"a flea can bite the bottom of the Pope in Rome"

You will probably have heard of the 9 year old schoolgirl who started a blog about school dinners called 'NeverSeconds: One primary school pupil's daily dose of school dinners'. . It was very simply comments and a photo about her daily intake at midday. and a very fair assessment 




Then Jamie Oliver commented and people started sending in photos of their school dinners and she started raising funds for a school feeding programme, Mary's Meals in Malawi  and so it grew.....

But then she was banned from taking photos of her school meals and the Twittersphere and Blogosphere took on the council. The council backed down and it was all reported in the National press.  At the time of writing her blog has had nearly 5 million hits and rising fast.  Its a real demonstration of the power of social media (and of course local and national press)


All I could think of was the words from the musical 'Les Miserables' sung by little Gavroche:  "a flea can bite the bottom of the Pope in Rome"






you can read all the words to the song here

GAVROCHE
They laugh at me, these fellas,
Just because I am small
They laugh at me because I'm not hundred feet tall!
I tell 'em there's a lot to learn down here on the ground
The world is big, but little people turn it around!

A worm can roll a stone
A bee can sting a bear
A fly can fly around Versailles
'Cos flies don't care!
A sparrow in a hut
Can make a happy home
A flea can bite the bottom
Of the Pope in Rome!

Goliath was a bruiser who was tall as the sky.
But David threw a right and gave him one in the eye.
I never read the Bible but I know that it's true
It only goes to show what little people can do!

ALL
A worm can roll a stone
A bee can sting a bear
A fly can fly around Versailles
'Cos flies don't care!
A sparrow in a hut
Can make a happy home
A flea can bite the bottom
Of the Pope in Rome!

GAVROCHE
So listen here professor,
With your head in the cloud.
It's often kind of useful
To get lost in the crowd.
So keep your universities
I don't give a damn
For better or for worse it is
The way that I am!

Be careful where you go
'Cos little people grow...

And little people know
When little people fight
We may look easy pickings but we got some bite!
So never kick a dog because he's just a pup
You better run for cover when the pup grows up!

And we'll fight like twenty armies
And we won't give up

ALL
A worm can roll a stone
A bee can sting a bear
A fly can fly around Versailles
'Cos flies don't care!
A sparrow in a hut
Can make a happy home
A flea can bite the bottom
Of the Pope in Rome!

well done little one.....  don't lose your bite.....
 

'Sing' - the song of Jubilee

I watched a programme - On her Majesty's Service - on Sunday night - after the Jubilee Celebration about Gary Barlow's song for the Jubilee:  'SING'. And I must admit I loved it and found it inspirational.  It reminded me of One Love by Playing for Change, in that it was essentially the same concept  One song being sung by many voices all over the world. Recorded in location (on a Mac!) and remixed in a studio.  SING was composed to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee, but it also celebrates the Queen's proudest achievement  - the Commonwealth.  She has traveled the Nations of hte Commonwealth extensively during her 60 years

You can read a Telegraph  review about the programme

Sing - by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow.

The video for Sing, the official song of the Diamond Jubilee. Performed by the Military Wives with Gareth Malone and musicians from across the Commonwealth including the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force Band, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Slum Drummers from Kenya's Kibera slum, African Children's Choir and many more.

Recorded at Abbey Road studios and also on location in Australia, Kenya, Jamaica and the Solomon Islands, find out the full list of performers here: http://www.jubileesing.com/performers

Some words they can't be spoken only sung
So hear a thousand voices shouting love

There's a place, there's a time
In this life when you sing what you are feeling
Find your feet, stand your ground
Don't you see
Right now the world is listening to what we say

Sing it louder, sing it clearer
Knowing everyone will hear you,
Make some noise, find your voice tonight
Sing it stronger, sing together
Make this moment last forever
Old and young
Shouting love tonight

To sing we've had a lifetime to wait
And see a thousand faces celebrate

You brought hope, you brought light
Conquered fear, it wasn't always easy
Stood your ground, kept your faith
Don't you see
Right now the world is listening to what we say

Sing it louder, sing it clearer
Knowing everyone will hear you,
Make some noise, find your voice tonight
Sing it stronger, sing together
Make this moment last forever
Old and young
Shouting love tonight

Some words they can't be spoken only sung
To hear a thousand voices shouting love
And light and hope

© copyright 2012 The Really Useful Group Ltd. & Sony / ATV Music Publishing (UK) Ltd.

Angels watching over you

I was out with Woking Street Angels again on Saturday night – part of the Jubilee Celebration weekend.  We were 8 angels and a visitor in our 'cohort'.

Our team of 3 included Caroline, who had met the angels when she was out partying a couple of years ago. She is a mother of two and was thinking about joining SAs, so she walked the streets with us til midnight. She found it fascinating to be on the 'other side' as she put it.

