Alleluia to you O risen Lord, the God who forgave our sin in the name of your Son Jesus. We come into your presence and pray O Lord that you would meet with us as you met with the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
As we meet today we seek your blessing on our time of worship, and pray a blessing on our brother/sister N.... as they bring your word to us.
Enable them to speak to us and enable us listen in the power of your Holy Spirit. We bring our prayer in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Bigger Brother
I must offer my apologies for not attributing the post last night to myself and the confusion and heart felt hurt it has caused for FP. I never wished to associate a man of his learned stature with such a trivial concern as Big Brother. It did however raise an even more interesting point, FP in the Big Brother house, what a thought! I feel a petition coming on......
Son of the Prophet
Son of the Prophet
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Big Brother!!!!
Ok, lets get the obvious things out of the way. I know most people who are likely to read this will probably have caught about 5 minutes of Big Brother in the entirety of their lives and dismissed it as total twaddle. In many respects I would be inclined to agree but I have to say that the first couple of series were actually quite interesting to me.
I was originally attracted by the microcosm of society that Big Brother creates and found the ways people worked at relationships with people who they normally wouldn't have given the time of day to quite interesting. It was interesting to watch how people basically rallied round to boost each other in the common goal of making "living" together a more bearable experience. Friendships were forged and if not, tolerances and coping strategies were formed in order for people to get along. I think some people even might have learnt a thing or two about themselves or others while they were in there.
So, Fast forward 7 or 8 years from the original series to tonight. I must admit I have only caught a couple of the episodes of this series so far and tonight was probably the first one I had actually given my full attention to instead of reading and watching at the same time as I often do. I was left angry and very very disappointed by watching this episode.
I'll give you a brief overview of the episode to put things in "perspective". Try not to laugh.
One of the house mates had attempted to cook oven chips. She had burnt them. Another house mate, who is very very vocal took exception to this, and made her exception well known at the table. One of the other house mates is a chef. A conversation followed the meal, in the presence of the house mate who burnt the chips, about how rubbish the meal was and how people should not try to do things they are not capable of. The vocal house mate basically said you're rubbish, don't bother, let the chef do all the cooking. Another house mate jumped to the defence of the "burnt chips" house mate and said that "vocal" house mate was being out of order. She was basically told to shut up and not get involved in a conversation that didn't concern her. Another house mate came to the original "rescuers" rescue. She ended up being called "simple" by "vocal" house mate. End result, a big fat argument about burnt oven chips that was orchestrated and fuelled to the point of Bullying (a personal opinion) by "vocal" house mate.
Now its not like me to take offence at people but quite frankly I feel I have no choice. The "vocal" house mate was totally and completely out of order. She was aggressive, hypocritical, rude and derogatory. She called people simple, told them to remember "she told them", that the other house mates would "never be ready" (She did not say what they would not be ready for but reading between the lines of her argument I think she was insinuating that they would never be ready to argue with her) and likened at least two of her fellow house mates to a person who would have male genitals attached to their foreheads. She ridiculed others for "telling" her things as she would never "be Told" but then proceeded to put her opinion forward as fact. Two of the other girls in the house were obviously totally shocked by the outburst and are simply not accustomed to the sort of tirade they received.
If I go back to my original point and we assume that the house is in many ways a microcosm of society I feel very sorry for the country in which we live. All I have seen on the show so far is back biting, arguing and a total lack of respect for anyone's views that differ from the protagonists at that particular time. There is no acceptance, compromise or even sensible discourse. It is a sham that highlights how self centred and egotistical people are becoming and how any difference whether cultural, racial, religious, social, economical etc etc can be used as a weapon to unleash a tirade of expletives and abuse.
If anyone needs a sign that our country is crying out for a mighty revival then watch Big Brother.
It will leave you in a touch of an emotional quandary:
Should you feel sorry for the people on the show who are so miserable that they have to live their lives in this way in order for them to feel good about themselves and dominant over others
or
happy that we don't have to partake in such pithy concerns as we know we have the real "BIG GOD" watching us all the time.
I''m going to apply for the next show. I'd love to stand strong in my faith in the face of such adversity and complete ignorance and actually put forward a coherent argument to what is basically idiocy, bullying and hypocrisy. Somehow though, I don't think I'd pull in the ratings.
