A weekful of firsts

I've just been reflecting on my lovely commute to work that this week, there's been a very cool theme going on. So it's still spring and it's still a wee bit cold, but this week, in recognition of the consequtive days that the sun has had his hat on, I've worn my flip flops for the first time. On Saturday I went for a bike & run around Richmond park (first time for combined training). And Sunday was the first time I visited my friend, Miss Green-fingers' allotment. Which doesn't look like an allotment at all. It actually looks like Charlie Dimmock's very tidy back garden.
Lush.






...A while back, another friend, Miss Scandinavia and myself were having a good oul natter about life and music and things we love and justice and the world and shoes... probably. And out of this we both realised that we wanted somewhere to be able to share our thoughts, to develop them and hopefully come to a place of deeper understanding of how faith and life inter-connect . And so there've been many more conversations since that day, research and soul-seeking and general musings... all the while a little flicker of a light bulb burning in the recesses of our minds. And so, one day, when lunching with some lovely friends and one experienced blogger, my comfort blanket of proscrastination was whipped from me and the Reverential Cooke started this blog for me. Sometimes a little gentle persuasion is all we need...

And so...

Ladies & gentille men, I'm pleased to introduce Maid Marian of Sweden & Denmark. This is her fine blog. http://www.firstwomanstanding.blogspot.com/

She's got it going on.

I think it's a great thing when you get to be part of seeing something happen for the first time. It starts off as an idea. You share that idea with a few people, preferably your chicken soup friends, the ones who are gonna help you dream BIG. And then finally the idea is refined, tried out, tested and improved. I was hanging out with my good friend this week. And her husband has been starting to write some worship songs. Now, I'm not the most musical person but I do know what I like. And this I liked. And it's so exciting to see something in progress, at this tender stage.

It's at this point that we need to encourage. We need to feed into the process, to enhance what's good, to take what works and make it better. And gently decide what to leave to one side. In the musical world, there is a word for this. You may not be familiar with this term. I wasn't. But my friend was able to pinpoint the exact thing that this worship song needed.


'It needs some hinkydink'.


She's so right. Sometimes we all need a bit of hinkydink. And there's enough hinkydink to go around for everyone. I'm really looking forward to singing that song someday, the fully hyped hinkydinked version. It's gonna be good.

My last and final first of this week, is also an exciting one. A new Christian alliance has been launched to highlight the need to end violence against women. Gender based violence, which is often used as a weapon of war around the world is an outrage. This also incorporates abuse that is verbal, emotional, and physical. In the UK, 2 women a week die due to violence caused by their partner or ex-partner. In Russia, that statistic is 1 woman per day. Go to the Ukraine, and it's one woman every 35 minutes.

There are some non-church based organisations already out there doing brilliant stuff to raise awareness of the issue. But it's something we need to start talking about in churches. We need to pray into this, we need to make sure we're doing something about it. And this is a call for both men and women to take a stand and to speak out for and end to these horrendous acts.

The new alliance is beautifully named Restored. That's a theme of the bible. Restoration.

The website isn't quite ready for all 3 of you, so I'll post the link when it's ready to go.
In the meantime you might want to think about how how you could get involved with changing attitudes toward violence against women. Or have a look at this little video.

Take action join the UN campaign action to say no to violence against women.

Thanks for reading today. Bless you.

World of wonders

Feeling a bit blue by my volcanic activity related cancelled flight to the homeland, I decided I needed to look at the bigger picture and be thankful that I'm not flying through molten ash.

And stumbled across this.

He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work. Psalm 104: 13

In fact the whole psalm is pre-ttt-y amazing. But for me, this part really shines out.

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works -
he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke. Psalm 104:31-32

But I'd encourage you to read the whole chapter because maybe you haven't been affected by seismic activity today and you might find an entirely different part really speaks to you...
or challenges you or you just find something that makes you think.

I love creation, which is why this psalm is really alive for me. I think because I 'get' that vibe when I'm hanging out in God's back garden. So the trees are just doing their thing, just being trees; and I get to just be me. And that's all. There's really not that much to it. But one-ness and stillness and... God, who made all these things perfect and wonderful and awesome, is there, in the moment.

Perspective.

Really, my cancelled weekend plans are not that big in the scheme of things. Although I will be sad not to chillax with a giggle of girls, including one who is due to be a hen tomorrow. But I'm sure I can find something almost as entertaining to do instead.

And as well, I just want to remember other places around the world where seismic shifts have had much greater consequences. Haiti, Chile and this week, China have suffered terribly. However, there has been a phenomenal public response to the integrated disaster response work. They will all need funding for many years to come. Please pray for those affected, for the thousands left without a home. For the community as they try to rebuild their lives, and for aid workers in these countries as they carry out their work in physically and emotionally draining conditions. If you want to keep up to date with what's going on, you might like to read more on the Red Cross website.

Sing it dance it pray it walk it

This very cool lil website doodle landed on the door mat of my inbox today. Highly addictive and particularly relevant for tonight. It makes little maps for you, quite handy if you're into walking from A to B. Or if you're more circley inclined, your needs are also catered for.

I've been getting excited about our all night of prayer at church. And the prayer walk around Richmond.

I was looking for some inspiration on prayer walking today; I was admitedly briefly enthused by the marching and trumpet blowing and wall-obliterating story in Joshua 6. And whilst there's some great battle story going on there, there's also an animal welfare issue which we in the 21 st century struggle with.

So instead all I'm going use this little verse. Which is equally wonderful in an entirely different way.

Humble yourselves under God's mighty hand, so that he might lift you up. James 4:10. I think just as we join together to pray for our city, our neighbourhood, our schools, our nation, our world, it's good to remember that we have an awesome God. But getting down on our knees to pray; man, what a privilege that is. I think that might be quite good to remember that every amazing act of God can be traced to a figure on their knees.