The purple wheelie bin

This image is reproduced from John Davies site




As Mark is Liverpool, I am missing home and it is nearly Sunday I thought I would reproduce fantastic prayer for the Purple Wheelie Bin by John Davies. When I first read it a few weeks ago in his article written for Third Way I actually cried because I felt so homesick. So here it is:



We give thanks for the purple wheelie bin
Receptacle of all our rubbish,

Carrier-away of our cast-offs, unused goods, undigested foodstuffs, nappies, wrappers, broken electrical items and all the discarded clutter of our cupboards and our lives.

A blessing on those who make it their work to collect these bins together and pour their contents into a waiting lorry,
labouring through soaking rain and stinking heat on behalf of the rest of us wasteful citizens;

A blessing on those who wheel out the bins for their forgetful or frail neighbours, and wheel them in again afterwards;

A blessing on those who brighten up their wheelie bins by painting on them pictures of flowers, favourite TV characters or cartoonish self-portraits.

We give thanks for the purple wheelie bin
Receptacle of all our rubbish.

Give us patience with those who use our wheelie bins as playthings: climbing on them, racing down the road in them like plastic chariots, setting them on fire;

Give us strength to push our full and heavy bins to the roadside, when we are feeling feeble on bin collection morning;

Keep us calm if in a moment of panic we should think our bin has gone, wheeled away up the road or into oblivion.

Help us to forgive those who, years ago now, decided without asking us, that our bins should be purple.

Help us to recycle, and bless those who want to help us to recycle more.

Help us to use less packaging, and bless those who want to sell us things with less packaging on them.

Give us grace to care about our waste and the way it affects our city's space.

We give thanks for the purple wheelie bin
Receptacle of all our rubbish.

Mark has gone to Liverpool

Mark went yesterday and we all miss him. Before he left we had just took delivery of our long awaited Marks and Spencer beds. One double for the spare room and a king size for our bedroom. We have been sleeping on the floor since our arrival in Bristol so the new beds have caused quite a stir. It is amazing: Being off the floor, being comfortable and having new pillows and duvet was the final luxury. Anyway, Mark had to leave this bissful scene to go to Liverpool on his own.

I wanted to go too but thankfully the new bed has made me pleased to be here is Bristol. Bristol is one of the wettest cities I have ever lived in. Mark seems to think this is just an 'unusually wet year' - even if it is I am so fed up with it. It is spoiling my adventure. I wanted southern blue skies and warmth. Not the endless patter of west country raindrops. The rain makes it tricky to stick my hair up and my feet get wet. I know the ducks and farmers like it but I don't.

Anyway, Mark has gone to Liverpool to take photographs of the Liverpool Lantern CO Halloween Parade which I am also sad to be missing. It is a bit of weekend of disappointment really. Good job I have a new bed to retreat to.

I have been writing a chapter for a book about Liverpool popular history all week. My chapter is about music hall (surprise surprise). A new draft is all done and I am trying to send it in an email. But the system can't deal with it and it keeps being sent back. My CD-R burner is knackered so I can't even burn it and send it off. I haven't had be best week really. So much for a relaxing half-term. I might just go back to bed and read my Billy Bragg book.

Fish Poisoning

I accidently ate fish last night and swelled up...it was very unpleasant. I had a swollen tongue and face and couldn't get my rings off my fingers. I had to take quite a lot of antihistimines this morning to get it under control. The evening started so well. Ian had come to Bristol because he is touring with Orson and he wanted to go swimming with Eva. So, having spent the day with us he went back to the Carling Accademy and mark and I decided to go out for dinner then go on to see the band later. Having had a minor disagreement about where to eat (we wanted to go to Wagamama but it was full to birsting) so we settled on a Chinese noodle bar on Park Street. I had satay chicken but it tasted very oyster saucey. I ate it just the same. But felt quite ill. I soldiered on (drank a few pints of Guinness) and having left the gig early (it wasn't really that good) went to a pub and chatted to Ian for a while then came home. When I woke up this morning I had ballooned and was very sick.

What a terrible story!

That apart...we had a great day and it was ace to see Ian. Who was sporting a lovely new tattoo (and I don't really like tattoos) but this one - pictured above - is particularly fine.

Mark is off to Liverpool tomorrow. St Claire of Toxteth is here now and my Mum is coming to look after Eva while Mark is away and I am at college next week. So, it is all go at Loudon Bristol HQ.

Foundation Little Service

I led my first Foundation Little Service last night. I didn't mention to anyone that I had missed Strictly Come Dancing to write my little offering. Hey ho...apparently Spoony was kicked off - I can't believe that is really true...I demand a recount. You see, if I had been watching I would have defo have voted for him. He is (was) my favourite. Georgie needs to go - it makes me feel uncomfortable to watch her 'dance'. Do you know what I am really upset about Spoony going. I feel somehow cheated. Just let it go Ellen (see now I am writing to myself...it is like some sort of madness!)

Anyway, my little service thoughts were focused on Genesis 32:22-30 and this picture of a sculpture by Jacob Epstein 'Jacob and the Angel'. Slightly more thought provoking than Strictly Come Dancing I hope...

Benny in a basket

You may remember that last week Benny placed a dead mouse in my handbag. Well, since then I have had a couple of requests to post a picture of Benny on this site. So, above is 'Benny in a basket'. This is our washing basket where he likes to sleep, here we can also see a pair of my used socks and other dirty washing. Nice.
Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth would it? But don't be fooled by the cute curled up cat - he is a merciless killer of mice.

