legalised murder---as predicted

I for one will not sleep better tonight knowing that once again the world has executed another human being.
No matter how "evil" we might assume or presume him to be there is a certain sense of irony that those who so loudly bey for the blood of such men as Saddam Hussein, so loudly decry the life taken through abortion or euthanasia.
I do not condone either of those courses of action, but find it rather disturbing that death penalty protagonists don't get this profound contradiction. see the ABC story here

Funereal reality

AJD's funeral went well yesterday. It was good to be critiqued by M for my former entry, which as I said was maybe a bit harsh (here).
I did think about what I wrote in that entr,y conscious of the fact that not everything that can be said needs to be said. But I did need to say what I said since he figured as a large part of my life and my formation as a priest. He was not responsible (for good or for ill) for the way I turned out, he did have some influence.
Part of the therapy of a funeral, however, is not to be bombarded by a litany of glory but to hear different perspectives.
So I heard this difficult man's wife (an amazing person by any standards) say of him that she was thankful for the unconditional love he had for his family. I think this was true and good to be stated. She talked, too, of how the awful Alzheimer's Disease had been a gift to this family. She is always open to the challenge and growth of impossible situations. I wonder if her fine children (as difficult a bunch as any) had her deep commitment to this. "He enjoyed chocolate biscuits and holding hands" seems a fine statement to make
It was good, too, to catch up with the cohort of people who share the same space with me that this man shared. We look older, we are dreading the next time we meet...it may be one of us. Indeed some of us were not there for that reason. One is on his deathbed and his daughter was there, but not his wife who needs to be with him.
Others were just not there. I needed to go, and it was really good for me. I feel a 25 year old spectre has been let go of. I hope that is true. There have been times when I just could not bear to go to a funeral, and go to so many that I could easily justify not going to another. It has not been so bad of late. I am glad I went.
No Bishop was present, a shameful statement of the Church's pathetic abilty to care for its own. Fortunately the deceased would regard this as something of a victory! This is something he taught me...the first instruction of my funeral requests reads....no Bishop will take any part in this service! I am not yet at the stage where I feel that I can endorse the shameful abnegation of oversight that the episocpate has perpetuated in recent times.....another blog all together!!
So, on the whole, this difficult funeral weaved its magic. WE should settle for nothing less than a difficult funeral!

Last chance to shop

Yesterday's Advertiser phone poll asked the question of whether or not the shops in SA should remain closed on Boxing Day. 75% of those who bothered to contact the poll said that shops should be closed.
While there is an argument to be had about whether these sort of phone-in polls are in any way statistically valid (probably not...only 108 callers of people who chose to ring in of their own volition... no randomness and no standard interviewing technique). It might at least add some further weight to the suggestion that some proper research be done about thi emotive sort of area.
Personally I have never been swayed by the argument that visitors will think we are a backwater unless shops ar open absolutely all the time.
I notice that some areas are too sensitive, no one at all suggests that sacred Christmas Day, hangover New Years' Day or the morning of ANZAC Day should be so freed up as to allow shopping. The unremitting logic of the 'backwater argument' would see everything be a potential target for unfettered shopping.
Already the walls around Good Friday are tumbling, and (as I say) the second half of ANZAC Day is probably gone...what of Australia Day and Easter Monday and any of the other public holidays.
The issue is not about the sacredness of such days, in my opinion, the issue is about how we as a community might encourage shared community life. If we do not engineer times when most people are free how on earth do we all get together. I readily recognise that most people do not want or need religious holidays....but we all should be encouraged to celebrate family and community links.
The commercial dollar will always demand, and falsely I believe, that everything be sacrificed to it lest we become a "backwater".
It's just rubbish, and we should start to articulate the positive ideas and concepts that we want to put in place...surely a couple of days when families can get together, a period when there is a more extended break and a couple of nominated days of particular import.....is not too much to ask.

Death be not proud

One of my lurking fears is the reintroduction of the death penalty. Nothing it seems to me so betrays our corporate humanity as the desire to kill each other. That we should choose to do it 'legally' is profoundly confronting. One can criticise illegal acts, and violence...but when someone is killed by legal prescript then we are making a profound statement about our values.
We can all understand why people think Saddam should be executed, that doesn't mean we should do it. In fact I find it rather disturbing that so few voices (if any) can be heard saying that the death penalty is wrong. Just plain wrong.
One of the ironies is that it allows the voice of evil itself to paint himself as a martyr. That is an obscenity.
I go on record as saying that I believe no good is achieved by executing criminals. I do not think Saddam should be legally murdered (an oxymoron if ever there was one).
If anything Hussein should be left to rot in jail like Hess, an ongoing reminder to future generations of his evil.
He will, of course, be subect to the blood lust of the Iraqis but more realistically of the American administration. Less than human behaviour by those who claim the moral high ground.

