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Thursday, June 25th, 2009
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9:07 am - Meme
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Dad posted this a while back and I've been meaning to do it. So here it is!
1. Started your own blog (doy)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (if you count the worship team at church)
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain (Just a small German one)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (Collective effort by family!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight in your underwear
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (What even counts as this? More of an American thing I guess)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied Ah, the untold riches of the student loan ...
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (Don't think sketches count!)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris It was snowing!
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business I am officially registered as a business!
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Not in this country, but what about all those coffee mornings with Brownies at church!)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy (Never had to, my parents are as softhearted as I am!)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job (What's the difference between being given notice and being fired?)
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (As a Brownie!)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life (My own - allergic reactions!)
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (Alan Rickman being the most famous)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Seen Mount Rushmore in person
101. Learned to play an instrument (!)
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| Friday, June 19th, 2009
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6:51 pm - CONGRATULATIONS
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... to Luke, who got a 2.i for his degree! YAY!!!
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| Monday, June 8th, 2009
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5:31 pm
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Bishop Alan posted about Wordles the other day. I've decided to start making Wordles of Biblical texts. Here's the first offering, a fairly famous text:
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5:24 pm
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Maggi posted this lovely poem:
They tuck you up, your mum and dad
They read you Peter Rabbit, too.
They give you all the treats they had
And add some extra, just for you.
They were tucked up when they were small,
(Pink perfume, blue tobacco-smoke),
By those whose kiss healed any fall,
Whose laughter doubled any joke.
Man hands on happiness to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
So love your parents all you can
And have some cheerful kids yourself.
Adrian Mitchell
Isn't that a nice reinterpretation of Larkin's famous rant? On a dark day for UK politics, it's good to be reminded of everyday beauty like this.
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| Thursday, June 4th, 2009
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2:57 pm
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Thank you all for the encouragement. I will shortly be going to vote.
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| Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009
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10:46 pm - Elections
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For the first time ever I am considering spoiling my ballot. I used to be staunchly Lib Dem (with GLA votes for Greens) but, despite the Lib Dems' relatively good record on such matters, I am so disheartened by the whole sorry mess. I used to consider becoming a Lib Dem and eventually running for parliament, but I am so disappointed and disillusioned that right now I want to vote NO TO ALL THE ABOVE and work to overthrow the system!
You have until 3pm tomorrow to argue your case for what you believe I should do. Tell all your friends!
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| Monday, June 1st, 2009
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10:44 pm - :O
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Luke finished his finals today. It seems almost unbelievable that it's three years since my own!
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| Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
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10:15 am - Man and Superman
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Bishop Alan has a great post on the difficulty men have in growing up.
The effect of living in Western societies, with their high levels of detachment from nature, easy availability of information, spiritual immaturity and fantasy, with material abundance and ease, is to prolong male adolescence. Average ages for achieving its goals are rising fast, currently to a mid thirties average. A few are forced there early by traumatic experiences like loss of a parent, chronic illness, or poverty. Some never make it.
Go read here.
This is not in any way a dig at the men in my life!
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| Friday, May 22nd, 2009
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6:43 pm - Now it's time for Silly Songs with Lukey ...
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Luke wrote an Engagement Song for us! Check it out here. Thanks Luke!
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| Tuesday, May 19th, 2009
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9:25 am - MA (Cantab)
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We went to Cambridge at the weekend to collect Alastair's MA. It was lovely to see so many people from college - and to share our good news with them! Next year it'll be my turn to get the MA, so we'll see a load of people from my year then.
Back to work this week - but next week's half term!
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| Saturday, May 9th, 2009
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11:11 pm - Another picture of the lovely ring
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8:38 pm - :D
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Alastair and I are engaged!
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| Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
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10:01 am - Concert!
