RRR

Another week has gone by so fast and it's time to respond to the Friday Five posted by Songbird
over at RevGalBlogPals (with a very nice new refreshed webpage) She writes:
We're in the thick of it in church life as we approach the end of Lent. Palm Sunday and Holy Week await. In the midst of this busy-ness, I undertook a little redecorating here at RevGalBlogPals and found a new template for us. It's the sort of task I like in the middle of chaos, a chance to redo something, to refresh the way I feel, to restore some sense of order. Please share with us five ways you redo or refresh or restore your body, your space, your blog, anything in your life that needs perking up this week.

• This week I have been intentionally walking when I feel a bit jaded. Like tonight - it was one of those nights - started well: packed up handbag and laptop and left the office by 6 p.m. ready to get home and provide transport to a birthday party; stopped off in 'Ladies room' - realised still wearing heels - went back to office and changed into runners - for comfort - bus at stop was a godsend to get speedily to train - at Railway station realised I didn't have laptop. I had bought some water en route - did I leave it in the convenience store? Then again maybe I left it in office when I changed shoes? Could I get sacked for losing a work computer? What if someone hacked in and got all the school info/ exam questions/personal details? Quick call home and making of alternative transport arrangements - taxi to work - laptop by desk :-) Tempted to get taxi back to station but walked instead. Still home by 8 pm. Feeling good.

• A constant reminder of the first peoples of this land

• Make something. I have rediscovered knitting in the past few years and it is very rewarding to see a garment take shape. Rhythm relaxation refreshment. Also brings in the reuse and maybe recycle aspects of responsible light living.
  

• Plan a holiday. Booked flights to Avalon to travel the Great Ocean Road in the Easter break. Sorry that is a bit insensitive in a blog where so many members will be working their hardest at this all-important liturgical season. But it's true. And is something I have done this week.

• Clean the 'fridge. Great satisfaction last weekend from getting all that stainless steel of the refrigerator, dishwasher and oven back to something of their former shiny selves. Nothing like a good spring clean. Or autumn clean to be more accurate.
  

Movie night

A nice early Friday Five from Jan at RevGalBlogPals so I can play before I go to bed ... Jan writes: Whenever daughter MJ comes home on breaks from college, I get to go to movies, which has me thinking about motion pictures. Plus, it is fun to watch rented dvd's at home, which my husband prefers.

Share your preferences, opinions, and recommendations about movies! Choose 5 types of movies to discuss:

* action - never much sought after by me, but seemingly loved by our film group so in the last year I have seen a few. I really do find it hard to enter in to this type of movie which bombards with violence and death without real consideration of the human impact. Quantum Of Solace provided a quantum of reality in this regard, and I found it a better movie as a result.
* thriller - The Constant Gardener is the movie that first comes to mind in this category. Based of course on a marvelous novel. This movie I could really engage with. One of the creepiest movies I have seen is Disgrace - yet also a movie that remains with me and has some important themes that transcend the geographical location of the plot.
* drama - Frost/Nixon was maybe more a docudrama. Memorable as much for being viewed at the Darwin Deckchair Cinema as for the wonderful content. Helped me understand much more clearly an event I remember in recent history. I thought the dramatic characterisation was excellent. And for straight drama - the award winning Piano is a timeless treasure in my view.
* foreign - so what is foreign? At this end of the world many of the movies we watch come from beyond our shores. If we're talking about 'non-English language' then this is probably my favourite genre. Film festival lover from way back (and now no time to go sadly). Two favourites are very appropriate for the Easter season: 100 nails and Mary. The opening scene in the former was so shocking and gripping, and that tension didn't leave me throughout the performance. This is one of my all-time-favourite movies that I could watch again and again. Mary is also a wonderful movie. Juliette Binoche is so convincing. I'd like to watch it again this Easter.
* Vintage. In Claremore OK this summer (their winter) I watch my first Will Rogers movie (sorry I cannot remember the name of it). In Wellington the Aro video store had a wonderful range of classic (i.e. pre-1970) movies. I so miss that store, it is the best ever. But I digress. What did I rent and watch and remember from their nostalgia section: Lilies of the field with a young and gorgeous Sidney Poitier and very memorable characters; Goodbye Mr Chips - the 1939 version with surprising insight into the futility of war and the enduring value of friendship. Not quite so old but very powerful is The Wall - the amazing real-time capture of a nation reunited as blow-by-blow the barrier was dismantled.

