With the news full of the devatating cuts in the Arts Budgets affecting orchestras, dance, music and art all over the UK, it's lovely to see the continued growth of encouragement for the use of Arts in worship in churches.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Lent series ~ Intimately Aquainted with Me ~ Masterpiece
If you want to read more about this then please look HERE on my blog Hallelujah Joy or look at the whole on my Lent Series
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Lent series ~ Where you are is where I belong ~ Laura Woodley
If you would like to know more about this song, then look at This Post on my other Blog Hallelujah Joy or look at the whole of my Lent series
Monday, March 21, 2011
The Creators Colour Palate ~ 365 Swatches Of Sky
So this is it. The culmination of over a years work. One photo per day of the sky from my workroom window.
365 swatches of colour created by a most tallented and amazing artist.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Lent series ~ Psalm 139
Powering The Future
Seeing the horrific images from Japan this last week, and knowing that not only do these thousands of affected people have to face the rebuilding of their lives, they willl also be facing aq very incertain future regarding the nuclear issue. The radio active emmisions pouring out of the damages reactor builidings may well continue to pour health issues on those same people and further afield for decades to come.
Looking at our power needs in the UK, I can't help thinking as I have done for many years, that turning our backs on wind / wave and solar power is plain stupid. I find it so selfish and annoying when people object to having the turbines cited near them. Rather a turbine than a nuclear plant!
I really think we should be embracing the natural power that is avalable to us. I would rather see turbines all over our nation, than the vast expance of desolation that a nuclear accident would afford.
This is only our world to borrow, we are custodians and need to look after it for future generations.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Lent Series ~ O No, You Never Let Go
If you want to know more about this song, look at this post HERE on my blog Hallelujah Joy. You cann see all my Lent series on Psalm 139 HERE
A Conundrum
Anyway, in the persuit of privacy, one of my boys was bemoning the fact that he can only call his girlfriend from a room that everyone insists on walking through, and wouldn't it be a good idea to buy a roving phone .... not quite sure what they are called. Yesterday whilst doing the shopping I bought such a phone and brought it home.
Sadly, we are now in a situation where the phone cable box is at one side of the room and the electric plug socket is on the other side of the room, so it's absolutly no use until I go shopping for an extension cable. I'm now debating whether to extend the electrics or the phone cable.
What Am I?
I've just filled out an online survey. In it I was required to fill out my "Religious Affiliation" there were two options available for me (not being athieist agnostic,of another faith or post modern ~apparently that's someone who hates being labelled), so my two options were "Christian - Anglican" or "Christian -other".
In the end I used "Christian -Other" and filled in the details "Multi denominational Christian"
Currently I worship in an Anglican Ecumenical Partnership with Methodist Church. When we originally moved to this village (when I was 11) It had three Churches. Methodist, URC, and CofE, and if you go further back in history, there was a Presberteryan church before the URC. Over the years, the congregations have changed, aged and depleated. In the end, I think the Methodists were down to 9 elderly people (although young at heart!) and their church building was tired and they joined with the Anglican congregation. It's a partnership that works really well. The communion service is sometimes the Methodist one, sometimes the anglican one and is sometimes led by a Methodist superintendant and sometimes an anglican vicar. We use chalis's or small glasses. No one seems to mind at all. I for one embrace it. Our congregation is large. It's made up of a huge range of ages from 2 weeks to 90+. We have within it Methodists, anglicans, Baptists, free church, and probably more backgrounds than that.
From being a tiny babe in arms until the age of 15ish, I was brought up in the Baptist faith. Church for us, usually meant a long journey to a nearby town. As a small child it was "Just what we did", I never thought about it particularly, but it was annoying to be too far away to be in volved in mid week events like the girls brigade etc. Over the years we moved around and I experienced many differing Baptist Churches, I've been to Fire and brimstone ones with banging on the pulpit and no toys on a Sunday type rules, small mining chapels (with a lovely lady who would make the children gingerbread men with white icing decorations) and more modern ones in run down areas where the services would frequently have youngsters jumping on the roof during the service (quite a frightening experience).
When I was about 14, a friend of my mum and dad in the village where we lived started a youth group from the local Anglican church. It took place on a Friday night and we (my brother and myself) were invited along. We were still attending a Baptist Church 13 miles away, but met with the youth group on the friday. At that youth group, for every service you attended you received a point to save up for a bible. I had two or three bibles, but I was really narked that my attending at a Baptist church didn't count for points as I was attending every week and I'd have soon got my new bible!
