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Showing posts from July, 2012
This is just a very quick blog this week. At the moment I am on holiday so there is no blogs at the moment. Normal services will be resumed after the Summer holiday. Whereever you go or what ever you are doing I hope you have a great time. Fr Peter

Just Breathe

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16 th Sunday of the Year B On Wednesday morning I was standing in the queue in the bank it was only a few people in it but from behind me I heard when the customer assistant was talking to the customer “Don’t you realise we have busy lives to lead.” She was getting very inpatient in waiting more than 5 minutes. It stuck a cord with me because I was feeling in a rush trying to get everything I need to do in the morning. My reaction of rushing and the lady behind me in the queue means that we in different ways are caught up in modern culture: that of being too busy. We can live too much in the world and be affected by it that we cannot see what actually is going on. Imagine then how challenged I became when reading the Gospel. When I read the words of Jesus “You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.”  This is not a request but a command. And what is our response “I will do it tomorrow today I am too busy.” We all need time to

Jesus and Travel plans

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Whenever I go away on holiday or just over night I always without fail over pack: I take loads of stuff away with me and half the stuff I don’t actually use or need. In my mind I have the phrase going through my head “Oh I might just need that.” And then when we get back we actually realised that I did not need it at all.  Basically I do not travel light. I would have then great difficulties I think being a disciple. I would not be able to cope with the travel plans that Jesus would have given me. No spare tunic no, no money, no travel insurance.  Jesus tells us that all we need his authority and the gift of ourselves the talents and gifts that we have been given by God. Mark says nothing in this Gospel about what the disciples said in their missionary activity the most important thing here is presence and through that presence they are witnesses to the Gospel. So what do the disciples tells us about what it means to be Gospel. The phrase that comes into my mind is that t

Art and that kind of thing

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It seems to me that as well as Fashion the other thing that really interests me is the world of art. And what is art. To quote Oscar Wilde for a moment he said that " all art is quite useless." I do not necessarily agree with him there is also a truth in what he is saying. So lets explore together some good and bad things in the art world. And here we have the first idea of ( Art) The unmade bed. i have to say that for any collage, university, or just a teenager we are all artists. My own bed was a work of art all through my life because like millions of others my Bed was not made.  Tracey Emin my bed  The only difference is that I was not paid millions for my unmade bed. I was told to make it and with a huff and puff I did. How anyone can call this art is beyond me. But hey ho Art is in the eye of the beholder.  Now below we have the idea of art being taken a step too far. The Blank canvas exposition recently in London it seems to me is taking what we call art

Discouragement and Weakness

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Jesus in today’s Gospel returns back to Nazareth. But, this is not a social visit he is there to preach the Kingdom of God. We find that the people are astonished about the wisdom. Maybe they remember what he was like as a child maybe it is easier to have a carpenter in the town rather than a prophet. So, once a carpenter always a carpenter: they by their reaction keep Jesus at a safe distance. Jesus’ rejection in his own town means that he cannot work any miracles there. In Mark’s Gospel this rejection is complete when even his own relations believe him to be out of his mind. Through this mistrust and rejection we find that Jesus could do no miracle there. It makes him powerless by people’s reaction. We see that he is not a robot switched on to do flawless performances, indifferent to the people around him. The distrust disables him. He cannot reach out to his own people and so never returns to Nazareth again. Jesus has to cope with disappointment and failure. But

Fashion Tips for what its worth 2

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I was given a challenge after the last Fashion tips I looked at whats hot and whats not. I was given a challenge to ask the question: What should a person wear in Church? An interesting question. We have gone through that stage of Sunday best. When we think about Sunday best, and I remember as a child, that we would have special clothes for going to Church in. But it brought a serious point of wearing clothes fit for coming to Church in. But I do think the days of wearing a suit and tie and our Sunday frock are the days of the past. So what should we wear at Church. I myself have been know to wear my West Ham top, only when we went up So lets look at what's hot and not in the fashion world of the Church.   Sunday Best Let us look first of all at the priest what should his vestments look like.  Oh Dear Father. Whats that on your head. These are two examples that are just a little bit silly and I have no comment to make that will change what I think. All I ca

Desperation of faith

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13th Sunday of Ordinary time  We hear in today’s Gospel of Jesus’ return to his home territory. On his return a large crowd come pressing around him eager to get close to him. Through all this comes a Jairus a Jewish official.  He would have been a man who would have been involved in the rituals of the synagogue a leading man in the Jewish community. But, he has not come here to talk about the issues of the day or the ritual of the Synagogue. He has come as a desperate father who loves his daughter very much. In one sense Jairus becomes a beggar down on his knees in front of Jesus the one he believes can safe his daughter: Notice that his action speak for themselves he goes without speaking with Jairus. The crowd also follow desperate to see the drama unfold. Then enters another part of this story the woman with an incurable haemorrhage: this condition makes her and anyone who touches her unclean. She pushes her way through to try and touch Jesus.  She knows that by her faith i