Prayer in the UK

Tearfund has designated this week (11-17 November 2007) as Global Poverty Prayer Week. To coincide with this, they have just published a survey about prayer habits in the UK. I haven't read the report yet, but it was heartening that some of the Sunday papers picked up the story.

Headline figures include 1 in 5 people believes prayer changes the world; 9 million people pray every day. Over the next couple of days, I'll read the report - and probably pass comment on it! In the meantime, I rejoice that prayer has made the headlines. Go on, be part of a news story - pray!

"When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't pray, they don't."

William Temple

Keep Sunday special?

“… rather than fighting a rearguard action to keep Sunday special, it might be better to consider how you can build some Sabbath time into the schedules and rhythms of the life you have. These are the disciplines of slowing down and shutting up… They are the recovery of Sabbath, the creation of a place of rest where joy and contentment can flourish.”
Stephen Cottrell

This quotation seems to sum up the essence of what a modern day Sabbath should be about. We need to avoid the legalism that is often associated with Sabbath-keeping – and the ‘Keep Sunday Special’ campaign. However, we also need to find ways to gain the benefits of Sabbath habits.

Some suggestions from my own experience and feelings at this time include the following:

• Avoid using your chosen Sabbath day to catch up with chores. Make sure that the chores are planned for other days.

• Spend time positively with God. In my case, that usually includes going to church (more of that in a wee while), but it also involves some time of reflection, reviewing the week, and thinking about areas of Bible study, theology etc that I want to think through in the week ahead.

• Going to church. To be honest, this can be a chore at times. But having recognised this, find a way to address it – find something positive and revel in that. Recently, we have started giving an older person a lift to church. Her faithfulness is an inspiration, and spending time with her is something positive in our church experience.

• Most of all relax. Use the time available wisely for re-creation, for reflection, for friends and family. Do things that you enjoy, rather than things that you feel compelled to do.

When I was at university, the Student Counsellor advocated having one and a half days a week free from study. This would typically include Wednesday afternoon, when there were no lectures or tutorials, and many of us participated in sport – or other clubs. (In my case this included a group called the Malt-esers, which is a tale for another day!) Anyway, the counsellor’s advice struck me as being entirely sensible. Firstly, I didn’t need too much encouragement to stop studying. More importantly I recognised the value of some time to recharge the batteries, and although I haven’t always managed to heed the advice, it has always stayed with me.

Marriage Course

Over the past few weeks the Fishwife and I have been attending “The Marriage Course”. It was developed by Holy Trinity Brompton, and is along similar lines to the Alpha Course – filmed talkie bits on DVD, with slots for each couple to have private discussion about the topic. It was really good – at times a bit challenging, often funny and certainly plenty to think about.

The course was wonderfully hosted by the Hideous one and his much better half. Each week we started with a meal and then watched DVD etc. The format worked well, and it helped us get to know the other couples who were attending. By the way, the Neil Armstrong story is worth waiting for - even if it isn't true!

I would definitely recommend it for anyone. You don’t need to be having problems to benefit from the course. You don’t need to be recently married (we’ve been married for 19 years) to learn something and to benefit from it.

Only one things puzzles me – why was the DVD presented by Jan Leeming and Oz Clarke? (And another thing – why does Tony Blair do the voice on the Alpha Course?)

Bright field

The Bright Field

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the pearl

of great price, the one field that had

the treasure in it. I realise now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

~ R. S. Thomas ~

This poem (quoted by Stephen Cottrell) can be found in “Soul Food: Nourishing Poems for Starved Minds”, which is a fantastic wee anthology.

Erosion

“The boundaries between the different days of the week, the seasons of the year, and even, nowadays, between night and day, have been eroded. This brings a terrible loss. People are deprived of the rhythms and patterns that shape life. And with this, the pressure to be busy and productive increases. There is less time for family, less time for leisure, less time for re-creation, which is the purpose of living.”

- Stephen Cottrell

I was reading something today which defined wisdom as “evaluated understanding”. (I like that and may well return to it – wisdom being another hobby horse of mine.)

Applying this definition to the quotation from Stephen Cottrell – if we recognise (i.e. understand) the erosion of boundaries, then how are we evaluating it? Are we recognising the importance of family, leisure etc? And if we recognise it, what are we doing about it?

There is no wisdom in recognising a problem, unless you are prepared to act on it. (Aye, I know – physician heal thyself.)

Funny (strange) wee book

The subtitle of this book is ‘Discovering what happens when you stop’, so I figured that it might help with my thinking about life’s rhythms and the dimension of Sabbath. And I liked the cover (shallow but true!).

I started to read it while sitting in Starbucks having a double espresso at the Metro Centre (for those not familiar with it - this is a monolithic shopping mall in north east England). The fishwife and Dolly D were shopping, and I was doing my own thing – not very patiently.

Anyway as I read the first chapter, I started to relax. In fact, I started to stop! Some of the comments seemed to be aimed directly at me:

"I have allowed busyness to invade my life so much that it gets harder and harder to be in touch with that other part of me which thrives on the creativity of indolent wastefulness."

"There was a restless impatience within me."

So with my mood lifted, I tucked the book away and carried on ambling around the shops, and watching what people were doing, having a chat with the shop assistant in the cookery shop etc etc. A good start.

However, the next few chapters were disappointing. They were an encouragement to become a Christian. No problem with that, except that there was no indication about this on the cover notes. It seemed a bit disingenuous. However, I persevered and things improved.

Modern life is crowded and cacophonous. Everywhere you turn there are more people shouting at you, demanding attention and wanting to consume your time. Drastic action is needed. So chuck out the instant coffee. It’s not just that it tastes horrible; I want back the time it robbed me of. The superficial attraction of its speed didn’t save me time; it just encouraged me to cram more in. What people need in their lives are things to slow them down. Labour-creating devices and time-wasting strategies are what I’m after. They will generate opportunities for stillness and reflection.

I particularly agree with the bit about the coffee! But more than that the essential message of the book is that we need to slow down, to take the time that we need to enjoy life AND to get in touch with our creative side and our Creator.

I’ll chuck in some more quotations over the next few entries.

Spaced

Two thoughts colliding with my own thinking.

Firstly, Mark Sanborn's blog "What are we making space for?".

Followed by an article that I was reading "Meet the Life Hackers" by Clive Thompson, who quotes Merlin Mann

"We'd rather die than be bored for a few minutes, so we just surround ourselves with distractions."

Well, I've been thinking a lot about the importance of a proper Sabbath as the focal point of the week - creating space and balance and a time for no distractions. I need this space, and I need to establish it and protect it.

I've also just finished reading an intriguing wee book called "Do nothing to change your life" - actually I'm going to be a tease and keep that for tomorrow, or the next time that I get space to blog.