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Last night's concert went really well :) The choir really pulled a great performance out on the night,so I was absolutely chuffed. As is often the way there were small wobbles on a couple of easy pieces, but then the really tough stuff went very well! Mum, Dad and Alastair all came, as did Sooz and her mum, and <lj user=segh> and G., all of whom were a very appreciative audience!
The choir all said utterly lovely things about me, too, which made me blush but is very encouraging - particularly the fact they want me back again! We all had wine and pizza together afterwards, which was great fun. I know they all worked incredibly hard for me and it was great to wind down together.
Having said that, I was completely buzzing til 2am, having not slept much the night before either due to nerves, which as Alastair & I had to get up at 7.15 to catch a train to Shrewsbury means i'm now rather tired! So i'm going to put my phone away now and sleep on the train!
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| Friday, May 1st, 2009
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12:49 pm
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Come and hear nice music!
Just a reminder about my concert tomorrow! |
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| Monday, April 27th, 2009
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12:40 pm - "Worship Star"
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A very interesting post over at Baptist Bookworm.
Now obviously I'm not a "worship star" but I am a Christian musician - and that means I end up "leading worship". (Let's not go into that now!) And it is hard - there obviously are people who want to help others worship Jesus and want nothing more than to give glory to God, and there are also people with more obviously impure motives, who enjoy performing in front of others. But of course we're all susceptible to the latter, however much we hope to be the former.
It would be wrong not to use God-given talents for God's glory, of course, but I believe we actually need more spiritual honesty and openness in musical worship. People get held up as "saints", but we are also all sinners. By that I don't just mean in a "once I really screwed up, but now I'm ok cos I'm praising Jesus!!" way, or even in a "wow, didn't success ruin their relationship with God until they repented and came back" kind of way - both of which I believe are heavily media-influenced by the desire for a good story. What I mean is briefly this:
- Asking each other how we are, spiritually. And asking this in such a way that it's ok to say, "Actually, I'm going through a really bad/difficult/challenging time".
- Recognising that struggling with doubt is not a reason to chuck people out of the band: see Maggi Dawn's post on Doubting Thomas.
- At the same time, holding this in tension with a freedom to genuinely ask others what their motives are, and if necessary to ask people to take time out to reflect. I took a whole month off from church music last September and it was one of the healthiest things I've done. I'm not advocating sacking people because you suspect their motives, but I am advocating making space and a right atmosphere for allowing things like my mini-sabbatical last year.
At the end of the day, very few of us are likely to "make it big" in the Christian worship music scene - and I think that's a good thing, because we couldn't all expect to withstand the temptations it would bring (whether secular or "holy"), let alone be any good at creating worshipful albums for others! I have respect for those I feel are doing a good job (musically and spiritually), but my ideas and thoughts above are aimed more at how we get along in day-to-day church life. In the end, whatever style of music your church uses, those charged with leading music in church are charged enabling God to minister to his people: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God." (Col 3:16).
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| Friday, April 24th, 2009
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2:24 pm
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Please come, I'm conducting!
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2:23 pm - Another great cartoon ...
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| Sunday, April 12th, 2009
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7:57 am - 12/04/09
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Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Happy Easter, everyone!
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| Saturday, April 11th, 2009
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9:31 pm - God's absence
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Led a short service tonight at church to mark Holy Saturday, based on one from "How (Not) to Speak of God". It takes Jesus' cry on the cross - My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? - as a starting place for exploring the experience of God's absence. I found it both challenging and comforting when I read about it, so I was really pleased to have the opportunity to share this idea. Of course it wasn't the same as Ikon's service - nor would it've been appropriate to try and replicate it exactly for a different congregation - but I hope I managed to express the sort of thoughts that reading about the service made me wish to share. if nothing else, it felt good to mark a day which is so often overlooked in our tradition.
Afterwards I was blessed with many helpers, speeding both the clearing up and preparation for the Easter breakfast tomorrow!
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4:34 pm
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It annoys me the number of youth from church who went out partying last night. Good Friday is not a day for going out and getting smashed.
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