Prayer

Tertiaries seek to live in an atmosphere of praise and prayer. We aim to be constantly aware of God’s presence, so that we may indeed pray without ceasing. Our ever deepening devotion to the indwelling Christ is a source of strength and joy. It is Christ’s love that inspires us to service, and strengthens us for sacrifice.

Study

As well as the devotional study of Scripture, we all recognize our Christian responsibility to pursue other branches of study, both sacred and secular. In particular, some of us accept the duty of contributing, through research and writing, to a better understanding of the church’s mission in the world: the application of Christian principles to the use and distribution of wealth; questions concerning justice and peace; and of all other questions concerning the life of faith.

Work

Tertiaries endeavor to serve others in active work. We try to find expression for each of the three aims of the Order in our lives, and whenever possible actively help others who are engaged in similar work. The chief form of service which we have to offer is to reflect the love of Christ, who, in his beauty and power, is the inspiration and joy of our lives.

Now I’m a great one for To-do lists and I would go as far as saying I find it very difficult to function without one to keep me on track, so this morning I decided that I would reorganise my list under the above heading.  Oh dear, it seems as if WORK has taken over!

Further reflection lead me to conclude that things were not as bad as I first thought, I did pray and I did study, and although the balance would still be in favour of work if I included these things on my list, the fact that they were not there and not prioritised with the rest of the stuff seems to be saying I am not giving them their due. It seems that prayer and study have been relegated to those things I fit in when the rest of the list is neatly ticked off.

So time to overhaul the list and put in and prioritise those things that should be there.

I suspect I am not alone.

I just goes to show that we never know how the things we do and say today will impact on the future. It does not matter what station we have in life, we all have our role to play in God’s economy.

I’ll let Brian speak: -

I left school when I was  fifteen, and when I was fourteen there was this very wonderful teacher who covered his classroom in maps, and he always said when he retired from school, he would go to certain places on these maps. This poem is called “The Geography Lesson.”

Our teacher told us one day he would leave
And sail across a warm blue sea
To places he had only known from maps,
And all his life had longed to be.

The house he lived in was narrow and grey
But in his mind`s eye he could see
Sweet-scented jasmine clinging to the walls,
And green leaves burning on an orange tree.

He spoke of the lands he longed to visit,
Where it was never drab or cold.
I couldn`t understand why he never left,
And shook off the school`s stranglehold.

Then halfway through his final term
He took ill and never returned.
He never got to that place on the map
Where the green leaves of the orange trees burned.

The maps were redrawn on the classroom wall;
His name forgotten, he faded away.
But a lesson he never knew he taught
Is with me to this day.

I travel to where the green leaves burn,
To where the ocean`s glass-clear and blue,
To places our teacher taught me to love-
And which he never knew.

Brian Patten

Site of our old School. Only the trees remain.

View Larger Map

Brian Patten

On Sunday just past I returned to my old childhood stomping ground. I am Chaplain to the Picton Scout Association and it was the annual parade for St. George. Inevitably, I met up with some people from my past and we spent a little time reminiscing about our time both in the Scouts and our old school. 

I was one of those people who never did any good in exams (especially the 11 plus) and so ended up at a Secondary Modern School. It was the best thing to happen to me because there I came under the influence of my English teacher, Mr.Sutcliffe.

Harry (Eric) was a larger than life character who gave to me a love of books and a love of music, both which are with me to this day. Even more important, he helped me to develop an enquiring mind and the sense that life was an adventure provided you were prepared to take risks. All of this seems a million miles away from the modern trend to wrap children in cotton wool.

Everyone seemed to love ‘Sooty’, as he was called. When a retirement  reunion was held ex-pupils travelled from all over the UK  just to attend.

One of  Sooty’s pupils was the Liverpool Poet, Brian Patten, who was a year ahead of me. I’m sure Brian would be the first to admit that his love of writing could be traced back to those days in Mr. Sutcliffe’s class.

When he was about to leave school at 15 there was a visit from the Careers Service. It seems that each boy got a good couple of minutes to discuss their future. Brian said he wanted to be a writer. “You can’t do that”, said the advisor, “You have not got any exams.” Well Brian went on to be a Journalist and later a poet, but the experience of those few minutes stayed with him and prompted him to write this poem. It is particularly apt as we enter the exam season.

When I was a child I sat an exam.
The test was so simple
There was no way I could fail.

Q1. Describe the taste of the moon.

It tastes like Creation I wrote,
it has the flavour of starlight.

Q2. What colour is Love?

Love is the colour of the water a man
lost in the desert finds, I wrote.

Q3. Why do snowflakes melt?

I wrote, they melt because they fall
onto the warm tongue of God.

There were other questions.
They were as simple.

I described the grief of Adam when he was expelled from Eden.
I wrote down the exact weight of an elephant’s dream.

Yet today, many years later,
For my living I sweep the streets
or clean out the toilets of the fat hotels.

Why? Because I constantly failed my exams.
Why? Well, let me set a test.
Q1. How large is a child’s imagination?
Q2. How shallow is the soul of the Minister for Exams?

Please read and check out the links

Dave

Have you seen the footage of the Metropolitan police tactics during the G20 demonstrations? The police used excessive force on the thousands of peaceful demonstrators instead of isolating a handful of troublemakers. One instance in particular quite possibly led to the death of innocent bystander Ian Tomlinson. 

Flawed police tactics are an attack on our democratic right to peaceful protest. Join the public outcry across Britain, urging the government to fix rules governing the policing of protests:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/fix_british_protest_policing/97.php?CLICK_TF_TRACK

You can read more below.

Thanks!