But not forgotten

Enough is enough, no more people I know are allowed to die for at least 6 weeks (or until I come back from my holidays on 27th January!)
Having bemoaned that I sat around waiting for the third person to die, the 4th, 5th and then 6th died before Chrismas.
This latter my first priestly boss (or "Rector" as we used to call him!) was a curious mix of the person who longed to be different but couldn't bring himself to be free of his conservative shackles. He was enormously gifted and perceptive, when he preached well he was remarkably good and helpful. But he was also deeply threatened, not I think by other people's competence, but by any sense of loss of power. He thus threw away countless opportunities to soar because he was frightened that if he flew tooo high he would not be able to crap on people below.
Perhaps a little harsh! But as one who was his subordinate I (and others) could have done without it.
I found myself asking my wife a couple of weeks ago what I would have been like if instead of being discouraged I had been enouraged by him. Then a few days later he died.
I have only myself to blame for allowing him to affect me the way he did, and there were other issues going on at the time.
As death unremittingly reminds us of what we ought to do and what we ought not to have done, I tried when I was a training Rector to treat my curates better than I had been treated.
With one I was too liberal, but he was moderately competent any way. The next was good, because he would have been good where ever he was, but I think I helped him a little. The next just totally exploited my desire to not be like my first Rector and did what he liked....he is now in a position of prominence and doing that to lots of others too....and by the time I had the last one I became bored with the whole exercise and he just did nothing other than play golf, and I just couldn't raise the energy to smack him over the ear.
So? My reflection? Don't go criticising the now defunct AJD, I did no better myself. I hope that he has the rest and stability in eternity that he could not bear to have on earth, and yet so desperately longed for

Good church

5.30 p.m. went well, no children set themselves (or me) on fire.When I suggested that we might light small candles at the crib all the children made positive affirmations....AAAH!
In the background I could hear the collective voice of parents (too churchified to move out of their seats) going aaagh!!!!. Quite a different sound!
Midnight went well,I prought too long but it didn't seem to matter. We sang like people who were tired at 12.30 in the morning. But "Silent Night" after communion just floats into well ingrained natural harmonies. He was a clever man that Mr Gruber.
Sarah sang beautifully. Her voice has changed a lot in the last year.
I am looking forward to some Richard Strauss sometime in the next few years, Wagner would be wonderful, but she's not quite there yet.
Have an happy Christmas Day.

.....as the day goes on we had another morning Mass which was lovely.

The weather was quite cold and diminished our breakfast party. The city of Hobart had snow today. Freaky sort of stuff. Off to dinner now (4 p.m.)

Curiouser

Have that curious feeling of knowing there is much to do here on Christmas Eve, but it's 7.51 on a Sunday morning and while I would usually be vested by now ready to say the first Eucharist we are only having one service because it is Christmas Eve and it is at 9. Feels almost indecent. I have had a sharpening pencils start to the day (here)but have resisted the temptation to drink caffeine...this will not last (here)
By the time I get back (it will be short and sharp) everything will be efficient. We have to get through a long day, and be ready for the "fun" of tomorrow.
My mother sometimes used to speak Polish to us (don't know why) and say " Boże Narodzenie jest dla matek" which I think means something like ...Christmas is for mothers....I am sure someone will enlighten me if that is not the case
I have just made myself a cup of coffee...well there is half an hour of pencil sharpening to do.

Caffeine

One aim for today is to try and not drink too much (any?) caffeine. The business of the season mediates against this as you have to keep awake to do those things you ought to have done, not so much in order to leave undone those things you ought not to have done!

Sharpening Pencils

'Tis the day before Christmas Eve Eve,and technically my day off. Though there are lots of things to do, and so I just caught myself 'sharpening pencils'.
This is (amongst others) Stephen Covey's Quadrant Theory (here) which denotes the frustrating tendency we (I) often have to attend to the non-important/non-urgent tasks of life because we are overwhelmed by the pile of stuff we have to get through.
If we map between Important and Urgent then there are four possibilities which motivate how we choose what to do.: Important and Urgent; Important but not urgent, Not Important-but Urgent, and Not Important-Not Urgent

Western societies are very urgency driven. Witness the insidious phone. How often have we broken off something important (be it making love, or listening to someone's sorrow) to answer the stupid phone, only to find it is the dentist reminding us about next week's appointment. that's a whole other blog

The point is that we will often choose to do the unimportant-urgent ahead of the important-but not urgent. This latter quadrant includes: planning and evaluation, thinking about the future, spending time with your beloved, wasting time with kids and so on. The very things that really change life's meaning and improve the quality of relationships. Seldom as urgent as a cut finger, or as insistent as a phone they often get left and very often never get done.