The Woking Angel sits on top of the memorial and keeps watch 

The first shift of 2 hours went very slowly. We talked together and greeted one and all. I chatted with Haroon/Harry, the Pakistani bouncer at Subway.  A bright, well-spoken young man,  he holds down 3 jobs to build a better future for himself.  A not-quite-sober man came up to him as we were talking. Tom asked to use the loo and Haroon explained it was out of action. ‘No problem’ he quickly retorted ‘I’m a plumber and earn £140 a day. I’ll fix it.  ‘But, you’re not authorised  to work here… Haroon insisted politely. Tom was not happy and swerved off to relieve himself elsewhere. Haroon commented that it is hard to be polite all the time. 

We spent the evening chatting to people, picking up bottles at one point sent off on a couple of wild goose chases. One after hearing of trouble in the town square. But the town centre is a building site with extensive renovations. The new Café Rouge is now open, and on this night it was the only source of activity, though very quiet.   

And the other time a passerby near Weatherspoons told us that there were some very drunk teenagers near the bandstand (by Toys’R’us).  When we got there … nothing. 

It felt like an 'almost and nearly' evening, we 'almost' got there on time, we 'nearly' saw a fight. We never seemed in the right place at the right time. Bu we did walk a lot – good exercise! 

There were lots of police around, and they seemed to turn up in places on time.  An arrest under the station canopy, we heard on the radio and from the bouncer at Yates about a man who had pulled a knife and had been taken off by the police.  And of a double arrest at the Chameleon. 

One Angel team spent a lot of time with a very drunk Italian girl and her Swedish friend who had been thrown out of BEd Bar. Their ID and keys were in their bags in the lockers inside. But they had lost the cloakroom tickets.  Eventually after lots of time and sympathy and negotiation, the team were able to negotiate with door staff and the bags were retrieved. And then put in a taxi home. That is, after all the ultimate aim. that people get home safely.     

A mysterious hand

Walking down street a girl stuck a hand out of her car and thrust a postcard sized leaflet towards us: 'Hell awaits a sinner ….. but Jesus died for your sins'

She asked ‘Are you saved?’  I must admit it is years, since that has happened.

There was a heaviness and intensity about her, a wistfulness and distance, as she sat in the driver’s seat of the car and handed over the tract. She had a passion for the lost and said she was from a church in Ottershaw. She wanted to know, if the church we went to was: ‘born again’. I responded  ‘Yes, again and again and again…!’  Her two friends returned with some coffee and they drove off.

The leaflet implied that being out on the street at night, drinking, partying … was being on a path to hell. I felt uneasy about it. There was a picture of two escalators one going up and the other going down… with a sign saying “it’s your choice' <=>  There were bible verses on the back talking of everlasting life (John 3:16) and being born again (John 3:3) and a picture of three crosses. It finished with: ‘if you confess….  Jesus is Lord…you will be saved’ (Rom 10:9)  

I was left wondering if it really communicated to the partying community in Chertsey Road. The encounter left us reflecting on how do you reach the ‘least, the last and the lost’. Does a leaflet really do it?

For me. I prefer a more gentle approach, summed up by prayer we prayed at the beginning of the evening before we went out. I’d found the book of prayers from Iona in the Horsell Hospice bookshop only that morning. (‘Each Day & Each Night: Celtic prayers from Iona’ J. Philip Newell, Wild Goose Publication, 2002)  It seemed to express the spirit of ‘Street Angels’

Watch now O Christ,

with those who are weary

or wandering

or weeping this night.

Guide them to a house

of your peace

and lead me to be caring

for their tears.

 

Watching out for people and simple caring (out of a motivation of love) and guiding them safely home, does itself speaks volumes…     Sometimes it feels like a 'mysterious hand' is with us, guiding, watching, supporting. 

at the end of the day, to use the title of another (controversial) book by Rob Bell:  ‘Love Wins’    

I wrote about that earlier  in two parts: The Prodigal's Return and Between Heaven and Hell 

Afghanistan: The Great Game

I have just watched Afghanistan: The Great Game - A Personal View by Rory Stewart
and I recommend ity highly. You've only got a few days left to watch it on BBC i-Player.
It's in two parts:  Episode 1 and Episode 2

My favourite quote was by an Afghan now living in Britain who said 'Its really easy to  get into Afghanistan; it's just the getting out part that's really difficult"

It was fascinating to think that this country of Afghanistan, which is on the one hand so barren, yet on the other so strategically placed, has been the stomping ground of Super Powers.  Rory Stewart explores this, looking at invasions in the 19th century by Britain, 20th century by Russia and in the 21st century by the US-lead coalition.  