———————————–
Peaceful protests can change the world. Last week’s G20 summit wouldn’t have taken the decisions it did without the non-violent pressure hundreds of thousands of citizens brought to bear — like our peaceful march with thousands of green hard hats the weekend before the G20.[1]

The protests in the City of London immediately before the summit were rowdier than our own, but still overwhelmingly peaceful despite media hysteria, aggressive policing and a handful of troublemakers. Tragically, one man died that day — bystander and newspaper-seller Ian Tomlinson. Now video footage shows that he was struck down by a masked, baton-wielding policeman.[2]

We’ve worked with the police on our own public demonstrations, and they play an essential role in making peaceful protest possible. But not for the first time, the police lost their way at these City protests — using excessive force, starting to criminalise the peaceful majority and creating pressure-cooker confrontations instead of defusing them. Enough is enough — the British tradition of peaceful public protest is too important to lose. Follow this link to watch the video and sign the emergency petition to fix British policing of demonstrations — we’ll deliver it directly to the Home Secretary, Parliament and the Metropolitan Police:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/fix_british_protest_policing

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is now investigating Ian Tomlinson’s death minutes after he was struck down — but he was far from the only innocent person injured by violent police tactics on April 1st, as a growing flood of dependable eyewitnesses’ testimonies and videos have begun to reveal.[3] This is not an isolated incident. It points to wider failings in the policing of demonstrations in the UK in recent years.

The policy of “kettling” (penning in people including bystanders, families and those who want to move on, often for ten hours or more) seems to create a pressure-cooker atmosphere of frustration and confrontation. Instead of isolating and removing the handful of troublemakers who wrecked the Royal Bank of Scotland branch, the police responded by cracking down on the peaceful majority, confining them, forcing them to give personal information, and charging them with batons and dogs. This cannot be right.

The separate and wholly-peaceful “climate camp” on Bishopsgate was subject to similar imprisonment and baton-charges. Initial police statements about these events have often turned out to be misleading. As well as constraining rights of assembly, new laws now supposedly prohibit taking the very photos and videos of police officers which have begun to reveal the truth of these events.

We can’t let this slide toward unaccountability continue. Many of those policing this demonstration wore balaclavas or took their identification numbers off. By telling the media before the protests that they were “up for it” if violence ensued, commanding officers were whipping up dangerous hysteria. As Andy Hayman, the former Assistant Commissioner of the Met wrote yesterday: “If left unchecked, we have a more violent crowd in uniform than the crowd demonstrating.”

This is ultimately a question of government policy and accountability — so we’ll deliver the petition to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and the Home Affairs Committee of Parliament as well as the Metropolitan Police, and alert the media to raise wider awareness of this effort.

After Ian Tomlinson’s death, it’s time to fix the policing of demonstrations in Britain. Sign the emergency petition at the link below, and share this message with friends, family and colleagues:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/fix_british_protest_policing

With hope and determination,

Paul, Alice, Iain and the whole Avaaz team

Sources:

[1] Avaaz Flickr photos from London G20 demonstration:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/avaaz/sets/72157615805537381/

[2] The Guardian — “New video footage from G20 protests gives fresh angle on attack”:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/08/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinson-video

[3] Chris Abbott, Open Democracy — “Trapped and beaten by police in Climate Camp”:
http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/ourkingdom-theme/ourkingdom/2009/04/09/trapped-and-beaten-by-police-in-climate-camp

Inspirational Fiction or God's Word

It was our Church Organist, Phil, which first brought this to my attention, so while I was out shopping with my Grandson, I thought I would take a picture. It was taken in Borders, Speke Retail Park today (16th Feb)

Now I know peoples’  thoughts about the Holy Bible differ, but to class the book as ‘Inspirational Fiction’ seems to me to be taking things too far. Inspirational yes: but fiction?

To be generous, some passages in the Bible may well have a fictional element, but there are many more containing documented history; others are books of law – is that fiction?  Much of the New Testament contains letters – how can they be classed as fiction? – I could go on but I have no intention of  getting into debate about the nature of Holy Scripture.

I also noted that the sacred texts from other major world religions were not to be found alongside the Christian  Bible and I am sure if they did there would be a public outcry. “And there, as Shakespeare would say, tis the rub.” Is Borders’ attitude simply a reflection of our own attitude to our scripture?

I thought I would email Borders a copy of this to see what they say: I’ll let folk know what transpires. If anyone feels the same then I have included their office address and an email link below.

Stillerman House
120 Charing Cross Road
London

WC2H 0JR

customerservice@mail2.borders.co.uk

One last thing: Borders, if you are going to file by author make sure it is listed under G for God,Y for Yahweh or J for Jehovah. No forget that, there is a lot more names I can think of. Just file it under Holy Bible – now that seems  a logical place for people to look.

Update

Well, after more than a month there has been no reply to my email. Well, that is not quite true. Borders have decided to subscribe me to their Newsletter with lots of goodies for Mothers’ Day.

At least my Outlook  marked it as Spam!

All this got me thinking about how we communicate the Gospel. Since the days of the first Christians the two pillars of preaching and the written word have dominated. In all honesty, the Internet is just an extension of the latter. It is the written word in electronic form. Yes, we can make it more exciting by adding pictures, video and sound files, but it still has its basis in writing and the ability of the viewer to read.

That is why I was interested in our Reader training last Sunday. The theme was around presenting the Gospel to those who, cannot or do not read. The speaker was our local project worker for an organisation called Unlock. I don’t think our Readers quite expected what was to happen when they were sent off to do all sorts of practical tasks rather than just sitting and listening. Judging by the Feedback forms they were more than happy and not a bit challenged.

With literacy levels in some Inner Cities quite low, it is essential that we find new ways of communicating. Unlock has some great ideas and so I am happy to link to their website where their is more information and  some great stories.

I trust that all of us who attended the meeting learned, in the words of the cartoon, to trickle more

Unlock Website