I've never been quite sure what happened next, but all of a sudden, we started going to the local Cof E. At first it was really awkward with the parading out for communion and the liturgy, but eventually we began to feel at home and I began to lead a Sunday school class. I approached the vicar and asked him if he would perform an adult baptism (aka Baptist style!). He ummed and ahhed and in the end agreed to on the understanding that I would be confirmed. I agreed, but I was really cross as I felt that he didn't understand
what the Baptism meant to me. So there it is, I was baptised in a Baptist style baptism in a friends swimming pool, by an Anglican vicar and then confirmed in the Anglican church. (incidentally, many of our young people choose that form of baptism and it now takes part in a paddling pool in the Church grounds, (it used to be within the church itself until one poor lads feet poked right through the side and caused a huge surge of water to cover the church.
When I left home and moved to the outskirts of London to work as a nanny, I tried out a Baptists church, a free church, but eventually settled in a Cof free style with a fabulous supportive youth group for ages 18-23. it was just what I wanted and I really enjoyed my time there. I used to catch a bus, or one of the people would give me a lift there, but again, i was back to travelling to church. I moved jobs and decided to go to whatever my nearest church was. It was a CofE, and I spent some happy times there. I also met my husband there and we were married.
We moved into a village suburb in a wealthy area (we were the poor relations!) We went to our local parish church and it was dire. The services and the congregation were traditional to say the least. It had a large fully robed choir and a full set of bell ringers. After a few weeks of attending, I noticed one day that we were going to be singing "shine Jesus shine", I actually got quite excited at the prospect, some modern music, but my excitement was short lived as the choir led the song at quarter of the speed it needed to be sung at. We persisted in going, but it was a chore and very easy to find an excuse to miss it.
I did meet "living" Christians around the village in the playgroup etc, but they weren't in the two local churches.
It was at that point that I vowed that what ever my local church was be it modern, traditional, high, low, Methodist, baptist, sally army etc, then that is right where I would be. I don't need a badge of affiliation, I just need a "part of the community" one.
11 Years ago I moved back to the village I spent most of my growing up years in. The church has come a long way from the formalish CofE it was. We are reaching out into the local schools and recently appointed a youth leader to work with local churches and in the local senior school and feeder primaries.
There are problems for me with all the main denominations and whilst I consider myself a member of them whilst I am worshiping in them, I do have issues with all sort of bits and bobs, For example, I don't agree with a royal family (unelected) and so how can I accept one of them as "the head of the church" and as for what comes next ~ hey ho anything goes! (perhaps I'll save that for another day!
I think to summarise, I shall pinch our churches statement for myself
My aim is to be a Caring, celebrating, worshipping, proclaiming and growing Christian presence in the village and the world..
In the end I used "Christian -Other" and filled in the details "Multi denominational Christian"
Currently I worship in an Anglican Ecumenical Partnership with Methodist Church. When we originally moved to this village (when I was 11) It had three Churches. Methodist, URC, and CofE, and if you go further back in history, there was a Presberteryan church before the URC. Over the years, the congregations have changed, aged and depleated. In the end, I think the Methodists were down to 9 elderly people (although young at heart!) and their church building was tired and they joined with the Anglican congregation. It's a partnership that works really well. The communion service is sometimes the Methodist one, sometimes the anglican one and is sometimes led by a Methodist superintendant and sometimes an anglican vicar. We use chalis's or small glasses. No one seems to mind at all. I for one embrace it. Our congregation is large. It's made up of a huge range of ages from 2 weeks to 90+. We have within it Methodists, anglicans, Baptists, free church, and probably more backgrounds than that.
From being a tiny babe in arms until the age of 15ish, I was brought up in the Baptist faith. Church for us, usually meant a long journey to a nearby town. As a small child it was "Just what we did", I never thought about it particularly, but it was annoying to be too far away to be in volved in mid week events like the girls brigade etc. Over the years we moved around and I experienced many differing Baptist Churches, I've been to Fire and brimstone ones with banging on the pulpit and no toys on a Sunday type rules, small mining chapels (with a lovely lady who would make the children gingerbread men with white icing decorations) and more modern ones in run down areas where the services would frequently have youngsters jumping on the roof during the service (quite a frightening experience).
When I was about 14, a friend of my mum and dad in the village where we lived started a youth group from the local Anglican church. It took place on a Friday night and we (my brother and myself) were invited along. We were still attending a Baptist Church 13 miles away, but met with the youth group on the friday. At that youth group, for every service you attended you received a point to save up for a bible. I had two or three bibles, but I was really narked that my attending at a Baptist church didn't count for points as I was attending every week and I'd have soon got my new bible!