Bonus: My first movie was 'The Sound of Music". It was the only movie we were allowed to see for a long time as it passed our parents' wholesomeness test. I still love to sing-along. The most recent outing was to see The Blind Side which I absolutely loved.

Bonus Bonus: Great Australian movie Bran Nue Dae seems alarmingly politically incorrect at times and has respected traditional elders on the advisory board. One of the movies where I have lol many many times, and realised at the end that this apparently light-hearted movie has conveyed a significantly deeper message about first peoples and country.

How religious is my spirituality ...

or how spiritual is my religious practice? Interesting questions raised by MomPriest at RevGalBlogPals in the Friday Five this week. She writes:

Yesterday I attended a led conference by Diana Butler Bass. She is presenting new ideas on the state of the church and why there is hope for Christianity. One of her premises is a Newsweek/Washington Post poll from 2005 that states that 55% of the people in this country describe themselves as religious AND spiritual.

Without going into detail about her understandings of religious and spiritual (you may want to attend one of her conferences, if you can) share with us five thoughts ideas or practices that you consider to be "religious." Then share with us five thoughts, ideas, or practices that you consider to be "spiritual."

For example one thought about religion might be that it is "salvation" Or an idea about religion might be that it it is an "institution" and a religious practice might be "going to church." An example of spiritual thought might be a phrase from a poem, a spiritual idea might be the inspiration for a piece of art and a spiritual practice might be meditation.

So, five thoughts, ideas, or practices that are religious....and then five thoughts, ideas or practices that are spiritual. OR are they the same thing to you?

I certainly think of these concepts as being intertwined if not exactly the same. Maybe the best statement of my thinking is that religion is an expression of spirituality. So for example I read the holy scriptures of the Christian tradition as a part of my spiritual development. So for me it's not so much compare and contrast as identifying the broader spiritual domain within which my religious practices fit. I have focused on practice - as I cannot begin to work out where the dividing line is for thoughts and ideas.

Religion	Spirituality
‘Going without’ in Lent	Exercising discipline
Liturgical practice	Articulating faith
Reading scripture	Entering into tradition
Receiving sacraments	Participating in community
Contributing to mission	Engaging in social justice

I must admit this was one week where I wanted to see what others had written before I ventured to put finger to keyboard myself. Glad I didn't though. Now I'll post and go see where this interesting task took other revgal readers.

Afterthought: Interesting that I haven't listed prayer anywhere. Just an observation. I think it is also part of participating in community.

Fantastic February Friday Five

From Jan this week. And posted before I go to bed on Friday as well which is a lovely bonus. For some reason I cannot cut and paste tonight so I'll try to capture the gist of her meme as I answer it below:
What do you think as you approach the month of February?
First peoples. Waitangi Day - as Jan mentions the day on which Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand signed a Treaty with the British Crown in 1840. Celebrated well here in Sydney last weekend at Merrylands. And this weekend marks two years since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a formal apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples of this country for government policies and official action which tore families apart and left generations-lasting scars.
Valentines Day. Ten years ago on Sunday my Dad died suddenly (it was a Monday night) so this is a time of mixed feelings. I love the day though. Not the commercial aspect but the opportunity to do something fun. I bought a gift that all the family can enjoy at Oxfam a few weeks ago.
February also marks a US Federal Holiday to remember George Washington. Who is your favourite president?
Tempted to say Castro. But I think the spirit of the question refers to the USA. After our wonderful visit in December and January I feel there are too many to choose from. Night at the Museum 2' brings Lincoln to mind in gigantic proportions. We visited the Woodrow Wilson museum in Washington DC. And the JFK tomb at Arlington. But actually I go back to Lincoln. The difficult times he presided over. His agony at committing troops to war. His commitment to freedom. His battles with depression. And his home life. Quite a story.
Shrove Tuesday - how will you celebrate?
Pancakes pancakes pancakes. At home and at work. FUN! In our previous faith community this was a wonderful event for the whole suburb, with pancakes in the park (it is of course the hottest month of the year downunder) entertainment and an explanation of lent and easter from a Christian perspective.
Other ways to celebrate in February.
Lent Event. Swimming at the beach. Picnic dinner. Outdoor movies. And indoor movies too. On the 26th we will be holding our annual Blessing of the Hands ceremony for the first year medical students which is a marvellous celebration.

