I've moved to www.silentinthebackground.org.uk!

 This blog moved at the start of 2023 to www.silentinthebackground.org.uk. See you there!

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What Mary Did

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  At the end of Lent 2021, during which I have been encouraged by a friend to grow in creativity , I was preparing my talk for church on Easter Sunday.  Drawing from John 20 , I wanted to explore the narrative through the actions of Mary Magdalene.  So I thought I'd try writing a series of haiku to re-tell what Mary did (and didn't). What Mary Did (and Didn't)   In the darkest time Mary does not hide at home Goes to see the tomb Stone is rolled away! That’s not what we expected Mary runs to tell John, Peter – they run First is last and last is first Mary alongside See abandoned clothes! Peter, John believe and leave Mary stays and weeps Stooping in the tomb Mary encounters angels “Why are you weeping?” Turns around – a man! “Woman, why are you weeping?” “Where have you laid him?” “Mary.”  It’s that voice! “Rabbouni” (which means teacher) Yes! Christ is risen! "Mary, go at once" Apostle to apostles “I have seen the Lord!” (Picture used by permission - www.LumoPro...
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What is creativity anyway?

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Two childhood memories: One: "Our family is not creative!" I remember being told this in response to my frustration with my ineptitude with paints and pencils.*  I'm sure the intention was to encourage and let me know that I was not alone - that it was not important.  But the effect was that I grew up believing that I could produce nothing of any worth, even to myself, in the creative line.  To this day, I have a visceral pit-of-the-stomach reaction to any suggestion that I should express myself through any artistic medium. Two: "Write a story - it can be about anything at all, let your imagination run wild!" said my English teacher.  Imagination was something else I knew I didn't have, and any attempt to write a story led me into an inescapable paradox: For every idea in my head of a storyline or character, I knew its source in something else I'd seen or read.  This meant it had to be rejected as not a product of my imagination and thus unsuitable for i...
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1 John 3 - a challenging chapter

Have you been reading 1 John with me the past few weeks? I hope so! And I hope you’ll stick with it through this somewhat confusing central chapter. If you haven’t read 1 John 3 recently, click the link and read it through before reading on. (I’ll wait…!) Verse 1 includes one of those great statements of the Bible that we can hold onto in the toughest times. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God. Another statement about God’s love, here emphasising that God’s love draws us into a family and means that we become children of God. In case we miss it, John emphasises, and that is what we are! Again ideas about love run through the chapter, and again it is very practical. Verse 18 exhorts us to love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action . Thinking about CCC I’m always encouraged when I see examples of love in action, when individuals help each other out, getting on with the business of loving one another. The chapter ends with a ...
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