New Kid on the Blog

I've not done a blog talkers for far too long, though I always look over the questions I've not really engaged with them, but its time to get back into the swing of things, as I seem to be getting sorted generally at the moment! So here is blog talkers number 68. Time for another writing prompt. Please interpret this any way you wish. Here are some questions to help you get started: Joke. What is a joke to you? What do you find funny? Do you appreciate a good practical joke, or do you think practical jokes are cruel? What is the best joke you’ve ever played on someone. What is the best joke you’ve ever heard? Years ago I was the editor of the AOCM magazine, an annual magazine for Ordinands which someone takes on for one year and basically takes responsibility for compiling and producing the magazine and writing an editorial. I don't think I did a great job, the editor from the year before had arranged a number of excellent articles for me and I simply put them into a mag...

Not that blog talkers went away, I've just neglected to respond for a few weeks, which is shame as the questions have been good. Life has been a bit busy, and I have tried to keep up my NaBloPoMo postings too... Ironically, this week's question isn't one which I can give such a great answer to, but I'll use it to tell you a little about myself How did your parents’ careers impact your plans for a future career? Well, my parents didn't make career choices, they did what they did to feed and keep the family. Before I was born my mother was a military policewoman first in the air force and then in the army. My 'biological' father was killed but whilst I was still too young to remember my mum got together with a man from Ireland who became, to all intents and purposes, my dad. Dad was a gruff, hard, Northern Irishman. Roman Catholic and Republican to the core (note to US readers, 'republican' here means against Northern Ireland being a part of the...

This week's blog talkers question Tell us: List three things you did this past week. Out of those three: what was the most fun? What made it fun? Well, this week has been slightly overshadowed with me feeling muzzy headed and grim with a cold, and unusually I had to spend an afternoon in bed (on my day off! Why can't I feel ill on a work day?) so that's one of three. Yesterday we had our annual 'safari supper' in one of the villages I serve - you know the form, starter in one house, main course in another, pudding in another, coffee another. It's one of the highlights of the year, which reading again looks like we have very empty lives - not so! It's a time when lots of people who don't necessarily join in other stuff, and rarely join in Church events, come and socialise, laugh, consume a fair amount of wine and generally have a good time. The hosts work incredibly hard to provide good nosh and the company is excellent. Definitely the best of my th...

I have missed weeks and weeks due to various absences etc, not sure if I will catch up, but we're back to the blog talkers discussion! Blog Talkers number 38 If you could select any person, dead or alive, famous or obscure, historic or common, to write a blog that you would visit regularly, who would it be and why? The easy answer to that would be Jesus Though i have to ask myself, would I really want to read his blog, it would be pretty challenging stuff, the record of what we have in the Bible is tough enough to live by! Or would I, like so many people of his day, think he was another looney with radical religious ideas, too much against the authorities or too opposed to the religious structures that I am so much a part of! And reading a blog would be sooooo much easier than this prayer business in trying to keep 'plugged in' to what he wants to say to me! And perhaps he would explain some of the stuff I really struggle with. As Jesus is possibly a bit too much of an ...

Blog talkers from last week ... I never got around to much last week, at least in the world of blogging, so here's another catchup moment. Looking back in life, what did you do 3, 6 and 12 months ago? Have these actions played a major role in your life or has it been like any other day? 3 Months ago - I was recovering from a wonderful but very busy Easter. I had a week off after Easter, but was still feeling pretty tired. Things have been extremely busy around our Team for a while, and we've been shorthanded for a number of months. Fatigue seems to be the order of the day most of the time, just keeping up. Means I'm looking forward to some time off over the summer ;-) 6 Months ago, February saw the start of Lent, which meant extra events leading up to Easter time. There was lots of stuff going on around the place. 12 Months ago, we were all at the house in which we have a small share in France. It was baking hot and we were melting. It was then i decided that at som...