BONUS: Lent website or video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QMx5GL
and a brand new discovery on the Book of Face tonight - go to www.overcomingviolence.org and follow the link to the multimedia study for Lent.

Lent Event 2010

It's that time of year again when the focus starts to move from Epiphany to Lent. The 2010 promo for Lent Event is, in my view, excellent and worth sharing

Transportation meme

A very timely Friday Five from Songbird at RevGalBlogPals who writes:

By the time you're reading this, I'll be en route to a Great Big City to see my son in a play. I'll go by car and bus and train and no doubt cab and maybe even subway. Thus, our Friday Five.

1) What was the mode of transit for your last trip?
A total blow-out on our collective carbon footprint with several thousand airmiles across the Pacific and Continental United States. Supplemented with a mini-van from Phoenix to Grand Canyon, rental car St Louis Missouri-Baldwin City Kansas-Claremore Oklahoma, and bus from New York to Washington DC.
2) Have you ever traveled by train?
Yes yes yes every day (in a way I'm surprised this is even a question). And there have been some longer train journeys: When I left home for University it was train (and ferry) all the way from Hamilton to Dunedin. The train trip from Bombay (the contemporary name of the city) to Raxaul in India will never be forgotten. And I have just been remembering the trip last summer from Melbourne to Sydney which provided a glimpse of the vastness of this great continent.
3) Do you live in a place with public transit, and if so, do you use it?
Yes - see above. Buses and trains are a part of my everyday routine.
4) What's the most unusual vehicle in which you've ever traveled?
Now this is a hard one. Compared with the urban west the rickshaws in India are unusual but in their context they are the most common form of transport, in my adolescence there were hairraising rides in utes and motorcycles through farm paddock terrain but in those cases it was the route and not the vehicle that was unusual. Our family car growing up was 'one-of-a-kind' however: an Austin Cambridge somehow less common than the ubiquitous Morris Oxford, and in our case repainted a bight mustard-yellow colour instead of the turquoise blue of it's beginning. Our car was instantly recognisable!
5) What's the next trip you're planning to take?
Well the trip to work tomorrow - but in terms of big trip probably Easter in Broome and maybe a chance to see in person the sights of Bran Nue Dae which is one of the best movies I have seen in recent weeks

BONUS: What are the trip(s) you really want to make?
Three at least: Ghan (train again) from Adelaide to Darwin, perpendicular to that the Indian Pacific to Perth, and thirdly the Great Ocean Walk which looks so spectacular.

It's all about me

One of the things I was looking forward to with a month in the USA was being in the right time zone for the Friday Five posted on RevGalBlogPals each week. What I didn't factor in was the irregular access to the Internet as a traveller! And the one housebound Friday was Christmas Day when the RevGals were either superbusy or taking a well-deserved rest

So here I am on a very hot Saturday, responding to Jan's invitation to participate in an activity inspired by her current EFM task. She writes:

In EFM this week, our question was, "If you were a color, what would you be?" So that's where this Friday Five comes from, at least its jumping off place.

1. If you were a color, what would you be?
This is kind of different I think to my favourite colour. The immediate response is soft yellow. The colour of early sunset and late sunrise. A touch of warmth and rather luminous.
2. If you were a flower (or plant), what would you be?
A rose like the ones in our garden. Blooming somewhat unpredictably and enjoying freedom to grow as well as seasonal care
3. If you were an animal, what kind would you be?
Something surprising and contextual. Platypus or wombat, echidna or gecko.
4. If you were a shoe, what type would you be?
Josef Siebel with flowers (sensible and quirky)
5. If you were a typeface, which font would you be?

Century Schoolbook or Bookman Old Style