's string of meetings to work out issues and to establish relationships for the future.

I think that this is one of the hardest dimensions to leadership in our complicated, inter-dependent world - to establish a collaborative, partnership approach which avoids the loss of anyone's principles but doesn't allow for brinksmanship and 'rule by veto'.

In November 2008, Dawn Spalding wrote in Human Resources magazine:

"Barack Obama has been described as a leader with vision, who ignites passion, brings people together and wins hearts and minds."

These qualities seemed to be in evidence during his time at the G20.

BUT

If this is the high point of achievement for the G20 - and therefore for the world's economy - it will be a failure.

If it marks a new way of doing business on the global stage AND it materialises in concrete action to make our economic activities just, sustainable and legitimate, then it will have been a success.

Thomas Merton wrote:

"The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."

Let's hope that our leaders aren't victims of this temptation.

Go Sox!

We've just come back from a holiday in Boston (USA). We had a great time and there's lots to think through and write about. Still catching up with laundry, mail, photos etc, so in-depth thought will have to wait!

I felt that I had to publish this photo today. The Boston Red Sox are playing the Tampa Bay Rays in the baseball play-offs, but are currently being pounded. They are trailing 3-1 in the best of seven series, losing the last two games at home (1-9 and 4-13 respectively). Now I'm not an expert on baseball, but that's not good... not good at all.

But as any Red Sox fan (and it seems that almost everyone in Boston is part of the 'Sox nation') will tell you, things were worse when they played the New York Yankees in 2004. Then they were 3-0 down, but went on to win the next 4 games, clinching the series and going on to win their first World Series since 1918. They qualified as wild cards in 2004, as they did this year - a good omen?.

They might win tomorrow night and take the series back to Florida for the last two matches. Hope springs eternal so you never know - GO SOX!!

Ya beauty-y-y-y!!!!!

How good was that?

Awesome or what?

Passionate and gutsy - aye, we expect that!

Clever tactics, clinically executed - that's new, but very welcome.

In case you haven't guessed I'm talking about today's rugby:

Scotland 15 - England 9

Epic!!!

I'm going to lie down somewhere now to calm down a bit.

The challenge of maintaining momentum

In many ways this epitomised my week... then I came across this -

"I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."

Pablo Picasso

So I will start the new week with renewed hope and an image to cling on to.

join the dots

If you came to this page looking for a simple, fun children’s activity – you’re probably in the right place, but for the wrong reasons! Anyway …

I’ve been thinking a lot today about transformation. To start at the beginning – yesterday my ‘praying in colour’ doodle in my journal was rubbish. It was bland, uninspiring and didn’t stick with me for the day – it was so dull that it didn’t get as far as being coloured (it’s still a pencil drawing). But today was a bit different …

I was reading a passage from Acts 1 this morning where the disciples are described as being “constantly in prayer”, and I was thinking about how you get to that state. Is it repetition or discipline or giftedness or …? Whatever it is, it’s certainly about being transformed – and so my mind wandered over to Romans and “be transformed through the renewing of your mind”. This stuck with me and became the doodle of the day.

Then I read a bit of Heschel, which said:

“Mindfulness of God rises slowly, a thought at a time. Suddenly we are there. Or is He here, at the margin of our soul?”

So I’m thinking that to be transformed, we need to start to change – step by step, no matter how slowly until we reach a state where the transformation seems real (if not complete). When we realise that we are a butterfly not a caterpillar.

Then as I was driving between meetings at work and listening to a podcast from Speaking of Faith, I heard a fantastic, amazing, humbling, uplifting account of profound transformation. I exhort you to take the time – about 55 minutes – to listen or watch this, I am convinced that you will be moved and encouraged.

I’m not going to spoil any of the story, but it reminded me of Gandhi’s saying:

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

And to paraphrase – you must be the change you want to see in yourself!

Let there be light

I was really inspired by His Girl Friday's entry "Let your light shine..." I particularly liked the Mandela quotation.

The section where he says "And when we let your own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same", triggered a thought. So I flicked through my journal and found the stuff below partly completed. (You might think that it's still partly complete - but I'm posting it anyway!)

we need shafts of
light
to sustain
hope

we need threads of
hope
to sustain
commitment

we need a lifetime of
commitment
to be
disciples.

A new dawning

I thank God for the sky yesterday morning. It wasn't the most spectacular sunrise, in many ways it was barely noteworthy. But I was attracted to it - and as the day progressed I became more and more grateful! As I reflected on it, I regained a sense of equilibrium and came back from a pretty dark place in my mind.


A new dawning
with a glimmer of hope,
a chink of light,
through a blanket of darkness

When I lift my eyes
what do I see?
Bright hope for the day
or the overcast blackness
that meets my eye?
Do I see the day’s problems
lying in wait,
or the opportunities before me?

Can my hope outweigh my disillusion?

And even if the dark clouds
fill the day,
I will cling on to that promise of light
and think what tomorrow might bring,
with a new dawning.

A child is born

AIDS and advent - sinful absence and puny efforts

What’s the connection between World AIDS day and the start of advent?

It’s not a riddle – but could the answer be realisation and hope?

I’d like to point out 4 articles for you to consider:

1 - Tearfund’s December reflection
2 - Reuters’ article about Kay Warren
3 - BBC article on World Aids day – including George Bush’s attempts to double funding for combating the disease
4 - British Red Cross campaign to raise awareness and understanding

Contrast the “sinful absence and puny efforts” that Kay Warren talks about with the joyous, hope-filled presence of advent and the supreme efforts that Christ made for us.