Covey makes the "sharpening pencils" point ...which is about Quadrant IV -Not Important and Not Urgent---that strangely when we are really swamped and feeling ourselves getting buried by competing demands we often choose to operate here rather than get on with the difficult stuff. It's certainly true for me. And I see it as a warning more than anything else, when I find myself sharpening pencils, or typing old school teachers into Google (what I was doing this a.m.) then alarum bells should go off that there is a huger than usual pile that I am avoiding.

This all begs the question about whether or not "blogging" is sharpening pencils. It may be.

At its worst it's just time wasting isn't it. So I try, (at least I try) to do better than that. In that sense I hope it is more Quad II than Quad IV. I imagine that those who think other wise either don't read this or stopped reading some time ago; and those who agree that blogging at least may be important are inclined to accept this opinion.

Well time to go and sweep up the clippings.

Maudlin, magdalen, mawdlin'

Can't help but feel that my recent entries have been a little maudlin.
I am feeling faint rushes of panic about whether or not everything has been done for Christmas, the end of the year, going away in January, preparations for study that has to be done in January so I can have 6 weeks off in May-June (for which the ticket is now booked).
I have attended one discussion with some colleagues about ongoing concerns about work conditions and changed work circumstances, lack of consultation and what on earth can be done about it. (precious little seemingly). We are required to sign a series of documents the basic thrust of which I agree with but some specific details of which seem positively Orwellian ( what a prescient genius that man was...see here for an eclectic Wikipedian collection ). We are required to give consent to information being collected which we don't even know exists, to that information being shared, even though we don't know what it is, where it came from or whether it is accurate. On top of that we indemnify (so it would seem) absolutely everyone so that if process abuse (or emotional and / or psychological abuse) transpires then no one is to blame other than ourselves!! It would make a good novel, I can think of a good title 2084 but someone told me that something like that has already been taken. What about Kafka meets George? If for a moment I knew enough about either then I would be so moved.
In the meantime (maudlin coming up) I am trying to coalesce a good Christmas poem, so lots of phraselets are buzzing around unrelatedly in my head, "Swoop birds flicking from tree to bush".
And this morning as I was reflecting on Luke 1:39-35 (When Mary meets Elizabeth ) I was sitting in the garden and witnessed "When Maggy meets Tilly"---and it seemed to echo. The magpie came and picked at the dog's bowl and they seemed to be at peace, and to delight in each other's company. You see quite nice, but all so maudlin.

Sitting lightly

It is not always that you hear lawyers speaking gently or positively so I was impressed when chatting with one of my friends, a lawyer, last night about a seemingly unalterable difficult situation that he said "Of course grace abounds".
It all depends on the way you choose to view situations, he suggested; so often the sytem invites us to look negatively or selfishly but we can choose to look differently. I sometimes call this "sitting lightly".
So in the last few days I have seen some difficult stuff, and am chastened by those who sit lightly in the face of adversity, and a little saddened by those who find themselves unable so to do.
Chastened by the mother who wraps her dying son in the quilt made for him while he was in hospital; chastened by the friend who so looked forward to being a parent that no when she lost that baby she is finding this Christmas time really hard; chastened by another one dying and in great pain who simply wants to come home for Christmas. Chastened by a lovely daughter or three who is just edging into the season and gently trying to make everyone's life good today and the next day.....aaah too melancholic I feel, too sermonical. But grace abounds.

Countdown spectacular

When I was a boy I was fascinated by the entry in the calendar that says of December 17 "O Sapientia". No one ever really referred to it or did anything on it.
It was only a dozen or so years later that I found it marked the beginning of the earnest Christmas preparation....and each day has a special song (or antiphon) to sing in Evening Prayer before the Magnificat which is sung (or used to be sung) each day during that service.
Welll....to cut a long story short these begin on December 17 with O Sapientia...O Wisdom and culminate on Christmas Eve with O Emmanuel...for obvious reasons.
So the earnest countdown begins today. The Blessed J who loves (or loveth) to sing plainsong will enjoy singing O Sapientia today so the music is provided.
I wonder what other O's there should be [the traditional ones are powerful see here if you are inclined).
But I think also of:
O Jeff!...who will probably not see another Christmas and who I must see tomorrow.
O Carol!...the carol service tonight needs to come out of my mind and into reality
O Dear!...yes there are still half a dozen presents to buy and I will have to brave O Traffic! and O Parking! at O Westfield!
O misericordiae!...have not yet connected with my confessor
O joy! O rapture! O love unbounded! (G&S fans will understand)...it's is such a hoot of a season. Really fun and really serious.

