Virtual Methodist

My 30 Days of Thanksgiving has been a bit sporadic, but my last one is to you for sticking with me...  But now, as we enter into advent I would invite you to continue with me in 25 Days of Watchfulness; watching and waiting as an "attentive pilgrim" looking for signs of grace in the world around us... For a couple of years a number of friends of Crookedshore participated in a shared exercise of advent watchfulness under the title of " Mockingbird's Leap" ... It was a useful discipline, and I resurrected it last year on a patchy basis here on VM. I thought it would be an interesting experiment this year again following on from the 30 Days of Thanksgiving... I hope you  find it helpful in the midst of the pre-Christmas madness. To kick it off here is a reblog of a piece I posted last year . It is inspired by the last set of prayers in David Adam's wonderful wee book  "The Rhythm of Life"  which are a short set of devotions for a Saturday night, un...

About halfway through this past month I noticed that various friends scattered all over the USA were posting daily thanksgivings on twitter and facebook... It only took me a few days and a bit of internet surfing to discover that they were probably all participating in a movement asking for 30 Days of Thanksgiving during November instead of (or as well as) the usual festival of gratitude and gluttony celebrated last Thursday. I thought that it good idea, but that it was a bit late to join in... Maybe next year. But then, with Advent formally kicking in this coming Sunday, I reflected on how the run-up to Christmas has been completely transmogrified into a celebration of conspicuous consumption, and thought back a few years to my participation with others in Glenn Jordan's initiative, "Mockingbird's Leap" - an internet based advent exercise in being "attentive pilgrims", looking for signs of God's grace in the midst of the madness, based on Annie Dilla...

Just a quickie too remind you that with Advent upon us Glenn over at Crookedshore has cranked up The Mockingbird's Leap for a second year. If you are a mockingbird virgin I'll let you explore the site itself to explain the origin of the name, but the idea is that a whole series of bloggers note the little glimmers of God's grace that they see around them during this Advent season. It may prompt you to be more attentive on your pilgimage to Bethlehem this year. Shalom

I caught sight of it as I crossed the Albert Bridge across the Lagan, leaving Belfast city centre on the way home after a fractious meeting on the issue of Human Rights… (When are they anything other than fractious?) But anyway, I saw that one end of it was resting on the Titanic Quarter (the old Harland and Wolff shipyard which has now been zoned for major gentrification, for those not in the know) and I looked across to see where the other end fell… And there it was, resting on Parliament Buildings at Stormont! God must have been having a laugh with me, as I am sceptical as to either of these entities being all that some hope for them… But, as is always the case, when I drove on and my point of view changed, the ends of the rainbow seemingly retreated… This time towards north Down, just like most of the Protestant middle classes in their pursuit of the pot of gold… But the proverbial pot of gold, even if it were to be found via a programme for government emanating from Stormont, or f...