The church solution

Yesterday in church we watched a DVD produced by Tearfund for their Global Poverty Prayer Week (albeit it was a couple of weeks late!). The Tearfund materials are fantastic.

So to avoid being tardy, I thought I’d highlight the equally amazing resources that they have in relation to HIV/AIDS – in the lead up to World Aids Day on 1 December.

“People were suffering and nobody was caring for them.”

Take a look at the film – then think carefully about how to respond. Is the church part of the solution? Do we help or do we judge – or even worse not care?

Art for art's sake?

While in Northumbria we visited Newcastle - primarily for shopping purposes (at least that's what Dolly D thinks!). Our first stop - after using the efficient park and Metro facility - was at the Baltic centre for contemporary art. I should say at this point that I am not an art expert, just an interested amateur.

I have a problem with the exhibits at the Baltic. One had been removed altogether - more of that later; for another you had to read a safety notice before entering the gallery, where the "F" word seemed to dominate and the materials used included razor wire; another was based on images from pornographic magazines superimposed on images of women doing everyday household tasks. Maybe, I'm a grumpy old man - I just didn't understand where the works were coming from. Does art only have an impact when it shocks? Isn't there scope for pieces that focus on hope rather than moral decay and anger?

On returning to work today, I was reading "Holyrood" magazine which had come in while I was off, and was intrigued to read an article (opinion piece) about the Baltic. It turns out that the exhibition was withdrawn after one photograph was removed - by Northumberland Police. It was a picture of two young girls, one of them naked. This begs another more complex question (which I'm going to bodyswerve) - about when is an image pornographic or abusive for the child? The Holyrood article by Shona Main said:

"I will gladly defend the right of artists to be free to confront, enquire and capture. But they are not outside of society, they are part of it and they must reconcile their practice with the culture they detail and expose."

I agree with this - but would simply ask for some more positive examples to balance the position.

I like the Baltic - I think that the space that has been created in an old flour mill is fantastic, and I will go back the next time I'm in Newcastle.

I also liked the first exhibit that we saw - "Square Dreams" by Kader Attia - more of which on another day.

If a picture paints 1,000 words ...

I received a newsletter from a guy called Kevin Eikenberry (management type of stuff). I've deleted the e-mail, so I'm working from memory here!

Anyway, he's inviting people to send him photos/ pictures, which he will post on his site without much - if any - comment. Well, I liked the idea, so here are a couple to start things off.

Life saver

15 nanometres!

I've got no idea what a nanometre is - other than it's very, very, very small. Smaller than an extremely small thing. Tinier than tiny. Think teeny weeny, then half it...

Anyway, I heard about this on the radio this evening (yes, Radio 2) - it's a bottle that filters and purifies water. Unlike other versions, this one has an improved filter (15 nanometres). This means that it will filter out bacteria (200 nanometres) and viruses (25 nanometres). It works with any fresh water and doesn't use chemicals. More details over at Life saver bottle.

The guy who is responsible for this was inspired when thinking about the Boxing Day tsunami and Hurricane Katrina - and he did something about it.

It costs £195 and can be used for up to 6,000 litres of water - how does that compare to a bottle of Evian??

It's perfect for emergency relief situations - brilliant!

The memory of place #2

This first impression on entering the building was one of peace and tranquillity. As I began to take in what was before me, I recognised that the installation involved participation – if you so chose – through lighting a floating candle and placing it in the gently flowing water. The candles were then carried along towards the pillar of light (glass rods) at the other end of the church.

There was a sense of warmth and energy – not frantic energy, but something powerful – in this church building dating from the 13th century. There was also a feeling of welcome, largely due to the helpful yet unobtrusive staff. There was no pressure to participate, yet they were ready and willing to explain and assist. There was also no problem about taking photos and no need to hurry through.

What can we learn from this? There are all sorts of aspects that we could reflect on welcome, participation, submitting our small contributions to the power of the Spirit and trusting that we will flow in the right direction, maybe (for people like me) accepting the direction of flow. But for me the most memorable thing is that it was memorable – I can still recall the various aspects clearly and feel very positive as I write about it. And one more thing, having visited it on my own I was enthusiastic that the rest of my family should see it.

The publicity material for The Memory of Place says:

“… the site demands that the artist is sensitive to the church’s architectural qualities, spatial presence and historical identity.”

Maybe that’s also true for us as we attempt to shape the church in the 21st century.

Good words ...

"Tell me if I'm going crazy

But everything you said amazed me

It seems too easy on the ear to

Be something I should adhere to"

Warmer Climate – Snow Patrol

“And so my argument is simple: the greatest of evils that touches the deepest places of conscience demands the greatest of endeavour.

The greatest of challenges now demands the boldest of initiatives.

To address the worst of poverty we urgently need to summon up the best efforts of humanity.

I want to summon into existence the greatest coalition of conscience in pursuit of the greatest of causes.”

- Gordon Brown, speech to United Nations on 31 July 2007

To my surprise I found myself uplifted by Gordon Brown’s speech. A politician recalling promises made … remarkable. George Bush described Brown as being principled – so principled that in response he wasn’t drawn in to flattering Bush – interesting.

Of course the words need to be followed up by actions, but credit where it’s due.

The picture I’ve attached is by Kandinsky. It's called “Der rote Platz” (Red Square) and was painted in 1916, during one of his more optimistic moods – his aim was to present a joyful view of the future.

There is hope!