Order in the house

The newly ordained Jenny Wilson imparts
a blessing to the Reverend Caroline Pearce.
(Caroline had to be ordained in the US because
at that time (many years ago!!)
Australia did not ordain women priests)

In the scheme of things the world cares not an hoot about the fact that Archbishop Jeff Driver will ordain new clergy today.
We choose in our (Anglican/Episcopalian) church to recognise that everyone is called to ministry by sacramentally recognising that some are also called to specific roles of leadership and service. Those of us who are privileged to be bearers of that sacrament know what a great day your ordination is.
Although we have had a terrible time of it in recent years, there has always been a steady stream (sometimes a trickle) of people prepared to respond to God's call to be priests and deacons. Today there are two new priests. Jenny (a finer person you could not hope to meeet), Mike (an enthusiast and passionate about ministry. Three new deacons: Sam (who is the son of two of my parishioners and an articulate, intelligent man with a lovely wife and a beautiful new baby), Barbara (who is quiet, humorous, reflective and will be a great gift musically (opera singer)) and Tracey (who inspires us and attracts them (so it seems to me) to the possibility that church might be fun, enthusiastic, committed and effective.)
Hope for the Church?
Well it would seem that the Holy Spirit is working powerfully in these lives and that can only be good.

Christmas visiting

I remember as a child how my mother's uncles used to come and visit us in the days around Christmas. In our busy-ness it is one of the things that has fallen into disuetude, and happens (if it happens at all) by accident. My parents never really kept alcohol in the home except at Christmas time when sherry and a couple of bottles of spirits would be bought and the great-uncles visited to get their annual dose.
Never any excess about it. Good wholesome sort of annual catch-up. My mother would make certain curious ethnic foods (we forget that we are all "ethnic" and our Christmas traditions embody much of our ethnicity). These would include Corned Beef pies...totally disgusting to anyone who wasn't brought up on them, my sister(s) duly make a batch for our annual get togethers (tomorrow). She would make cholesterol rich egg flip (what others call egg-nog) lots of egg yokes, creamy stuff and brandy or rum I think. And then there is rum butter, which is still made in Cumbria today but is butter and sugar creamed together and flavoured with rum. Totally unhealthy but delicious on what the English call 'cream' crackers but we call Sao.
It is all very reminiscent of the 50s...a time gone by. Which is why I picture my mother's cousin Jack (here) who was a quite famous football (soccer) player in his time and son of one of the many uncles.
We are developing our own "ethnic food". Last night S had the kitchen littered from end to end with shortbread which is a speciality with a (not so)secret recipe. Last year her sister convinced her workmates that she made them and so this year there are orders!!! But B(the sister) didn't manage to get it all together to actually learn how to do it. So S ended up doing it for her. There will be another batch tonight for the Clark family party tomorrow. It is almost as though the wheel is turning full circle.
We had a little visit on Monday (spontaneous) and it was nice. What a happy time it is if we give ourselves to the meaningful stuff.
Yes! I am writing this blog to avoid going outside to do my daily preparation of the garden for Christmas Day, and am certainly not hitting the shopping centre today. But I will have to some time.
As my dear friend and colleague G says...I wouldn't be dead for quids.

Mea Culpa!

