(no subject)
Was it one of you who reccommended Tania French's The Secret Place to me?
I honestly can't remember but I've just lost half an evening to it and I'm not even quite half way through which is strange because I spent the first two chapters wondering why on earth it was on my to read pile!
Realistically I'm very much in a mood to disappear into fiction at the moment. I just finished reading Vita Sackville-West's All Passion Spent and wanting to move into the main character's beautifully described house (and then wondering whether it was time for an Orlando reread because I've learned so much more about Vita since I read it last time and as she's supposedly the inspiration maybe it would be interesting)
FYI I am mostly writing about fiction in this post because I've discovered writing about my actual life makes me clam up. I have a half (quarter) written post about my birthday weekend that's been sitting there for a fortnight let alone our holiday in Venice or this weekend with all the Alban Pilgrimage celebrations. I don't think I believe in my own life at the moment? Which is kind of weird but there it is.
Thankfully this week is bringing new Harry Potter canon so that should be thoroughly distracting one way or another!
In non-fictional news I heard three very different but equally amazing sermons this weekend.
Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool, preached about the need for vulnerability in our faith- that Alban put himself at great risk in opening the door to a fugitive priest long before he saw the priest's faithfulness and prayer. In the wake of all the terrible news recently the idea of God being there in our weakness long before we see Him felt very right. It also felt wonderful to hear someone from the Evangelical tradition who has recently written eloquently about the struggle of the LGBT community and how his opinions have been changed by truly listening.
Then Steven Chalke preached a very passionate sermon about the difference between a dream and a vision. It felt strange, I'm not used to the Baptist style of preaching, but despite the fact that I was exhausted by the time he was speaking I didn't miss a word. Dreams happen when we are asleep, visions when we are awake and they call us to immediate action.
And then, on Sunday, the Bishop of Linköping, Martin Modéus, preached on John 12:24-26 and how easy it is to become self conscious and even self obsessed when we think about what we would lose to win and how the vital thing is to not let ourselves fall into the trap of circling around our own pride and hope and awareness of sin but to step outside that and learn to look away from ourselves and to look to God instead.
So I have three lessons from this weekend to try and put into practice.
1) Allow myself to be vulnerable and to put myself in situations where I feel scared or out of my depth.
2) To ensure I have visions which I act to bring into reality not dreams which keep me asleep.
3) To look outside myself and not become distracted with my own inner world in all it's circular conversations.
So a tiny bit challenging there I guess? But I'm posting rather than convincing myself anything I have to say is old news and I came out to someone I've been slightly avoiding the conversation with so... yes. We'll see what we can do.
(and omg Cursed Child THIS WEEK how is that even real?)
I honestly can't remember but I've just lost half an evening to it and I'm not even quite half way through which is strange because I spent the first two chapters wondering why on earth it was on my to read pile!
Realistically I'm very much in a mood to disappear into fiction at the moment. I just finished reading Vita Sackville-West's All Passion Spent and wanting to move into the main character's beautifully described house (and then wondering whether it was time for an Orlando reread because I've learned so much more about Vita since I read it last time and as she's supposedly the inspiration maybe it would be interesting)
FYI I am mostly writing about fiction in this post because I've discovered writing about my actual life makes me clam up. I have a half (quarter) written post about my birthday weekend that's been sitting there for a fortnight let alone our holiday in Venice or this weekend with all the Alban Pilgrimage celebrations. I don't think I believe in my own life at the moment? Which is kind of weird but there it is.
Thankfully this week is bringing new Harry Potter canon so that should be thoroughly distracting one way or another!
In non-fictional news I heard three very different but equally amazing sermons this weekend.
Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool, preached about the need for vulnerability in our faith- that Alban put himself at great risk in opening the door to a fugitive priest long before he saw the priest's faithfulness and prayer. In the wake of all the terrible news recently the idea of God being there in our weakness long before we see Him felt very right. It also felt wonderful to hear someone from the Evangelical tradition who has recently written eloquently about the struggle of the LGBT community and how his opinions have been changed by truly listening.
Then Steven Chalke preached a very passionate sermon about the difference between a dream and a vision. It felt strange, I'm not used to the Baptist style of preaching, but despite the fact that I was exhausted by the time he was speaking I didn't miss a word. Dreams happen when we are asleep, visions when we are awake and they call us to immediate action.
And then, on Sunday, the Bishop of Linköping, Martin Modéus, preached on John 12:24-26 and how easy it is to become self conscious and even self obsessed when we think about what we would lose to win and how the vital thing is to not let ourselves fall into the trap of circling around our own pride and hope and awareness of sin but to step outside that and learn to look away from ourselves and to look to God instead.
So I have three lessons from this weekend to try and put into practice.
1) Allow myself to be vulnerable and to put myself in situations where I feel scared or out of my depth.
2) To ensure I have visions which I act to bring into reality not dreams which keep me asleep.
3) To look outside myself and not become distracted with my own inner world in all it's circular conversations.
So a tiny bit challenging there I guess? But I'm posting rather than convincing myself anything I have to say is old news and I came out to someone I've been slightly avoiding the conversation with so... yes. We'll see what we can do.
(and omg Cursed Child THIS WEEK how is that even real?)