cries of the beggar

from sundays gospel reading Mark 10:46-52 ...

When mercy is absent…

Cry out

When hope of redemption is criticised…

Cry out

When silence is used to smother…

Cry out

When doubtful faith is all you can muster…

Cry out

Cry out! Cry out…

but to love

i wrote this a while back, and went looking for it today, i thought i posted it on here but perhaps not... and so i don't loose it again - here it is...

God is Love - Love is God.
personification disappears,
a peaceful ethic appears,…
I sit in the source of life
and hope but to love

a glimpse of beauty

sometimes people reveal hidden talents. sometimes they're hidden, sometimes most of us are just to busy to see, or ask... yet there they are. diligently creating sheer masterpiece after masterpiece...

i had the complete joy of receiving a piece of poetry from a young woman i know from the uni today. when something like this comes by I have to simply marvel, it articulates the human condition so profoundly - thanks meegs!

A morning mark...

I left a morning mark on the pavement of today
cold was the brush but warmed up to my mood
impulses rise up and hinder my way
Making me stop
stand still
and express

if I carried dignity with as much success
as I carry my burdens of baggage
(you know the kind)
I wonder if things might be made a little easier on me
but the concierge in me won’t comply
..he’s strengthened by a heavy load
(more so by a heavy wallet)
and I give him larger tips these days…
he drains from my supply
And if only I could dump this load of mine
But I’d forget who I’ve been
The concierge would die
And I’d have no answers for my future ‘whys’
With no history, of what would I comprise?

Megan Graham

the nosh

hanging out with good people for a few days of straight unadulterated conversation; brain picking; relaxing; worshiping; eating, drinking, and pure inspiration cannot be beaten as far as i'm concerned. thankfully i've just had 3 days of it! It could of been longer, i could have learnt more, been inspired more, thought more, talked more - and of course ate and drank more, but for now i've had my fill, and it was great.

One of the ideas that Steve Collins has been playing around with is the Urban Quarter. That is redefining where/what the church is in terms of its geographic proximity... suddenly i now see wollongong from above, birds eye view style, tracing my regular steps around this city, noting the places i hang regularly and the people i see (regularly or not) there. i need to do some work on this stuff because it is simply sensational!

many thanks to cheryl lawrie for the amazing amount of work and visioning she put into the event! i admire cheryl's courage to ask the difficult questions and try the stuff that most of us don't think of because we're to comfy with our little worlds/lives to explore it...

a week away - part 2 - understanding

A notion that kept recurring during my time in Perth is as much a ‘spiritual truth’ as anything I would wish to name as such. Sitting with hopes and stories of non-violence from Northern Ireland; the Muslim world; inter-faith discussions; the Western triumphalism existing under the guise of ‘security’; and of course the cultural tribalism of rival football teams, raised questions of tolerance, listening and understanding.

Yet the one point that kept crashing at my consciousness was the notion that dialogue, understanding, and listening cannot/should not be entered into if the hope is to change the other parties persuasion. Secretly, I suspect that much of our hope (or maybe its been mine!) in ‘listening’ is based on the premise that our or my truth will win out. That through understanding, patience, compassion and empathy my truth will prevail. I suppose this is as much implicit as explicit. Yet, the spiritual ‘truth’ that prevailed over this week is that an ideology, theology or rhetoric however fundamentalist, oppressive or abusive, is not mine to challenge or change through the guise of listening. Yet dialogue, conversation and listening is a process for my own change and transformation. I suppose I can but only seek to further understand another’s position, and therefore perhaps come to identify with journey that brought them there. Its not an approach that condemns those whose behaviour I don’t like, but much more costly – an approach that requires me to try to understand why they may have come to where they are, without agenda or pretence …

hmmm ouch!

a week away & loads to process - Part 1 - Swannies!

I spent sometime walking around Perth last week. It was a great experience – partly because it’s a wonderfully beautiful city and partly because I spent a good time of it wearing Swans paraphernalia as I emersed myself in this new environment. I wandered the streets, cafes’ shops and parks of Fremantle just five days after Sydney had squashed their Grand final hopes and aspirations proudly displaying the swans crest on my bright red cap. I journeyed through the CBD and shopping precinct of Perth, into two pubs and a restaurant on the Friday afternoon/evening, my Swans Guernsey a red beacon (of hope) amidst the sea of yellow and blue. I’d never been the recipient of so much attention before. Curious, stunned, bemused, competitive, antagonistic, respectful… such were the gazes and comments I interpreted.

What amazed me the most though was the ongoing recognition of my courage.

“You’re brave mate”; “it takes a brave man to wear that around here” , and "Gee you’re brave, watch out you might get stabbed”, and the like were echoed over and over as I passed through the mall, pubs and restaurant. All in all, I was awarded with accolades of bravery from the Perth public about 20 times. I received jeers and Carrn the Swannies as generously.

I suppose the fundamental question is why – why’d I do that? Why did I put myself in such a situation? For the attention? For the entertainment? To try to antagonise? To be parochial? Or, because it’s the ‘done’ thing?

More later…