Lollypop

I must be in high dudgeon this morning (could be the result of some fruitless negotiating of the labyrinthine corridors of two government departments). The moment I saw today’s daily prompt “lollypop” I thought of those enormous “all day suckers” of my childhood. The double entendre does not escape me, nor does it with Stevie Wonder when he sings:

I’m an all day sucker
Coming to give something to get nothin’
I’m an all day sucker
Coming to give something but to get none of your love…

(Singalong if you are so inclined!)

Such melancholy thoughts are normally foreign to me. I love my work. I love my engagement with others. I love the healthy interchange of giving and receiving that is a constant part of my daily experience. I generally have an optimistic outlook.

I think I am reacting to an overarching idealistic zeitgeist to which western democracy seems to have succumbed. My recent encounters with the way public policy is being enacted at the coal-face have me in sympathy with those who claim the government is simply “playing us for suckers!”

Disastrous

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from Wikimedia Commons

There is small scale and big scale. When I look at my small scale disasters it seems precious and hyperbolic to name them as such. Burnt toast does not compare to the levelling of Aleppo, the world refugee crisis and famine in the Sudan. Why do we call our minor inconveniences “disastrous?” Is it because we find security in facing something that we can handle, a matter that will eventually pass, then we can return to our half-awake slumber?  That which is truly disastrous swamps and panics us, evoking the primitive fight or flight response that sophistication would rather ignore, explain away or, worse, victimise the sufferers. Look to the apocalypse within!
(This is in response to the WordPress daily prompt – I’m not really in meltdown!!!)

Soil

WordPress prompts me to write about “soil.” I referred to “soil” briefly on Sunday – how the parable of the sower is sometimes called the “parable of the soils” because the added explanation focuses on the productivity of the ground on which the seed falls. This, I argue, misses the whole point of the parable – the profligacy with which the sower sows the seed. The explanation as applied by some assumes an economy of scarcity – “don’t be like the foolish sower – plant only in the soil where the seed is likely to grow.” The parable itself assumes an economy of abundance – “Sling that seed everywhere and sit back and wonder at the yield.” I’ll stick by the parable!

Edible

main-qimg-703d3bde943f935e31c34f9bc0ddc2f3-cSticking with yesterday’s coffee theme, which is calling again as I contemplate an hour or two working into the evening, the daily prompt brings something to mind.
Some of the eco-friendly coffee haunts around here offer discounts to patrons who supply their own refillable mugs. I’m not a take-a-way fan myself; I like to stop and linger over a proper porcelain receptacle of brew. But I caught a glimpse of a clip of a barista flogging edible coffee cups! How bizarre is that?

Savor

The first thing I notice about the WordPress prompt for today is the missing “u.”  Right now I “savour” a cup of coffee I’ve been waiting to enjoy for some time during the last few hours of interruptions and minor dramas.  My American friends may or may not “savor” the powdered instant brew steaming before me right now. I don’t care. It’s wet. It’s hot. It’s got caffeine. And I’m savouring it! And I’ve just noticed that Grammarly is putting a red line under the spelling of “savor”. How immensely satisfying!

Coastal Hymn to Advent

wonderingpilgrim's avatarWembley Downs Church of Christ

Rosemary Booth, our Worship Convenor, was looking for a suitable hymn for Advent that reflected local context. Not being able to find one, she wrote the following to be sung to the tune of “There’s A Light Upon The Mountains” (Together in Song #276).

Reflecting the habitat of Perth’s coastal plains, it is free for use and adaptation:

Now the early morning sunlight shows the deep blue of the sea;
It’s inviting us to dip our toes or get wet to the knee.
But it’s not the cool breeze blowing that prevents our daily swim,
But the faint elusive sound of a profound and ancient hymn.

There’s a Christmas tree a-glowing near the track down to the sea,
And its burning golden bloom now shines with great intensity.
But it’s not the fiery branches nor the wind along the track,
But a song of hope and peace that tells that…

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Middle of Advent

wonderingpilgrim's avatarWembley Downs Church of Christ

How are you faring? Is Christmas yet intruding?  (The legendary 12 days commence on December 25th).

Advent is about preparation and anticipation. Juggling our busy timetables to accommodate “early Christmas” celebrations puts us between a rock and a hard place. Our collective psyche is responsive to the deep rhythms of preparatory and celebratory seasons. The weeks leading to the celebration of the Nativity of the Christ are meant to be times of reflection on past, present and future yearnings around the themes of hope, peace, joy and love.  In some traditions, fasting is even required. And then – Christmas! Feasting, laughing, celebration – that which is yearned for is now here! Snap bonbons! Drink toasts! Sing carols! Emmanuel! God is here!

In our muddled chaos, these things will bleed into the Advent season. Internally, however, we can maintain the rhythm.

Blessed Advent in preparation for a Blessed Christmas!

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Thoughts on Current Political Discourse

Today I am distracted by the Clinton/Trump debate. It’s running in the background while I attend to some other desk chores. Political discourse tends to glaze my eyes these days – we’ve had so much that is disappointing in our own wide brown land.

A lot of people here ask what business is it of any but U.S. citizens how they select their President. After all, we get cheesed off when visiting commentators presume to advise us and we’re likely to tell them to go and “dip their eye in fig jam!”

The world has a legitimate interest in US politics, however, as the USA sets so many global trends. Australia is inextricably linked to US policy through alliances, treaties, trade agreements and other deals. We host its military bases and have, at times, been nominated as its “deputy” in this corner of the globe.

So I guess there is an understandable concern about the outcome of the coming November elections.

Both leading candidates have had their flaws mercilessly exposed and so much seems to hinge on this initial debate, let alone the two follow-up sessions. Success, according to media, seems to be predicated on who avoids the most prominent stuff-up in their presentation.

Vision and inspired leadership seem to take a back step in all reported political discourse now and many politicians seem to pander to the media’s insatiable appetite for the sensational “grab” or the “gotcha” moment.

Lament, modelled on the Psalms, leads to a declaration of hope. So where can I finish? It’s with the awareness that not only those caught up in the political maelstrom seek to provide leadership in our communities.  There are many practical visionaries that strive against the odds of the powers and principalities that would rob us of the values of  compassion, faith and love – the qualities that make no sense in the economic rationalist ideology that has gripped most of our world’s parliaments and congresses. These holy visionaries continue to speak into the less-than-inspiring political discourse. Their sleeves are rolled up and the sweat on their brow testifies that they speak from knowledge and experience.

Long may they live and may the ears of many turn their way.

 

9 months!

9-monthsThat’s how long it has been since I’ve scrawled on this blog. Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter, have seen more regular utterances during this time. Why? Perhaps a bit more immediate. I am usually reacting to or commenting on a stimulus that appears on social media.

Blogging, for some unknown rationale in my mind, deserves more gravitas.

So what brings me here today? Thrift! I just paid some money to keep this domain registration open. But maybe it’s time to consider again how this page can be used.

“9 months!” – this suggests a period of gestation. So what is birthing in my pilgrimage at the moment? During this time I have announced my movement towards retirement from full-time church work. It is still 21 months until this comes into effect at the end of my current contract with the church that has been our life and community for the past twenty years.

Changes will be big – finding accommodation, a new community, and satisfying tasks. A long lead time is helping as we research what can be done with limited collateral and the need to be far enough away to avoid interference yet close enough to maintain important continuing relationships.  It is exciting and scary – as is the way with all our little deaths and rebirths.

So maybe this blog will become a place to reflect on the matters that arise during this transition period.

If this is not useful to the casual reader at least it will be helpful to me!