Wedding Aniversary (nasty cold)

It is our 8th wedding aniversary. This picture was taken just before we got married and was on our wedding invitations (those of you who were there will remember). It was also on the order of service for our wedding blessing which (finally) took place in July this year. Unfortunately I have a nasty cold so have spent the day in bed (alone, sick and snuffly). Mark did bring me breakfast, tea, cake, some books to read, and a big bunch of flowers. He is the best husband in the world. I love my Mark! XXXX

Ship of Fools

St Claire of Toxteth sent me a link to Ship of Fools Godly Gadgets (an old favourite) and I was looking around the site and found this voicemail message that had been left by a member of a congregation. It got me starting to think about what parishioners might call me up about.

Real Live Preacher

I was looking around the blogging world and found the blog of the Real Live Preacher. He has done some live research on communion wafers that might interest some of you. He tries a few out live on his blog...I dare you to watch and not giggle.
ps I have just about got over the mouse incident earlier though the occasional flash back to the small hairy discovery still haunts me. It is like I am never truely going to forget. It is etched on my mind forever. I am now scared to fumble in my bag. (I'm not over it yet am I?)

A Mouse in my Handbag

As you know we have a cat called Benny. He is a ginger tom. He loves his new house and the garden and is partcularly impressed by all the mice that he obviously thinks I have put out in the woods for him to play with. If only he would just play with them. He catches them, tortures them, then bites off their heads. He leaves their little bodies out for us - mainly in the hall. I hate the dead mice and Mark has to sort out them out...Well, this morning when I got into college I fumbled in my bag to find my phone and there was a mouse in there. I wasn't very brave and had to ask a fellow ordinand to help me as I can not bear the stiffness of the little bodies and the horrid long tails. I am so weak and feeble. I will remember to hang my bag up on te banisters from now on.

Sister Wendy Musical

This is one of the most 'out there' creative ideas I have encountered for quite some time so I have to share it with you. Laura Baxter sent me this link to the Sister Wendy Musical project. Their publicity reads:

Postcards from God is a vibrant and exciting new musical portrait of renowned 'art nun' Sister Wendy Beckett. With her homespun philosophy that "art is meant for everyone", Sister Wendy became a household name in the nineties with her televised tours of the UK, Europe and America. But as the reluctant pop icon swapped her humble mobile home for the caravan of fame, her simple life would never be the same again.

Featuring gospel, pop, rock 'n' roll and rap, Postcards from God's bold new score is composed in styles as various as the artworks depicted in the show. A cast of all-singing, all-dancing nuns bring this poignant parable about the world's only 'nun critic superstar' to life in vivid colour.

The show was originally developed in 2004 - 2005 at BAC with award-winning performance artist Kazuko Hohki and is adapted from Sister Wendy's life and works by Marcus Reeves and Beccy Smith. After successful scratch performances at BAC, the show spawned a spin-off cabaret act 'The Singing Sisters' - a 30-strong nun choir who performed at BAC's Burst and Tilt nights as well as Duckie at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern.

Postcards from God was recently showcased at The Rosemary Branch Theatre in London in April 2006 as part of 'An Evening with Mr. Theatre' along with a rehearsed reading in November 2005 at Maria Assumpta Centre, a convent in Kensington. The show will have it's world premiere at Jermyn Street Theatre in London in January 2007.

Until then, you can have a listen to some songs here on myspace Sister Wendy Musical

If you want to become a funder of this project you can go to bluecaravan blog or Postcards From God

Enjoy!

Baby Alexander is here!

Gaby and Andrew Malcolm have had a lovely big boy called Alexander!
So, congratulations to one and all. xxxx

Methodist on line Labyrinth

I have been interested in Labyrinths for a long time and have used the Labyrinth resources that were first used in St Pauls Cathedral in 2000. At Christ Church, Linnet Lane, Liverpool we developed our own Labyrinth for use in an installation service as part of the 'Seeing is Believing' festival in 2003. Also, at Greenbelt this year there was a Labyrinth set up. So, I thought I might have a go at using this new resource developed by the Methodist Church called Lost In Wonder. I am not realy sure what I think about it just yet but I feel it might be aimed at young people (younger than me) and at first use it didn't get my spiritual juices flowing. But I am going to go back to have other go later. Let me know what you think...

Heresy

I am going to miss the last installment of the Heresy talks this week, because we have the Federation Eucharist at Trinity this evening. Which the time when all the colleges (Baptists, Methodists and Anglicans) get together for communion. So, I will have to follow Heresy on the podcast instead.

Virtual Theology

Michael Howard's son tells how liberal Anglicans have thwarted his ambition

My attention was bought to this story by Dave Walker at the cartoon church. I suspect it was not the liberal anglicans that thwarted his ordination hopes but his inability to 'play nicely with people'. Daily Mail News Story.

Women in the Emerging Church

There has been some discussion about the demographic of the emerging church on Bruce's blog - I am thinking particularly of the stream of comments that included 'Foundation is dominated by white middle-class professionals with post-evangelical baggage, most of whom are male'. This and other comments started a lively debate. So, if you are woman, invloved in the emerging church/alt worship and might be interested in helping with some research into women in the emerging church then perhaps you might want to look at this. The link is on Jonny Baker's blog here at Research into women in the emerging church.