I was originally attracted by the microcosm of society that Big Brother creates and found the ways people worked at relationships with people who they normally wouldn't have given the time of day to quite interesting. It was interesting to watch how people basically rallied round to boost each other in the common goal of making "living" together a more bearable experience. Friendships were forged and if not, tolerances and coping strategies were formed in order for people to get along. I think some people even might have learnt a thing or two about themselves or others while they were in there.
So, Fast forward 7 or 8 years from the original series to tonight. I must admit I have only caught a couple of the episodes of this series so far and tonight was probably the first one I had actually given my full attention to instead of reading and watching at the same time as I often do. I was left angry and very very disappointed by watching this episode.
I'll give you a brief overview of the episode to put things in "perspective". Try not to laugh.
One of the house mates had attempted to cook oven chips. She had burnt them. Another house mate, who is very very vocal took exception to this, and made her exception well known at the table. One of the other house mates is a chef. A conversation followed the meal, in the presence of the house mate who burnt the chips, about how rubbish the meal was and how people should not try to do things they are not capable of. The vocal house mate basically said you're rubbish, don't bother, let the chef do all the cooking. Another house mate jumped to the defence of the "burnt chips" house mate and said that "vocal" house mate was being out of order. She was basically told to shut up and not get involved in a conversation that didn't concern her. Another house mate came to the original "rescuers" rescue. She ended up being called "simple" by "vocal" house mate. End result, a big fat argument about burnt oven chips that was orchestrated and fuelled to the point of Bullying (a personal opinion) by "vocal" house mate.
Now its not like me to take offence at people but quite frankly I feel I have no choice. The "vocal" house mate was totally and completely out of order. She was aggressive, hypocritical, rude and derogatory. She called people simple, told them to remember "she told them", that the other house mates would "never be ready" (She did not say what they would not be ready for but reading between the lines of her argument I think she was insinuating that they would never be ready to argue with her) and likened at least two of her fellow house mates to a person who would have male genitals attached to their foreheads. She ridiculed others for "telling" her things as she would never "be Told" but then proceeded to put her opinion forward as fact. Two of the other girls in the house were obviously totally shocked by the outburst and are simply not accustomed to the sort of tirade they received.
If I go back to my original point and we assume that the house is in many ways a microcosm of society I feel very sorry for the country in which we live. All I have seen on the show so far is back biting, arguing and a total lack of respect for anyone's views that differ from the protagonists at that particular time. There is no acceptance, compromise or even sensible discourse. It is a sham that highlights how self centred and egotistical people are becoming and how any difference whether cultural, racial, religious, social, economical etc etc can be used as a weapon to unleash a tirade of expletives and abuse.
If anyone needs a sign that our country is crying out for a mighty revival then watch Big Brother.
It will leave you in a touch of an emotional quandary:
Should you feel sorry for the people on the show who are so miserable that they have to live their lives in this way in order for them to feel good about themselves and dominant over others
or
happy that we don't have to partake in such pithy concerns as we know we have the real "BIG GOD" watching us all the time.
I''m going to apply for the next show. I'd love to stand strong in my faith in the face of such adversity and complete ignorance and actually put forward a coherent argument to what is basically idiocy, bullying and hypocrisy. Somehow though, I don't think I'd pull in the ratings.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Vestry Prayer Ordinary 10, Proper 5
Sorry this is a little late - been one of those weeks.
Merciful God, who brings forth life from death, we bring our adoration and praise to you today. We are reminded of the woman who having been ill for many years touched the hem of your garment and was made whole. We pray that like her,as we gather this morning/evening we too will be able to touch the hem of your garment.
Be with N.... and bless them as they lead our time of worship and break open the scriptures to us.
We ask all these things in the name that is above every name, at which, every knee shall bow.
Amen
Merciful God, who brings forth life from death, we bring our adoration and praise to you today. We are reminded of the woman who having been ill for many years touched the hem of your garment and was made whole. We pray that like her,as we gather this morning/evening we too will be able to touch the hem of your garment.
Be with N.... and bless them as they lead our time of worship and break open the scriptures to us.
We ask all these things in the name that is above every name, at which, every knee shall bow.
Amen
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Recycle, Recycle, Recycle!