The words of Pete Seeger's  'Where have all the flowers gone?' sung by Joan Baez  come back to me
'when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn .... ' 

Pentecost

Two things for Pentecost. First of all a Painting by He Qi the Chinese artist, which evokes the spirit and fire and hints of Pentecostal wind.  He was the CMS Artist in residence a few years back and painted a wonderful image for the CMS office in Oxford. You can see it here: The Art of Mission 

And then a prayer by Walter Brueggemann from his excellent book: Prayers for a Privileged People

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

We hear the story of the wind at Pentecost,
Holy wind that dismantles what was,
Holy wind that evokes what is to be,
Holy wind that overrides barriers and causes communication,
Holy wind that signals your rule even among us. 

We are dazzled, but then – reverting to type -
We wonder how to harness the wind,
how to manage the wind by our technology,
how to turn the wind to our usefulness,
how to make ourselves managers of the wind 

Partly we do not believe such as odd tale
because we are not religious freaks;
Partly we resist such a story,
because it surges beyond our categories;
Partly we had imagined you to be more ordered
and reliable than that. 

So we listen, depart, and return to our ordered existence:
we depart with only a little curiosity
But not yielding;
we return to how it was before,
unconvinced but wistful, slightly praying for wind,
craving for newness,
wishing to have it all available to us.
We pray toward the wind and wait, unconvinced but wistful.

Walter Brueggemann Prayers for a Privileged People

MacChurch ? make that i-Church

 I posted a tweet: ‎10 Things Churches Can Learn from Apple Stores | http://t.co/1dqk08e2 #MacChurch or should it be iChurch 

The blog   was based on  an article about the success of Apple Stores, but the blogger had re-interpreted the principles in the church context, which were for me the fascinating bits...

10 Things You Can Learn From the Apple Store, by Guy Kawasaki.
My friend, Carmine Gallo, has written a book called The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty. The Apple Store is the most profitable retailer in America, generating an average of $5,600 per square foot and attracting more than 20,000 visitors a week.

 

 a cynical friend responded on Facebook 

22 May at 20:33 · · 2

Mike Burke



 1. Make your church twice as expensive as all others 

2. Make your Church totally incompatible with other brands. 
3. When someone complains about the sermon, tell them they they must be the cause of the problems because everything is perfect from our end. 
4. Assemble all the parts cheaply & dangerously elsewhere & then sell it here as something valuale & beautiful. 
5. Embue all your users with a smugness & brand superiority. 
6. Rubbish all alternative versions of church. 
7. Re-invent what you are doing every 18 months so that people feel ashamed about using the obsolete model. 
8. Wear a pollo neck jumper & eat sushi. 
9. Don't challenge the genuis of the brand, this really is the only show in town. 
10.....need I say more,... I'm just a hypocrite - I would happily buy Apple products if I could afford them. Please disregard all of the above!

 

 For some reason this made me think of the I'm a Christ Follower clip on YouTube,a parody of the MAc vs PC adverts, There is a series of 7 in all) 

 I'm a Christ Follower (Mac vs. PC Parody) Part 01

Candidates for Newness

Van Gogh seemed obsessed with the Cypress tree.  They appear in many pictures, almost church steeple like, pointing to the sky, encouraging us to look upwards. Where the heavens are a never ending movie of shifting shapes, full of Kaleidescopic possibilities.


My paintings  are both Oil Pastel drawings in my small A6, postcard size, stetch book. Copied from Van Gogh's images. They seemed appropriate images at this time of Ascension, when we seem to look intently into the skies (Acts 1:10-11).   

I  have also been reading a poem in Walter Brueggemann's excellent little book:   Prayer for Privileged People


'Candidates for Newness'   is a poem about Ascension, the space between Eater and Pentecost   anbout looking up to new possibilities but also staying close to the ground, and what we think of as reality. It  advocates a hesistant expectancy  
I found it very encouraging, when facing change and newness.....

 Candidates for Newness 

We live the long stretch between

Easter and Pentecost, scarcely noticing.

We hear mention of the odd claim of ascension.

We easily recite the creed,

"He ascended into heaven."

We bow before such quaint language and move on,

immune to ascent,

indifferent to enthronement

unresponsive to new governance.

It is reported that behind the ascending son was

the majestic Father riding the clouds

But we do not look up much;

we stay close to the ground to business and

to busyness

to management and control.

Our world of well-being has a very low

ceiling, but we do not mind the closeness

or notice the restrictiveness.

It will take at least a Pentecost wind to

break open our vision enough to imagine new governance.

We will regularly say the creed

and from time to time-

-in crises that

drive us to hope and to wish—

wait for a new descent of the spirit among us.

Until then, we stay jaded,

but for all that,

no less candidates for newness.

Walter Brueggemann Prayers for Privileged People