I was right - this week's blogtalkers gives lots to talk about... What is one item that you own that has minimal monetary value, but has such sentimental value that you wouldn’t sell it for any amount of money? This is my opportunity to say that we don't have a lot of stuff worth much! But we have lots of little things which are priceless. Our photos are - and having recently signed up to facebook it's been great to see some of the stuff that friends have put up, going years back - a real nostalgia fest. Without wishing to seem too holy, something I really value is the Bible I got at my ordination to priesthood. I've got about fifteen translations of the bible, and I have other bibles in the same (NRSV) translation, but i like the fact that it's a normal, not a presentation leather or gilded edge or red letter, bible. It does have the coat of arms for the Diocese of London (where I served for the first four years of my ordained ministry) on the back, but other ...

The blogtalkers question for this week wasn't really a discussion starter for me, Tell me about your most unusual laundromat experience. Have you ever, or would you ever leave your laundry unattended at a laundromat? What would you do if it wasn’t there when you came back? I've never used a laundromat... It's somewhat out of my experience, and though I could conceptualise with regards to the mights and perhaps, I am lacking in motivation, sorry folks... It's cos I'm in Church fete season, so off to stuff my offspring with ice-cream and look vicarly, whatever that means. Perhaps tomorrow's question will inspire me to write at great length...

Blog talkers this week is difficult to keep down to one thought, so I am going to waffle on a bit generally. Bit of a nostalgia fest, and a fair amount of what ifs... If you could go back in time, what one piece advice would you give yourself? It depends where I'm going to go in time! If I went back to my teens I would say 'go to the gym' - just because I enjoy it so much, and starting earlier would probably have meant I wasn't the large rotund type I am today, although I might have been one of those whose head became smaller than their neck. Or perhaps in my late teens I would have said 'ride a motorbike'. There's no end to the possibilities of what might have happened if this had been the case when I was a student. I think much of what makes up my life now is probably formed by the fact that I had no transport when I was younger! I would perhaps have travelled a lot more over the weekends at College, whereas I stayed in and around London (no real nee...

I wish I'd done this last week! Short answer to last weeks' blog talkers. If you had to spend one year living alone in a remote cabin, what would you spend your time doing? (And let’s assume there is no access to Internet) I would read, and read and read and read... Read through the whole Bible again, get lots of good novels, some sci-fi, probably a book to teach me music theory (which would mean taking my guitar, I guess) and some music books. I would read some of the Christian classics I've always meant to read but have only dipped into, St Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Cloud of Unknowing, Aquinas, and some more modern theologians, Barth, Rahner, Moltmann, and CS Lewis, Tozer Austin Farrar, All of Miroslav Volf's stuff, etc etc etc. Reading and playing guitar, that would be a good year (as long as no one was around to hear the guitar playing, it wouldn't be a good year for them) Probably have to take some music and DVDs too - but I'll stop before my fantasy...

Here's a question for you! Blog talkers number 18. Who generally does the housework in your family? Do you say “Thank You” to your significant other when he/she does housework? Why or why not? Are you thanked when you do housework? Um....well neither my wife or I are too hot on housework, and exhibit ridiculous gratitude whenever one or other of us gets around to it! We don't let the place get terribly dirty, but things do get untidy pretty quickly, and though we blame the kids, its pretty much both our fault rather than the children. Jo (my wonderful wife) is better at putting things away than I am. She gets narked if the washing up is not done after a meal, where I like stacking up so there is a good amount to do in one go. Jo tends to work the spaceship that is our washing machine, though I am not averse to it, but she is definitely more conscientious than I am with doing laundry! We both do the hanging out of laundry and gathering it in, though Jo being at home more th...

It's a bank holiday (public holiday) today and I should be taking the day off, though i have some stuff to do. It is a quieter day today, though, so I am going to take a few minutes to catch up on me blogging... Have three blog talkers to catch up on, including this week's. I may stagger them over a couple of days, or I may just do the lot today - that's the kind of crazy, spontaneous guy I am! Firstly number 17 : Why are people obsessed with the weather? And if you watch the Weather Channel, why? I thought it was just us brits who were obsessed with the weather. In the absence of all other conversation, and usually in an effort to avoid conversations of any real substance, we will talk about how much, or recently how little, it rains. At least global warming is causing some variety in the conversation as our weather patters do seem to be genuinely different to the usual. The bit of England I live in (East Anglia) is, I think, the driest part of the country, and also...

