February 2012
5 posts
“This is people’s music. This isn’t pop music written by somebody on...”
– Mike Harding, presenter of the Radio 2 Folk Awards (in an interview on BBC Breakfast)
Ghost in the machine
If you ever feel like reading a bit of the Bible, try the Gospel of Mark. It was written for a Roman audience, who loved a rollicking, ripping yarn. So it’s a mass-market paperback, full of action and adventure. And thankfully, it’s short!
I just read this bit: ‘But when they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw him and...
“At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless;
Neither...”
– from The Four Quartets, by T S Eliot
“The development of a well-rounded mind requires both an ability to find and...”
– from The Shallows by Nicholas Carr
January 2012
9 posts
“It is a mysterious process, it involves perseverance and perspiration and...”
– Leonard Cohen on the creative process, interviewed in today’s Irish Times
Stand by me
Today my cousin Paul asked if I would help carry his dad’s coffin into the chapel. I’d never done that before. ‘It will be a privilege,’ I said. I was overwhelmed with a sense of honour and responsibility.
What happened next is all recorded in my mind in brief cinematic frames. It’s as if the ‘camera’ focused solely on the hands of the pallbearers. One...
“When you look into the window of your soul may you see the face of God.”
– From a prayer by Bernadettte Purcell, adapted from ‘Seven Sacred Pauses’ by Macrina Wiederkehr
That'll do nicely, Stephen
Saturday mornings used to be all about watching Tiswas or Swap Shop in your pyjamas, while your mum wrote her shopping list and your dad did his pools coupon. Now we’re all a bit older, and the telly is full of rubbish, the next best thing is the Momentum breakfast!
And so it was that this morning, 40 men swarmed on Parkside Church in LA (Little’Ampton) for a full English, a good...
“If we make health our main concern we have fallen ill. We have become...”
– Victor Frankl, in an interview with First Things.
Rainbow religion
Ancient scribes said it would happen. Kings would arrive, bearing gifts, for the Chosen One. ‘All kings of the earth shall adore him,’ said a Jewish poet, ‘all nations shall serve him’ (Psalm 71).
That’s what we celebrate today, on The Epiphany Of Our Lord. Wise men came from the east with special presents for the Christ-child. But it’s not just part of the...
Make you feel my love
It’s been a smash hit for others. That’s the usual pattern for a Bob Dylan song. Make You Feel My Love was a roaring success for Essex girl Adele. It’s also been covered by more established artists like Bryan Ferry, Joan Osborne, Billy Joel, Ronan Keating and Garth Brooks – among others.
But what’s the song about?
At first glance, it seems to be a lover’s...
“Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen...”
– Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning
December 2011
2 posts
“Good writing will engage your audiences and inspire them to take action. Bad...”
– CharityComms News
Seasonal songs
It’s where we started. It’s where we’ve now finished our first calendar year. East Preston’s Clockhouse Bar is unique. It’s a smart city pub in a sleepy Sussex village. And this is where the Momentum Christmas Special took place last night.
We took over the upper room, put out the Waitrose mince pies, and waited. Gradually, blokes started arriving. There were about...
November 2011
1 post
River God
It was a beautiful day as we sailed down the Thames with my old mate Rich Hubbard. The memory grows stronger, the longer he stays away on the shores of heaven.
Rich was at worship on the water. Although baptised many years before, he lived out a continual baptism experience on the river. It was his contemplation and delight.
He was a great speaker – both enlightening and entertaining. But he...
October 2011
15 posts
“You know, when you’re writing, you’re always an absolute beginner. Each time you...”
– Leonard Cohen, New York Times 20-10-11
Buzz the revelator
He might not be an aviator. But he is a revelator. Okay, Buzz Lightyear might be a character in a kids’ movie. Yet he offers us all a message of hope.
Toy Story is a big family favourite. And when it came on the telly last Sunday, I just found myself watching it. Yes, it has plenty of laughs for the little ones. But there’s a serious lesson to learn – when Buzz aims for the wild...
“Vita brevis gloria aeterna (Life is short, glory eternal)”
– Motto of the Price family of Wales
This wheel's on fire
It could’ve sold out several times over. Bournemouth’s 2,000-seater International Centre was heaving like the Dorset Tea Dance Championships.
Expectantly we waited, my son Josh and I, surrounded by blokes who looked like retired police officers and women who were probably deputy heads of local schools. Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan were about to command the stage at this humble south...
“Meditation is a commitment to actually just switching off.”
– Hugh Jackman, interviewed on BBC Breakfast 14-10-11
I will remember you
Here is where I feel the loss and the gain. Between earth and sky, sea and meadow.
Here is where we gloriously wasted away the hours. And each time I return, here is where I’m reminded of the emptiness that is now.
Yes, there is still magic. Seals and dolphins come to play. History continues to chat. The waves parade across the shore. And why should the ocean mourn with me? The grief...
“Blessed are the laughter makers, for they bring heaven to earth.”
– Quote from my cousin Katherine’s requiem mass, March 2011.
The silver apples of the moon
I was returning home this evening from the new European version of the old Kwik Save. Yes, it was our local Lidl. Armed with a few bargains, I had the sudden urge to treat myself to a short drive along the coastal road.
