Green Patches

PG - Parental Guidance

You know that old saying - "Never work with animals or children?" After today I'm tempted to coin another one - "or with parents!" When our two were younger, we used to joke that the PG parental guidance ratings on films referred to those where watching with Mum and Dad was liable to cause terminal embarrassment to offspring as well as untold trauma to easily shockable parents. 

Echoes of that came back to me today as we listened to adult offspring and friend's first go at student radio. They have a regular, weekly slot and this was their first broadcast. 

Help - I was more nervous than they were...Far more! 

Mercifully (for me, that is!), I'm quite often otherwise engaged with churchy stuff on a Friday afternoon.  I don't think I could cope with the strain every week...waiting in fascinated terror for what they might come out with next... those endearing parental quirks and foibles being aired for the entire  world (or at least the whole of East Anglia) to hear.  Mixed with a strange sense of pride; (Oh dear, I just know I'm going to turn into one of those embarrassing Mothers who burst into tears and reminisce with rose-tinted specs on about "their little boy.") They were actually pretty good. OK, the music wasn't exactly my thing. Nor would I expect it to be. And some of the chat...well, just as well my hearing's none too good - my shockometer might go into overdrive. 

But yes, I kind of enjoyed it. I'm indeed A Proud Mummy. My Little Boy has grown up! (Sniff). I'll even  forgive you for casting nasturtiums on my texting skills on air.  Well done! 

 

 

 

Paws for Thought

Let's  put it another way - we had no idea what  this 'entailed'.

or

"We will now 'paws' for the blessing." 

 Well, we all have to be silly once in our lives and last Sunday afternoon was just that.  I may  be a 'bona fido' Franciscan tertiary -  but until now I simply couldn't pluck up the courage to drag the resident Greenpatch pooch up the hill for the annual pet blessing service. He's not exactly the best-behaved canine on the block - and my over- fertile imagination kept conjuring up nightmare scenarios of him chasing hamsters, traumatising cats, leaving 'little parcels' on the floor and flattening the vicar.  Resulting in our ignominious banning from the church - or even all the C Of E churches in town. I wonder if they operate a  similar'Churchwatch' system to the local pubs: "Out of one, out of all?!" 

So, why did I decide to finally plumb depths of Anglican liturgy best left unplumbed IMHO? Strength in numbers, I guess. I persuaded a friend to come along with her hairy horror. Double trouble!  

Did we enjoy it? Yes...in a funny kind of way. Our worries about assorted cats, mice and other furries were groundless. This was strictly a dog gig.  To be more accurate - about 20 dogs, of all shapes and sizes. And it went pretty well, considering. No pandemonium incarnate, no puddles... No bloodshed. True at times I was taken back years to when the children were small; sitting there trying to mouth 'For the Beauty of The Earth' and 'Morning has broken'  whilst keeping an inquisitive, wriggly Fido with the attention span of a gnat  from misbehaving, fidgeting, and generally 'showing us up' was a salutary reminder of what life used to be like every time I went to church. At the point when we were asked to hold and pray for our pets, I was bent down busily  trying to remove congealed bits of half-eaten doggie treats from under the pew and untangle the lead from round us both. 

And surprise, surprise. When the time came to take our furry friends up for a blessing, they all behaved pretty well. OK, so GP Dog doesn't exactly smell of ashes of roses - could do with a haircut and was a right fidget, but a doggie treat suspended just in his line of vision worked wonders!

I'm glad we went.  And I'm sure our canine companions enjoyed themselves. Best of all - GP Dog was so worn out from all the walking up and down the hill that he slept like a lamb once we got home.  I think Francis would have approved.

 

 

Blog of The Week - Goodgoat - Spirituality as a garden

What type of garden are you?

Goodgoat spotted this reflection on a church notice board. For reasons which I can't begin to fathom, this four year-old blog post only appeared in my reader last week.  Odd ? Never mind, it's not lost in the waiting. Thanks for this, Goodgoat. Oh, and congratulations...

A Chance to Reflect

No matter what we believe in, we are all spiritual beings. We all have our own unique “spirituality”

• our sense of the divine, of beauty
• of what lies beyond and is unseen

But how can we understand our spirituality?

Think of your spirituality as a garden and ask…what makes a garden? You can’t buy them – garden centres don’t sell them ready-made! You have to grow them…

Three Ways of Making a Rule of Life

With Francistide and review of my TSSF Rule of Life still fresh in my mind,  here's some advice on the process applicable to anybody looking to live life more intentionally and holistically:

 

A rule is a document embodying the values which are central to your life, and the praxis which allows you to live this out with genuine integrity. 

 - Hermit Sr Laurel from notes from stillsong.

Developing a Rule of Life 13 Tips - from soulgardeners

 

and

Balancing Life by The Rule by Debra Farrington

I came across a wonderful piece of advice yesterday -  that  rule of life should not be a list of 'to do (s)' but of 'to be (s).'

Words, words, words...Over on the Franciscan Support Thread on Shipoffools posters are asking - Is it possible to make a rule of life without using them ? It's been suggested for the TSSF Principles in the past. Could you sign it? Paint, sing or dance it? Any other medium? Suggestions please...

For Franciscans I"d have thought creative ways like these would be spot on, given their sprituality and the famous "Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words," saying popularly attributed to our founder.

Granted we might have problems at annual renewal presenting them all at the altar - still I'm sure there are ways and means of getting over that one!

Francistide Blog of The Week - Creation Care Newsletter

Why Care For Creation?

Here are three reasons to interact carefully with the Creation, to nurture and preserve it

Prudence or the thoughtful care for one’s own well-being.  You breathe; so you need breathable air.  You drink, so you need potable water.  You eat, so you need nutritious food.  You see, so you need clean skies.  You can get sick, very sick with cancers, so you need a world without cancer causing chemicals.  You move through and have your being the environment, so you need to wake up to it, think about it, perceive how the changes we have made and are making could be harmful to you.  Your life comes from nature.  Protect your source. It’s just common sense.

1. Do you owe a debt to the future?  “What did the future ever do for me”? You say?  Well, it created you.  Before you were, you were in the future.  Before you were, people planted the trees that shade you, developed the grains and the animal strains that feed you, invented the clothes and the way of building houses that shelter you, kept pure the water that you must have to live each day, invented the writing that you are now reading, and learned how to teach you to read it  They preserved this  world through countless generations so it would be here for you to inhabit.  You owe them a debt, the debt of your very life; but here’s the paradox; since they are gone, you can only pay it forward, to the next generations. It is a moral obligation.

 

1. Jesus came to reconcile us to one another and to God our Creator and Sustainer Who has made us as part and parcel of the larger creation—as members of it.  We are not alone here—God made millions of other creatures and all are His children.  He is manifest in His creation—it is His work.  To be reconciled to Him we must be reconciled to his creation.  If we love Him Who made us, we must love what else He made.  If our mortal father lovingly built for us a house and garden with his own hands and we then trashed it, we could not say we loved him.  Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you. By this all men will know you are my disciples.”  And if we are to be reconciled to one another, we must care for that which cares for others, namely the earth and all that is in it.  If I say I care for my neighbor, then go cut down his apple trees and take the fruit for myself, I can not say I love him.  If I poison her air, use up resources she needs to live, foul his water with my landfills and radioactive dumps, how can I say I am reconciled to her?  The choice to drive a hybrid or a Hummer is not about you—it’s about other people and about your grandchildren.  God’s earth was made for us all, and for all who are yet to come, not just for those of us who are fortunate enough to live in comparative prosperity at the present moment.  - From Environmental Commission, Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire via Franciscan Associates