I found myself yesterday with a moment to spare(see here for an outline of yesterday), an hour to kill or what ever and did not resist temptation. I bought myself the Christmas present I was going to tell other people to buy me ---Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion.
This book, whilst glaringly flawed, is I think probably quite important. Like von Daniken's "Chariots of the gods"(but rather better) it is important because it is popular and will therefore reach an audience that will not necessarily be able to properly critique it. Because it deals with complexity both in religion and in science, few are equipped with the intellectual tools that enable them to weigh the arguments. People do have a lot of common sense though and if they read around it they will be able to have bash at weighing the arguments.
Dawkins' original premise is that religion should not be without scrutiny, and the special place afforded to religion throughout the world often means that it is not scrutinised where almost all other aspects of life are. I take his point and think it is rather a good one.
Though I am a convinced Christian I also think of myself as a sceptic, I do not accept everything simply because it is part of the package. And we say in the post-modern religious world (if that is not an oxymoron) that everything is provisional, and I mean everything and I live with that exciting dynamic.
I don't think Dawkins does. He is something of an anti-religious fundamentalist. That is, there is one truth and that truth is that religion is bad. Even when he is being vaguely tolerant (seldom) there is a strong undercurrent of thgis fundamentalism.
This has been exposed by others more competent than I, I notice Frank Brennan on the First Tuesday Book Club said much the same thing (only better). Not terribly scientific of Dr Dawkins, but good polemic.
I am enjoying it, becuase it is actually too light (like von Daninken) and therefore popular (which is good) but also inadequate (which is bad).
I will no doubt say more in the coming days. (I suspect it's the sort of book that I'll finish today!! because while frustrating and curious in parts it is easy and compelling reading-this too is both good and bad)
I will have to find myself another Christmas present....though I did hear news of a really, really big one last night from someone who loves me a whole lot.
Bloody hell! How will I top a European progress?

Chris's funeral

I left home at 10, went to the dentist, had an hour to kill so had a coffee, said prayers in the shopping centre (always a good thing to do); bought a copy of the "God Delusion". Had lunch with my deanery colleagues. very nice and pleasnat. And popped back to see that the little one was OK (12 episodes of Will & Grace later....she was supposed to be cleaning her room)
The funeral began at 2 and the Church was packed and into two overflow spaces as well.
It went well. He was a remarkable gift of a person. A man who found out when he was 17 that he could easily die and decided to throw himself into living. This so electrified those whose lives he touched that they lived a bit better too. Very Christlike.
It makes one wonder why we don't throw ourselves properly into life, and why we always presume that we have tomorrow.

A good thing to do

I went tonight to share in a Christmas Solace Service. A service for those who will find Christmas difficult for all sorts of reasons. One of my friends was there who lost a baby early in the year. I was conscious as we sang innocuous Christmas Carols how a mother and father who cannot hold their little baby must feel when they hear the words of these carols.
R's eyes caught mine as we sang "Where a mother laid her baby" and I quickly looked away.
But these carols are unremitting in their simple sentiment that can rip us apart so unknowingly.
Round the virgin mother and child, all is not calm and all is not too bright.
and the stars in the bright sky look down for R on an empty cradle.
It is unremitting!
She fortunately is a good thing and processes these things very well. But I was conscious as we lit candles for causes known and unknown that so many women came up and lit candles. How many had lost children I do not know. But Christmas exposes our sadness as well as our joy.

The grass withers

I am reminded by today's meditation (here) that things decay. I watch the garden drying out. And you realise that whereas once everything sort of had a residual moisture that meant things could last for a couple of days. Now we are all watering so modestly that as soon as a heat blast comes the water goes.
[I bought three or four hanging baskets of zinnias and petunias and they are in such wonderfully friable soil (much better than I would have used) that they flourish when all is well but they dry out like nothing].
Of course Isaiah is reminding us too that we are a drought zone.
I have just rung my bereaved friend as we wait for Chris's funeral tomorrow, at least we remind ourselves that such stuff is drought making! I have rung she who is taking the funeral (and who must be obeyed) and we talked along much the same lines.
I am just about to go to spiritual direction, and I will be saying how S & I have pushed the envelope in the last 24 hours to talk together for more than the 10 mins we can usually cope with, and in so doing perhaps arrived at an uncomfortable place...but a necessary one. We dry up and wither very easily.
Isaiah promises that the drought will not be the prevailing feature in our lives, I find this harsh and at times unbelievable. And have a degree of anger about a whole range of things which are drought creating.....but in some way a little part of me is in touch with the fact that there is a constancy in God that is there even in drought. Even though the drought is bloody awful.

'Tis the season

The season of Advent never fails (so it seems each year) to weave its magic. As the weeks go on and Christmas draws near so much unfolds that it is difficult to escape its challenge, its beauty.
In the northern half of the world the encroaching darkness and cold, is pierced by the bright bizarreness of Christmas lights which look fabulous for that reason.
Here in the south nothing could be more different. Particularly when we are struck by a rush of hot weather....yesterday over 40, more of the same today. So the bright purples of jacaranda (almost over), agapanthus (better than they have ever been) defiantly refuse to be bleached and echo in themselves the liturgical colour. Somehow the heat and the bright light seems very Advent too.
The daily meditation prayer on the Advent antiphons goes

O Wisdom,Lord and Ruler
Root of Jesse, Key of David ,
Rising Sun King of the nations,
Emmanuel
Come Lord Jesus

O Sapientia, O Adonai.
O Radix Jesse, O Clavis David,
O Oriens, O Rex Gentorum,
O Emmanuel.
Veni, Domine Jesus.

