Monthly Archives: January 2010

i’m here!

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Just a little pic to show I’m here. Taken the first morning in Gasworks Park with the view of downtown Seattle in the background. I’ll et to visit more of downtown on Saturday.

It’s been a good first morning with a tour of Fremont, breakfast and a great chat with Chris. Fremont is a pretty cool place with interesting art installations around the place.

I was particularly intrigued by the statue of Lenin. Found face down in the mud in Czechoslovakia after the collapse of the USSR, by Lewis Carpenter who mortgaged his house to buy and transport it to Seattle! Following the death of Carpenter his family loaned the statue to Fremont district and it’s on display. It’s also for sale if you have  spare $150 000!!

Corny … but I am sleepless in Seattle!

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Well i’ve arrived and I’m blogging from Seattle before I hit the sack!

WE drove well through the snow (thanks Andrew) The 10 hour flight was an epic – we left late due to the snow – and I spoke to 2 lovely people, Dan, an American, and Natasha, a Russian. It was a pleasure to fly with them and be able to get to know them a little better.

I was met at the airport by Jordan, after a painless entry into the USA ( much easier than than getting out of the UK!!)

After traveling from the airport to the Abbey, I then went for a drink, or two, with Karen before returning to my home for the next 3 weeks … which is a great room on the ground floor of Jeanette and Ned Olson’s room.

First impressions … this is great and I am incredibly excited to be here …. if a bit tired (I have been awake for 24 hours!) … so nite
-X-

Seattle time!

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The case is packed (even weighed and if the spring balance is accurate it is below weight), I’m checked in, I’ve even printed my boarding pass and, all being well, I should take off from Heathrow tomorrow at 2.20pm on a Britsh Airways flight to Seattle.

If you have missed this – I am incredibly excited to be on a 3 week placement with Church Of The Apostles and looking forward to learning lots from the community of people there as well as sharing a little bit about what I do in Rochester and pioneer ministry / fresh expressions. This is being viewed, quite rightly, as part of my training!

I will land tomorrow just after 4pm local time and will be met at the airport and attend vespers at 6.00pm in St Paul’s chapel … an excellent way to start my time with COTA.

I feel a sense of excitement as well as nervousness. I can’t believe it is over 10 years since I have properly traveled. I also feel a sense of loss … planning a trip away is exciting and I’m really pleased to be going, but I know I will miss my family here – please, when you remember to pray for me on my travels, also remember to pray for Sarah, Tom, Beth and Joe. I think it’s tough on them.

Now seems a good time to thank all of you who have made this possible – you know who you are. It’s a great opportunity and everyone tells me how much I will love it … and I’m sure they are right!

I hope to blog here about my experiences ….so watch this space!

Snow as a sabbath

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There has been a lot of reflection upon the snow, some still love it and want more, others are fed up with it and are wishing for the big thaw …. I’m not sure which camp I’m in really. Snow certainly disrupts, but in my experience is has not caused a shut down, but required a slowing down.

On my travels, both in car and on foot, I have experienced people thinking they can act normally and travel at their normal speeds in snow. I have watched them get into difficulties. People running and sliding onto their arses! People revving car engines and traveling sideways. I’ve noticed others slowing down as they walk, drivers gently pressing their accelerators and completing their respective journey’s with no problems at all.

Last week, I re-tweeted this from twittugies:

Snow slows our world;
deepens our sense of silence.
Places our plans on hold.
Calls us home.
Snow in its own way is a Sabbath.

Snow as a Sabbath – I like that thought!

thermometer vs thermostat

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It’s cold outside, and it’s very white. It looks beautiful. I love snow, but I must admit I am getting a bit bored of this now as de-icing car doors to get in and scrape the inside of the windscreen is becoming monotonous. I love plying in the snow, but I also love my role in Rochester and after being away for a week over Christmas, and being away for 3 weeks a week from today while in Seattle I want to be able to get in to Rochester.

So – I’m going to reflect on something different, but related. I was thinking about temperature and thermostats the other day because the heating had broken down in the house of a colleague. The thermostat had stopped working properly. I got to thinking about the difference between thermostats and thermometers. Thermometers simply record the temperature, while the thermostat controls and influences the temperature. By sheer accident I came across this quote from Martin Luther King speaking of the early church:

The church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society.

That has challenged me in my thinking and forces me to ask – ‘am I merely a thermometer that refects the status quo, or am I a thermostat that looks to make a transforming difference within society?’

I’m not sure I want to be a ‘history maker’ as Delirious sing, as that sounds full of self importance to me, but I do wish to see transformation both in my life and in the lives of those I spend time with.

As I was having these thoughts I discovered that the Epistle reading for the 8am BCP Eucharist which I am responsible for on Sunday morning is Romans 12:1-5 …. where Paul talks of transformation by the renewing of the mind …. a bit like being a thermostat. I think I may have my homily sorted for Sunday morning!

new year dreams

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On New Years Eve 10 of us went down to the beach at Porth to mark the start of the new year by launching sky lanterns.

The night was amazingly still with a near full moon. The sea was flat and calm. We found a small cove and cave which gave us shlter as we lit the lanterns. They looked amazing as they floated off.

As the lanterns floated people either made wishes, resolutions or prayed. I thanked God for the past year, thanked him for the people I was with and ‘wondered with God’ what 2010 will bring.

the cafe of peace

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We have had an excellent time in Cornwall staying with Andrew and Sarah in Porth. While there we had lunch in Cafe Irie which was a wonderfully beautiful place. I would say this was a highlight of the short trip, but that would imply there were lowlights … and the whole time was fantastic.

Cafe Irie, though, is a special place that I would love to visit again. A cafe with great staff, good atmosphere, great drinks (Banana and Peanut butter smoothies which just have to be tried because they are amazing!!!) Irie itself means ”to be at total peace with your current state of being’

I was not there long before I said ‘this is what I think church should be like’. There was a strong community feel about the place. People had opportunity to participate or just eat and drink. Board games were available to play, as was a piano with a note saying play us a tune if you’d like to. The decor of sofas and drapes gives a wonderful relaxed feel and the interesting collection of local art brings things off to a tee and brings a smile to your face. There was a certain individuality about the menu which I think invited people to be creative and try things anew …. in a way it was some kind of implicit challenge to be yourself, the person you were always meant to be; and I think this has something of what church should encourage.

Church … a place where you can be, and are allowed to be, at total peace with your current state of being. By that I don’t mean we become complacent. Nor do I mean that we are refusing to change … but that I have a dream of church being a place where we are at total peace with who we are because we are able to say we are totally at ease with what God is doing within us and with integrity say we are allowing God to work within us and allowing God to be God.