I was reading something yesterday about supermarkets preparing to do away with their free carriers and part of me says great - If only I could remember to take the shopping bags with me when I go shopping - and it got me thinking about recycling.
I do think this is an important thing that we should really all be doing our best to do without the need for the government to fit spy cameras in our bins and make households appoint a 'responsible person' to look after the household waste (and I presume stand guard over the bin 24/7 to make sure nobody else puts their rubbish in your bin).
The thing that gets me is the apparent lack of commitment at times by the local authorities to the actual collection of recyclable items. In our area we have recycling bins but can only put newspapers, glass and cans into the bin - they have to be put in in a particular way or the jobsworths on the round will not take the box away. The other week I put my box out with some papers, some bottles and some cans in and it didn't get taken. The next day at work I met a man who works on the local authority section that deals with this so I asked him why my box might not have been taken - his response was to ask if I had packed it properly. I explained the set up in the box as best I could remember and he told that the problem was with how I had filled it. He suggested I look at the councils website where there are instructions on how to pack your box correctly - my mistake was I had not stood the cans up in the box!On a previous occasion I had put my box out and put the cans in a carrier on the top of the box - didn't get taken again and when I asked the chap about this he said everything has to be in the box loose so the operatives can see if there is anything that might injure them - I did say wasn't there a risk in emptying the box when items were loose and he said no because they can clearly see what is there - by now I am losing the will to live let alone recycle.
He then went on to tell me we will be having new bins soon where everything will just go into the one bin and will be sorted back at the depot - seems counter productive to me but hey what do I know.
I just hope the new bins will be able to take plastic bottles and card as we alwasy seem to have a lot of these each month to dispose of and I am sure that both are recyclable.
Anyway time I was getting ready for work and thanks to the Bishop of Stafford for starting me off.
I do think this is an important thing that we should really all be doing our best to do without the need for the government to fit spy cameras in our bins and make households appoint a 'responsible person' to look after the household waste (and I presume stand guard over the bin 24/7 to make sure nobody else puts their rubbish in your bin).
The thing that gets me is the apparent lack of commitment at times by the local authorities to the actual collection of recyclable items. In our area we have recycling bins but can only put newspapers, glass and cans into the bin - they have to be put in in a particular way or the jobsworths on the round will not take the box away. The other week I put my box out with some papers, some bottles and some cans in and it didn't get taken. The next day at work I met a man who works on the local authority section that deals with this so I asked him why my box might not have been taken - his response was to ask if I had packed it properly. I explained the set up in the box as best I could remember and he told that the problem was with how I had filled it. He suggested I look at the councils website where there are instructions on how to pack your box correctly - my mistake was I had not stood the cans up in the box!On a previous occasion I had put my box out and put the cans in a carrier on the top of the box - didn't get taken again and when I asked the chap about this he said everything has to be in the box loose so the operatives can see if there is anything that might injure them - I did say wasn't there a risk in emptying the box when items were loose and he said no because they can clearly see what is there - by now I am losing the will to live let alone recycle.
He then went on to tell me we will be having new bins soon where everything will just go into the one bin and will be sorted back at the depot - seems counter productive to me but hey what do I know.
I just hope the new bins will be able to take plastic bottles and card as we alwasy seem to have a lot of these each month to dispose of and I am sure that both are recyclable.
Anyway time I was getting ready for work and thanks to the Bishop of Stafford for starting me off.
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Son of the prophet
Son of the prophet has not posted for a while and in case any of you were wondering what had happened to him I just thought I should let you know that he has started a new job about three weeks ago so has not had quite so much time on his hands.There has also been a problem with the lap top which he uses because the power adaptor had packed up - we do have a new one so who knows he may post again soon.
I suppose it might be said he did enough in the posts he made to last for a while especially when you look around and see that some blogs haven't had a new post for months.
I suppose it might be said he did enough in the posts he made to last for a while especially when you look around and see that some blogs haven't had a new post for months.
New blogger!
I have just visited a new blog thanks to doorman priest who pointed me in the right direction. There is an interesting post about prayer and the struggles that we sometimes have in respect of praying.
Have a look at http://gettingtherein my own time.blogspot.com
Have a look at http://gettingtherein my own time.blogspot.com
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