Musings and Random Vitriol

Background

So there I am, quite content to lead the odd reflective service, when all of a sudden we discover there’s no-one around to do the talky bit for one of them.  No problem, how hard can it be, right?

Armed with a fairly clear idea of what I should talk about, I set out to jot it down.  Ha! I’ve now lost count of the hours spent writing, re-writing, throwing away, starting again, editing, cutting, despairing over a three week period in order to produce a 10 minute talk which ended up nearer 20 because I simply couldn’t cut any more out and keep it even vaguely coherent.

Things I have learnt:

• I hate writing talks. Essays, papers, vaguely academic stuff, that’s fine. Talks, no
• it’s very hard not to make it a lecture (for me, at any rate)
• if I have to do it again I’m going for one idea, just one simple concept that can easily and amusingly be delivered in 5-10 minutes. Not something better suited to a Master’s thesis
• people are remarkably gracious as to what they’ll tolerate from the front :)

Anyway, having burnt countless stressful hours on it, I figured it may as well land up here after the fact.  Of course, it’s not properly constructed for a blog post, but I’ve resisted the temptation to expand, or link to more detail on specific bits. It can stand or fall for posterity as a talk, not a paper.

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Worship bugs me.

Not the doing of it (although that has its moments), but the way we mis-use, mis-apply, and limit the word so much. Periodically I think I’ve got over it, but then I discover I haven’t. The latest provocation to twitchiness comes courtesy of a seed sown at Spring Harvest, watered by various conversations with people from local churches in between, and brought to fruition by an article in this month’s Christianity Magazine (June 2011).

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This is neither profound nor insightful, but friends are a good thing, and spending time with them doubly so. Read the rest of this entry »

I suspect this may prove unwise, given the issues with typing quickly and accurately on a mobile touchscreen, but at least it’s another way to while away some time.

Especially as all the good thoughts inevitably come when away from a computer.

Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone

Of all the potential problems and pitfalls of “friending” youngsters on Facebook  – concerns over child protection, possible accusations of inappropriate whateverness, having to watch what you post if you’re prone to posting things that might be deemed inappropriate and all that jazz – who’d have thought that the single biggest issue would be continually resisting the urge to correct their grammar and spelling?

It’s a more tightly focused version of this …

I must resist. I must resist. I … must … resist …