Its been a mad,hecic but fun weekend.

Tom is 11 today and I feel old!

Last night he had a few friends for a ‘sleepover’ which must be the largest misnomer ever! Lets call it a stay-awake-as-long-as-we-can over’!

played badminton with Jim .. and lost!

watched Tom play on a freezing Saturday morning

but Gillingham won 1-0 which was excellent!

I watched the match with a friend and his 6 year old daughter who constantly cheered the gills on and told jokes -both cute and excellent! (made possible by 2 other lovely generous friends!)

found time for a drink with my brother and sister in law

had a coffee with Sarah’s parents

a variety weekend but it has left me feeling relaxed, refreshed and ready for whatever the week wishes to throw at me this coming week.

Found this on Dave’s blog and it made me laugh … and I’m preaching at the end of the month so maybe …

SAN ANTONIO — Pastor Tom Kirkland, who spelled the phrase “u suck” in his five-point outline last Sunday, has apologized to his church.

“I should have looked it over more carefully,” he says. “It was late Saturday night when I finished. I’m sorry.”

His five points, based on the story of Abraham, were:

Understand your calling

Say yes to God

Use the abilities he gave you

Call on him during hard times

Keep going!

Plenty of people were offended.

“When I realized what he was spelling, I flipped over my outline so my son wouldn’t see it,” says Ursula Thompson, 46. The message of the sermon was lost on her, she says.

But others say it’s not the first time “unintentional” acrostics have popped up lately. Kirkland, they suspect, is telegraphing his deep-rooted dissatisfaction.

“He spelled ‘losers’ one Sunday and ‘get lost’ the next, and apologized for those, too,” says one woman. “He’s getting little kicks out of it.” •

just had to put this on the blog!! Its given me so many wicked ideas!! Anyone want me to preach at there church soon???

The new update website for Sri Lanka YFC’s tsunami relief effort is now up and running.

I may not have had a chance to ask the question but Dawn and lots of women priests had time with him in the morning and they felt encouraged so the report says.

Well if you were ever in any doubt; the election campaign has well and truly started!

We had to wait 30 minutes for the Prime Minister to appear but he did, he spoke for an hour (which actually only felt like 10 minutes) and then was whisked away again.

I was disappointed that he did not take questions, but not surprised. I do wish the event was not so slickly engineered and that the people who had given up time to be there could have had the opportunity to question. A lady next to me from Gravesend had cancelled a minor eye operation so she could be there. I think she deserved more.

I was sat in the second row almost within touching distance and (although I will admit I am biased as a member of the party!)experienced what I thought was genuine passion, concern and desire to see the country continue to improve. He may of course be a very good actor, but being so close the body language and eyes spoke of honesty, integrity and of someone who passionately believed what they were saying.

I have said the hour went quickly, but I suppose I should not be surprised that our PM is an excellent communicator who can use humour, asides and make fun of himself in a way that reinforces and supports the message he is trying to make.

It is reported elsewhere but he spoke mainly about what prosperity for all, his definition being not just wealth, but of opportunity to fulfill dreams and the freedom to live our lives the way we want with minimum government intervention. If you are interested you can read his whole speech here.

It was a great experience and good to her first hand.

Today I am a little excited. I’m going to meet the Prime Minister. Ok, so 30 or 40 other people will be there as well. But last night I had a phonecall asking me if I’d like a seat. I accepted and need to take my passport to prove who I am to get in.

I’m looking forward to hearing what he has to say and how he relates to questions. I want to ask him what he thinks of the Make Poverty History campaign and whether he believes he can use his presidency of the EU alongside the G8 summit being in the UK to make a difference as the campaign suggests, or whether he thinks the situation is so bad there is nothing we can do.

I doubt I’ll get the chance, but if I do I will let you know what he says.

MDF39152
Originally uploaded by heterotopias.

He was right there in the waves with the people.
He was left for dead on the sand.
He cried out to his father in fear.

He understands.

Andy Harrington prints the appeal from Sri Lanka YFC here.

Please help if you can.

Fantastic (said with more than a tad sarcasm!), I have just seen on the Ekklesia website that the Christian protest seems to have had the exact opposite effect on people.

Not only did it boost the ratings of the show on BBC2 to 1.8 million (gaint the expected 1 million) but the west end bookings for the opera have soared too. You can read more here.

I had a great day yesterday. I achieved lots, met with the curate of my church, had lunch with Sarah as Beth was home ill and then in the evening went off to play volleyball.

I asked Sarah to record the program on BBC2 about Auschwitz. When I returned home I watched it and was struck at the sheer brutality and belief of the guards, even today, that Jews were the enemy, were to be hated, and deserved to die.

It was a depressing program and at the end I feared that something similar could happen again as the convictions, fears and beliefs that caused this atrocity are out there. Of course, it has happened again in Bosnia and Rwanda just to name a few.

I turned the tape off and caught the end of a program which followed a chief in his village in Kenya who was visiting families with sick children. The children were ill with Malaria. A young boy of 6 was interviewed and then we were told 6 hours later he died. The funeral and the anguish and pain of the parents was raw and difficult to watch.

Are these 2 programs connected? I think in a way they are. They both moved me to tears. They both left the question “why?” They both engineered a sense of anger and injustice within me. They both caused a ‘we must not let this happen again’ mentality within me.

In a sense we cannot do anything about the past, apart from learn, but surely we can change the future. We can be history makers. WE can take the opportunities this year that there will be to campaign, to write, to fundraise so that we can start to eliminate poverty.

What is happening with this world? What is happening with our church? Children are dying because their parents can’t afford drugs which cost the price of a pint why we get our pants in a twist over Jerry Springer.

Evil happens when good people stand by and do nothing.

God does not need us to stand up and defend Him, but the poor, the sick, the needy, those without a voice … they do!