Hooray, blog talkers for the week it was intended... Do you think it’s the government’s responsibility to take care of the people? Why or why not? Hmmmm, this is obviously posted with whatever is going on in the USA election wise at the moment in mind, though we will be having local elections in a month or so. As far as I'm concerned it's everyone's responsibility to take care of everyone else! I believe this to be not only a biblical imperative but a human one. We live in community, or we should, and we separate ourselves from others to our own detriment. Obviously Jesus said we should love our neighbours and in the famous parable of the good Samaritan extended that beyond religious and racial grounds - the same parable has a very practical side to it, as the Samaritan actually takes care of the injured traveller and pays for his rest and respite. I have a left wing streak that compels me to say that those who have money have a responsibility to use it to care for those...

On the catch up again, i like this one, partly because it is so easy to respond to... ...harder to live by. What three main rules, standards, or morals do you live by? Well my answer is straightforward and comes straight from Jesus! This is not to try and sound all 'high-fallutin'' but because as one of the first Bible verses i ever learnt off by heart this has had a profound effect on my life for as long as I can remember. Mark 12.29-31 29 Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” 31 The second is this, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ This was Jesus' response to the question 'what is the greatest commandment' but i do think it breaks down into three parts (rather handily) Love God - with everything you are, no limits...

The question for discussion, a week late, but Holy Week was too busy and I really like this question ... Tell us something significant (either a memory, something learned from that time period, a person who made an impact on you, an event, etc) about your teenage years. It has to be a person, a guy called Peter Halse. This man wasn't a superhero or anything, he was a normal chap, a successful businessman, a family man and a member of the Church I grew up in, Honiton Congregational Church. Peter took on the youth and children's work with his father, John Halse. By the time I started attending Sunday School John was quite old, though continued with his ministry until he was very old! Peter took on the mantle from his father, and took on the older 'lads group' - the Covenanters. This was an 11-16s group and took place alongside the usual Sunday Church services with a social evening during the week. Peter was a shining example of a normal Christian - someone deeply ded...

I am actually doing this on time! The question to get conversation going this week is: Please tell us: What story is on the front page of your local newspaper? Do you think the event is worthy of front page coverage? This was a bit difficult, as there is no piccy of the front page on the website for our local paper, the Cambridge Evening News, and there is lots of updated news on the site with no information as to what was the front page headline so I went to the local shop and checked out what was on yesterday's paper (there's no Sunday edition) and then looked up the story on the net.. It was this: 50 jobs axed by council Worthy of being 'Front page news' ? Well local council services in the UK are in a bit of a mess in lots of ways with funding from central government a thorny issue at the moment. The reason given for this state of affairs was The council is pushing forward with a complete revamp of its customer services in an attempt to simplify its own systems...

This week's doozy on the blogtalkers blog, though like last week I am doing this at the end rather than the start of the week... What do you feel most guilty about? Eeek, how much can i give away on a public blog like this.... Actually, the thing i do feel most guilty about is an ongoing thing, it is the way that I allow my time to be squeezed so that I often feel I don't do justice to anything. I don't make enough time for my wife, sometimes I hurry my work - especially planning for services - and I sometimes allow myself to get so overloaded that I start missing stuff, meetings and appointments and things like that. It's not just about organisation, though that is part of it. I think that sometimes I try to please too many people and end up pleasing none. That is significantly deeper than i planned to be. I think I will leave it there.

have joined Which offers a weekly post to talk about! this Week: If you had to spend a year on a deserted island with any five bloggers, who would you choose and why? I thought this would be easy, but I don't want to offend anyone I leave out - if you're not here then just assume I really wanted you in but I was being kind by not stranding you on an island with me for a year.... For those I am including, please don't think I want to torture you for a year or anything. I won't say too much, but here they are. Firstly Dr John. Wise, funny, likeable, witty. He could keep us all amused all year with stories of Pigeon Falls, and perhaps we could put together a whole train layout using coconuts. Next Jem . Bit of a cheat to include him, but have known him for years, he may not blog very much but he continues to be both one of the most sensible and one of the most completely crackers individuals I know. Third Brian . New to the blogosphere, but again an old pal, he may be...