Category: photos

in your own time

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sourdough starter

This morning I’ve been pondering sourdough starter as a model for church growth. The process works like this:

  • prepare a warm hospitable place for things to grow
  • stir in the basic ingredients
  • leave it alone for a while
  • check on it after a few days and give it a stir
  • when it has grown sufficiently, use some of it and replenish the rest
  • so long as you keep feeding it, you can give away quite a lot and still have all that you need

Two other observations:

  • at first it seems to take forever for things to get going
  • give it long enough to mature and it grows quickly without losing depth.

Unfortunately, the whole process is much more predictable with bread than with congregations.

The starter itself is now thriving at the rectory. Bring a jar if you want some.

grand-cat

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My father claims that he is going to try to find my blog, so this is a gratuitous picture of the grand-cat to say welcome.

The rest of you can indulge my posting the family photo album by simply shaking your heads and saying, ‘she is silly about that cat…’

sunday

a little thing

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hazel

After 15 years of dipping in and out of Mother Julian’s Revelations, I have finally seen a hazelnut. I know, I know — I must have seen them before. But I didn’t know they were hazelnuts, since I didn’t recognize the tree. So I have never known how luminous, how very soft, how lovely they are.

And so much more world like in their fragility. Julian must have had a green nut in mind, existing because it is loved.

It was at this time that our Lord showed me spiritually how intimately he loves us. I saw that he is everything that we know to be good and helpful. In his love he clothes us, enfolds us and embraces us; that tender love completely surrounds us, never to leave us As I saw it he is everything that is good.

And he showed me more, a little thing, the size of a hazelnut, on the palm of my hand, round like a ball. I looked at it thoughtfully and wondered, ‘What is this?’ And the answer came, ‘It is all that is made.’ I marvelled that it continued to exist and did not suddenly disintegrate; it was so small. And again my mind supplied the answer, ‘it exists, both now and for ever, because God loves it.’ In short, everything owes its existence to the love of God.

–Mother Julian, First Revelation