The Blurb: June 2008

Revival of the Student Working Party

Sunday 29 June 2008  4.48 pm

Past Community member Rach brought four friends.  Clare brought a friend.  Kez and I joined them, and the whole merry bunch of students and I turned up at Lee Abbey after walking through the Valley of Rocks on a beautifully sunny day and being absolutely blown away by the spectacular landscape (and the wind).

That was before the group met the other students on Lee Abbey's first "Student Working Party" in years, and got stuck into felling sycamore trees on the estate, toasting marshmallows on the beach, singing and inventing songs and generally having a great time.

At just £50 (subsidised by the Lee Abbey Friends), the price finally allowed a new type of guest to afford the Lee Abbey experience, and they went away buzzing.  Exhausted, but buzzing.  And the final memorable experience was packing onto the bus and train to get home!  Here's to the revival of Lee Abbey's long lost student clientele...

I loved being a guest too.  And the "Introduction to the Bible" cartoon presentation's debut on Tuesday was very successful.  Genesis to Revelation in 9 ... okay, 11 ... minutes.  Where will it go next, I wonder?

In other news: It hasn't been a slow news week.  My brother Sam's team came 5th out of 35 international teams in Ride the Lobster, an 800 km unicycle relay race in Nova Scotia, Canada, last week.  He also got a first in his degree, and we're all off to the graduation in sunny Aberystwyth on 18 July.  And Mum got a new job which means she and Dad are moving to Inverness in August!  More about that later.  Exciting times!
 
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A week in LA

Monday 23 June 2008  8.15 am

Today I return to Lee Abbey for a week as a guest - the first time I have been back there since I left Community on 3 March.  I'm not sure what it will feel like but I'm really looking forward to it, and to seeing all the friends that I am going with and will see there.  Not only that, but Tuesday night will see the debut of a brand new cartoon presentation entitled "An Introduction to the Bible"!  And the weather looks fabulous.

Oh, one more thing: there's no mobile signal or WiFi at Lee Abbey, so I'll cease to exist in communication terms until at least Friday evening, I'm afraid... :o)
 
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Scargill House to close

Saturday 21 June 2008  1.38 pm

This coaster is a souvenir of a place I have never visited.  Yet I still shed a tear when I heard that Scargill House in Yorkshire, a conference and retreat centre not unlike Lee Abbey in Devon, run by a Christian community, is to close on 20 July.  Started in the 1950s as the "Lee Abbey of the North", it's sad and even painful to see the contrast between the two now.

Although I've never been, my girlfriend Clare lived on community there for five years, so I'm hoping to visit in July and at least see the place for myself before it shuts its doors.

The news, though sudden, isn't surprising.  Scargill has been struggling for a while and guest numbers have been low.  I'm not going to speculate here about the reasons for its demise, though many have their opinions and could well be right.

But there's hope!  According to the Scargill official statement, the sale of the site will allow the setting up of a grant giving Foundation run by a ‘virtual’ community of members - and could signal a fresh start.  I pray that God will take this new shoot and bless it greatly.
 
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A striking protest

Tuesday 17 June 2008  11.09 pm

You might think that forecourts running dry up and down the country has something to do with indignance about the soaring price of petrol.  You'd be wrong.

In fact, as we all know, last weekend's fuel shortages (Bath's five stations all ran out) were not about that at all, but righteous anger by the drivers at their shockingly low rate of pay.  While the employer claimed that their offer amounted to £41,500 per year, the union had to put them right.  In fact, excluding overtime, they were offering just £36,000.

A paltry figure, isn't it, when compared to the £200 a year that three billion people each live on?

Apparently the workers have now come to a deal, so at least we can see an end to this silliness.
 
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Ride the Lobster

Sunday 15 June 2008  3.46 pm

My unicycling brother is at it again.  Not content with setting a Guinness World Record or designing the official logo for the 2010 Unicycling World Championships, he's now in Nova Scotia, Canada competing with an international four-man team in an 800 km unicycle relay race called Ride the Lobster.  Oh yes.

Sam's team, Team Smile (#78), includes an Australian, an American and two Brits.  The 800 km race is run over four days (plus a time trial day) from this Monday to Friday.  If they win, it might just cover the air fare to Canada.  Even if they don't, it's got to be still worth doing.  What an adventure!  All the best to him and his team.

Click here to follow Team Smile's progress by GPS...
 
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All set for the festive season

Thursday 12 June 2008  9.33 am

Less than 200 days till Christmas, folks!  I know you think the summer is just beginning, and I know the weather this week in Bath has been gloriously warm and sunny, but it's worth thinking ahead about these things.

Just yesterday, Clare and I were in this shop in Bath: the only year-round Christmas emporium I've seen anywhere.  The friendly shopkeeper tells me he does quite a good trade actually, even on nice June days.  And he has to keep smiling for all the people who want to take pictures of his shop.  Actually, the decorations and things he sells look really good, so I thought I'd give him some free advertising too.

So if you need a glass tree angel or bauble in June, you know where to go.
 
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Barack Obama: a man after God's own heart?

Wednesday 4 June 2008  10.12 pm

His grandmother lives in a remote Kenyan village without running water - and now her grandson is one step (albeit a big one) away from being President of the most powerful nation on Earth.  He has a lot of popular support, and is not from the elite group that has dominated Washington for decades.  Even his fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton was part of that clique.

Barack Obama talks about change, and to be honest, he feels like a breath of fresh air.  Veteran John McCain supports the Iraq war, and American prosperity and pride; Barack advocates diplomacy and a slightly humbler understanding of other countries.  McCain appeals to traditionalists, while Obama has inspired young people to take an interest in politics.  He's aware of how climate change affects his own family in Africa.  He has an alluring integrity, while McCain's smooth voice and cheesy grin remind me of the slippery businessmen in the Simpsons.  And to top it all off, Obama has a much slicker and prettier website than McCain.

Okay - unlike me, God isn't too concerned about the website, or the grin.

I think God is more concerned with peace and justice than prosperity and pride, which is why Obama feels to me like someone after God's heart.  He says he's a Christian, but he has atheist and Muslim backgrounds.  Far from worrying me, that experience suggests that he might be rather good at bringing people together, and it gives me great hope to see him this week promise an end to "the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon".

I don't agree with all of Obama's policies.  John McCain has some good plans too.  I don't believe that God agrees with everything either candidate says either, and I know that many Christians will hold well-reasoned views opposite to mine.  However...

Does God have a preferred candidate?  I humbly suggest that he might have.  Will he work a miracle and rig the election?  I doubt it - he's given humans free will, and he didn't stop Old Testament Israel choosing many wayward leaders.  But could he, with our prayers, be working in the hearts and minds of the American people to help them see his priorities?  Yes, he could.

Let's not pray for Barack Obama to win in November (I could be wrong, after all).  Let's pray that, American or otherwise, we will all understand more of God's heart.  It's up to us then to follow that heart when we vote, whether in the US election or our own in 2010.  That way, God's will will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.
 
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