I've never been quite sure what happened next, but all of a sudden, we started going to the local Cof E. At first it was really awkward with the parading out for communion and the liturgy, but eventually we began to feel at home and I began to lead a Sunday school class. I approached the vicar and asked him if he would perform an adult baptism (aka Baptist style!). He ummed and ahhed and in the end agreed to on the understanding that I would be confirmed. I agreed, but I was really cross as I felt that he didn't understand
what the Baptism meant to me. So there it is, I was baptised in a Baptist style baptism in a friends swimming pool, by an Anglican vicar and then confirmed in the Anglican church. (incidentally, many of our young people choose that form of baptism and it now takes part in a paddling pool in the Church grounds, (it used to be within the church itself until one poor lads feet poked right through the side and caused a huge surge of water to cover the church.
When I left home and moved to the outskirts of London to work as a nanny, I tried out a Baptists church, a free church, but eventually settled in a Cof free style with a fabulous supportive youth group for ages 18-23. it was just what I wanted and I really enjoyed my time there. I used to catch a bus, or one of the people would give me a lift there, but again, i was back to travelling to church. I moved jobs and decided to go to whatever my nearest church was. It was a CofE, and I spent some happy times there. I also met my husband there and we were married.
We moved into a village suburb in a wealthy area (we were the poor relations!) We went to our local parish church and it was dire. The services and the congregation were traditional to say the least. It had a large fully robed choir and a full set of bell ringers. After a few weeks of attending, I noticed one day that we were going to be singing "shine Jesus shine", I actually got quite excited at the prospect, some modern music, but my excitement was short lived as the choir led the song at quarter of the speed it needed to be sung at. We persisted in going, but it was a chore and very easy to find an excuse to miss it.
I did meet "living" Christians around the village in the playgroup etc, but they weren't in the two local churches.
It was at that point that I vowed that what ever my local church was be it modern, traditional, high, low, Methodist, baptist, sally army etc, then that is right where I would be. I don't need a badge of affiliation, I just need a "part of the community" one.
11 Years ago I moved back to the village I spent most of my growing up years in. The church has come a long way from the formalish CofE it was. We are reaching out into the local schools and recently appointed a youth leader to work with local churches and in the local senior school and feeder primaries.
There are problems for me with all the main denominations and whilst I consider myself a member of them whilst I am worshiping in them, I do have issues with all sort of bits and bobs, For example, I don't agree with a royal family (unelected) and so how can I accept one of them as "the head of the church" and as for what comes next ~ hey ho anything goes! (perhaps I'll save that for another day!
I think to summarise, I shall pinch our churches statement for myself
My aim is to be a Caring, celebrating, worshipping, proclaiming and growing Christian presence in the village and the world..
ACEO ~ Cross On A Hill
It measure 2.5 x3.5" and comes in a protective sleeve. You can purchase it HERE
Sunday, March 13, 2011
lent Series ~ Footprints in the sand ~ Leona lewis
If you want to know more about this song, then look at THIS POST on my blog Hallelujah Joy, or to look at all my lent series on Psalm 139 look HERE
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Necklace and Earring Set ~ Vintage Rose
Each bead Has been selected to compliment one another in this beautiful floral necklace and Earrings. Small floral glass beads and enhanced with the use of deco green and pink toned beads. Silver coloured accent beads enhance the necklace.
The necklace measures 48cm (19") at it's longest setting and 42cm (16.5") at it's shortest setting The drop measures (3cm) 1.25"and is fastened with a an extender chain and lobster clasp.
I can adjust the length should it be required.
The Earrings are created with matching beads and are on silver plated hook findings although should you require a stud topper or a clip on topper, they can be changed.
The necklace and earrings will be supplied in a gift bag. Available to purchase HERE
Lent Series ~ Even though you know
If you want to know more about this song, then look HERE at the post on my blog Hallelujah Joy. You can catch up on all my Lent series studying Psalm 139 HERE.
Friday, March 11, 2011
lent Series ~ Footprints
If you want to know more about this poem, then look on my other blog Hallelujah Joy at this post or to see all of my Lent series study of Psalm 139 look HERE
Thoughts ~ Pray for Japan
So many of us know people in those areas and it's a very frightening time for everyone.
At this moment one of the most popular trends on Twitter is #PrayforJapan.
I'm one of a whole load of people praying for the rescue and safety of all those effected. How blessed I feel to know that I'm not the only one.
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