Besetting sadness

Blogging seems like a trivial exercise in comparison with Chris's death. However I suggest that even making that observation which helps us to properly contextualise both things is worthwhile.
I am deeply saddened by it all. Terrified like all parents of the death of one's own child, it is unimaginable to think what Steve and Judy and Michael must be going through.
Steve wrote yesterday that Judy wrapped Chris in the special quilt that had been made for him while he was in hospital and I was reminded (on this her feast day) of how another Mother wrapped her son when she took his body from the soldiers.
No mother should have to do it. Too many do have to.

Sad news

Chris (see here) died this afternoon.

Resisting temptation

It's always challenging to continue a stream of blogging, but I have resisted many temptations this week

• I have resisted the temptation to blog about either Kevin Rudd or Julia Gillard. And to say how there is a real danger that amidst all the hoo-hah about generational change, the real problem is that it may just be more of the same
  
• I have not even touched Australia's famous Test Cricket victory. Or to say how diufficult it is for a "former Pom" (and I use that expression advisedly, I think after spendiong 40 years here I am entitled to no longer be a Pom. Though it was interesting how the visit of relatives recently brings a slide back into former accentual patterns.
• Further to that I have resisted commenting on my current reading Mother Tongue by that amazing dilletante Bill Bryson , who seems to know enough about most things to keep me (and others) interested (some humourous stuff here)
• I certainly have resisted talking about the weather. Even though there have been four seasons in one week and it's going to be 38 tomorrow.
• I have resisted the temptation (because it only just crossed my mind) to remind those who need to be shriven to go to the box...because I forgot I was supposed to be going last night!!
• I certainly resisted the temptation (Vicky) to talk about Borat, which I did go to see. And I agree with David Stratton's comments that for a film that was 1 hour and10 minutes, it was about 60 minutes too long. And I am afraid I am too much of a rememberer of Auschwitz to find any anti-Semitism funny.
• I have resisted the temptation to discuss Fiji, or how it is remarkable that tourists coming back seem to have been largely unaffected by the coup.
• And I have definitely not talked about Christmas, Which is only 18 days away.
  

In the midst of life

A colleague writes today that their teenage son who is fighting for his life after intrusive medical treatment, bone marrow transplant, tissue rejection, all sorts of horrible reaction....I could go on but it is all too horrible for them...says now that "He had been doing a lot of thinking and he told us that he knows that he is dying. He has made the decision to not be put on life support and while we will maintain active treatment, it will only be a matter of time before his body finally cannot go on fighting this disease."
I have said in reply to them that I am sorry that the only thing I can do is pray hard and often, and yet I also know that this is the best thing I can do.
Without going into the ins and outs of it, or teezing out any of the subtleties of what this is all about; can those of you know how to pray (and perhaps even some of you who don't) : pray for Chris, for Steve and Judy his parents and Michael his brother.

Reflecting the world

My daily reflection time today (listen here)invites me to pay attention to the world rather than my own concerns.
This was a bit disturbing for me. I feel, sometimes, that the list of things about my personal life that I need God to pay attention to is long and complex enough without having to think about Palestine or Iraq!!
This is of course always the problem in terms of getting one's issues into perspective, we are all part of a larger whole.
I well rememeber my spiritual director saying to me "Only you could say that." After a particular time of difficulty we had been talking through various issues and I simply sighed and said "Well it's not as if I'm in Auschwitz!" He laughed, and shook me out of my self-indulgence a bit.
It's not that personal issues aren't important, most of us can only deal with the small stuff on our plate and are not going to be key players on the bigger stage.
So there is a bit of a challenge to be more expansive, to look beyond the back yard and (I suspect) that gives the back yard some proper perspective!

here we go

The 1st December is a sombre reminder:

• Where did the last 11 months go
• How much is there still to do before Christmas
• This last week seems to have been so busy and I have done so many things
• And yet all sorts of other stuff just hasn't got done
• The weather has been hot and cold
• everything is still parched and dry
• i had a funeral of a patriarch
• i've been on retreat in daily life
• i've slept average to badly
• today is my day off and there is a heap of stuff to do
• next week looks as though it will be more of the same.....aaah life!