Yes, we have that privilege here in West Sussex, you know. It’s one of the few perks to living here. It’s always a treat for someone like me, born and bred in a...
“All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”
– Julian of Norwich (later adapted by Terry Oldfield)
Floating on the tide
Life is like the tide. For much of the time, it’s about ebb and flow. There are peaks and troughs. The usual pattern.
But sometimes there’s a tsunami. And after the big wave has gone, you’re left to cope with the emotional and spiritual wreckage.
STRANGE RELIEF
That’s how life has been over the past 18 months. During that time, as a family we’ve had to face the...
“May you stay like freaks/May you make mistakes/May your will never be broken”
– Underdogs, by Manic Street Preachers
September 2011
11 posts
Folk dynasty
For an encore, they sang totally unplugged, right by our table. It reminded me of a Texas restaurant I once visited with my old mate Rich Hubbard, where musicians played for you as you ate.
Sarah Lee Guthrie and Johnny Irion certainly know how to dish up power and intimacy at their gigs. And they serve it with helpings of fun and faith.
DEEPER POWER
Yes, note that surname. Sarah is the...
Gunshots in the street
It usually happens in another town. Or even another country. Not normally at the end of your own road.
Today was different. For just as everyone was getting ready for work and university early this morning – under a beautiful blue sky – news came through that armed police were confronting a ‘gunman’ in the next street.
HEARD SHOTS
Everything went crazy. Traffic was diverted...
Fruit therapy
No, it’s not a haggis trapped inside one of Nora Batty’s stockings. It’s crab apple pulp. And it’s being strained to create the juice I’ll heat up into a jelly.
We’ve got crab apples coming out of our ears. A wet summer produced some plump fruit – and lots of it. Last year I was foraging all over the backyard for bits of crab apple that I could turn into...
We plough the fields
To open the mass at Arundel Cathedral this morning, we sang the epic harvest hymn We Plough The Fields And Scatter. As with most old songs like that, my memory raced back to school days.
It was one of my favourite hymns. The lyrics are so evocative, and the ‘prog’ chord sequence breaks into a strong beat. Our music teacher used to pound it out on the school piano at assembly, like...
Peace like a river
Most people I know in Ireland are building bridges. They’re crossing the huge gap between church and community. They’re creating new openings through old barriers. They’re making the impossible finally possible.
A highlight of my latest trip to the green isle was to visit a Sunday lunch for people on the fringes of church and society. So there I was, eating alongside Dave, who...
Thanks, mum and dad
A quotation from the ancient book of Proverbs has special relevance for me. ‘Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,’ says the text, ‘and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.’
Mum would read Bible stories to us little children. In fact, whoever was babysitting would open the Hamlyn Illustrated Children’s Bible and read for us. We lived in the shadow of...
“I discovered something about the human condition that every 19-year-old idealist...”
– Sir Bob Geldof, interviewed in the Evening Standard 19-9-11
The mystical shop
What on earth should I buy her? I was searching for a present for ‘Wee Wifey’. Suddenly, I stumbled upon the entrance to what looked like a cute little shop selling all sorts of odd bits and pieces. One of those tiny gift places, you know the sort.
I walked in, and saw an item I instantly liked (I cannot tell you what it is). So I entered further, and realised the shop was actually a...
August 2011
4 posts
We're not sailing
All sorts of things get washed up on Littlehampton beach. But it’s not every day that a 3,000-ton cargo ship parks itself on our river wall.
Whatever technical breakdown or other malfunction caused the vessel to do this, it must’ve been a complete embarrassment for the captain and his crew. However, it was an awe-inspiring spectacle for the countless locals and visitors who swarmed...
“You don’t just mourn the dead person, you mourn the person you got to be...”
– Meghan O’Rourke, The Long Goodbye: A Memoir Of Grief (Virago)
“The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to,...”
– Henry Moore, sculptor and artist
Empty hearts
Sunday night. The kids were out. The First-Born was in Germany, The Daughter was in Brighton and The Last Son Of Krypton was in some picturehouse somewhere. In search of cultural nourishment, Wee Wifey and I decided to watch the movie adaption of Evelyn Waugh’s classic novel A Handful Of Dust.
I’d studied the book at grammar school, where we’d spend lesson after lesson...
July 2011
18 posts
Classic albums No. 9: Sunny Side Of The Street
Still very much a hidden gem of British music, Bryn Haworth is celebrating his birthday today (29th July). So I thought I’d pay tribute to one of our greatest guitar players by looking back on his legendary work Sunny Side Of The Street.
It’s certainly a ‘classic’ for Bryn fans. More significantly, it’s ‘classic’ because it was that important second...
Classic albums No. 8: Rattus Norvegicus
Middle-aged punks stood in the fading light of a clapped-out streetlamp. Each one of them had seemingly prised themselves into black jeans and black leather jackets. Beer bellies hung over their Wranglers.
My mate Tim Smale and I had come to see Hugh Cornwell in concert. He had left The Stranglers and was pursuing a solo career. That night he had returned to his old band’s haunt in the...