Saturday, November 26, 2005

"Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it."
- Stephen Butler Leacock,

ring of light

black shimmering water
the last shades of orange depart
dolphins play in silver light
dog tries to catch stick
husband tries to catch fish

i lay on my back sand in hair
i tilt my head round and watch the circle of sky
above the sky is clear
but east, south, west and north
bolts of lightning dance between heaven and earth
dog watches them suspiciously

and still now the thuder rolls
right ear, over head, left ear.
dog barks at the sky and 'scares' the thuder away.
the thuder leaves us for a moment.
dog trots in, proud she has done her job.
if you are running from a false view of God are you closer or further from Him?

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

7 pathways

been thinking/talking lots about the 7 pathways that josh posted on the last blog. brought up the concept with my school kiddies this morning, but didn't actually show them the 'official' list. asked them to brainstorm 'ways people connect with God'.
i wrote each of their suggestions on a separtate sheet of coloured paper. they were:

nature
singing
running
thinking/talking
prayer
the bible
emotions ('laughing' and 'fear' in particular)
stories

mrs ellery: what about people (relationships was number 2 on my list)

kid: people are a part of nature, and so they don't need their own sheet of paper.

mrs ellery: what do you mean?

kid: well, when you see God making the plants grow it's like the same magic that makes people grow. (lots of nods)

another kid: yeah, the life magic that keeps everything alive.

another kid: people sparkle God, especially nice people, just like nature sparkles God.


next time you see a plant, stop and listen and see if you can see God making it grow.

Friday, November 11, 2005

i think i’ve figured something out.

if you can’t feel God in nature and don’t have a deep spiritual respect for all living things then:

a) you’ll think my spirituality is silly and childish
b) i’ll think yours is arrogant and offensive.

imagine

imagine if the strength of gravity changed with the seasons…

imagine if there were three genders…

imagine if humans had to sleep for 20 hours a day and we cared more about our dreams than our reality…

imagine a religion that abandoned personal ownership…

imagine a country where at the end of every 3 years the poorest person was made the leader…

imagine if everyone spent all day imagining…

imagine if no-one did.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

debrief post

just had small group. the girls have gone. the dog is asleep and the house is quiet. mulling over the nights conversation.

we did an activity together. we each had several blank little yellow cards and we had a big red card in the middle. on each of the little cards we wrote a statement of christian practise (eg. helping the poor, getting baptised in water, tithing, reading the bible, loving one another, obeying leadership, loving God, speaking in tongues .....)

we then had to try and place each of the little yellow cards on the big red card. the most essential cards in the middle (the core issues of our faith) and the less essential cards on the outer. some didn't even make it onto the red card. one got ditched out of the room.

my goal was that at the end we would be able to circle those practises and beliefs which are essential to our faith.

if you did this activity how many cards would you end up with in your circle? what would they say?

we ended up with 2.
-charlie
haven't had the urge to post anything recently. funny how the urge comes and goes. but i feel like posting tonight. just had a really good chat with some friends and casey is not here for me to debrief with, so i'll debrief to you instead.
that last post was a casey post. i'm sure you could tell from his use on eloquent linguistics

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Midnight Oil

been reappreciating 'Midnight Oil' recently. I just really love their lyrics, something that has been thought out and is often meaningful. I admire anyone who can stand up for what they believe despite the flack they cop for it. Some favourite lines include 'It's better to die on your feet than live on your knees'; 'some things don't come for free ' and 'I just want to be with the fish in the sea.' i sympathise with the sentiments