May 2010 Archives

Finally got to see Iron Man 2 and it was every bit as good a superhero adventure outing as you'd want to see, building brilliantly on and from Iron Man in 2008.

My synopsis: We join the film to find Tony Stark has achieved much in his now very public guise as 'Iron Man'; still very much the genius, the self publicist and the maverick. Iron man is a public phenomenen! However Tony Stark is battling to come to terms with the fact that his chest implanted reactor is killing him, whilst simultaneously facing military demands for the technology, an embittered high tech' equipped enemy and the corrupt boss and resources of a wealthy weapons company.

But Iron Man is not the solo act he thinks he is and friends old and friends unknown rally round, including the wonderful 'Black Widow' (Scarlet Johannson) to win the day.

All in all, a larger than life witty and faced paced action movie and visual feast, fab!

The brave new world of ISA is with us and new appointments will be applying for their ISA reg' from July. Here's the 101 leaflet from the C of E if its helpful. CofE VB Leaflet 2010.pdf

Rather chuffed to find that 'my other office' is recognised as one of the top 50 independent coffee shops in the country!

Personally I'd put it in the top one; GREAT coffee, warm welcome, cool vibe AND all breakfasts cooked individually to order. (oh and very importantly, you don't have to do that annoying CostBucksEro thing where you have to stand around by the counter like a lemon waiting to collect your coffee!!)

Did I mention it's a fab place ;-)

Chichester Diocese have put me in touch with this great web site that details the law in regards to young people. Useful stuff

I hate to be pigeon-holed but if you are really going to push me on this ;-) then I guess broadly I am a neo Anglican post evangelical contemplative sacremental charismatic with celtic leanings, whose spirituality looks post modern but is in fact a re-imagined Monastic orthodoxy trying to live in keeping with the dangerous memory and presence of Jesus.

I guess now you know!
(Although I'm not sure my descriptor is the same two days running)

Filed under: Apropos of nothing

I read a great article in the Guardian on Saturday by A J Jacobs as he attempted to become a 'uni-tasker' in response to the inefficient overload of multitasking.

"Our hopscotching brains make us more depressed (it's harder to focus on the positive), less able to connect with people and form a conscience. And it's an insane delusion. Multitasking makes us feel efficient, but it actually slows down our thinking. Our brains can't handle more than one higher cognitive function at a time. We may think we're multitasking, but in fact we're switchtasking, toggling between one task and another. The phone, the email, the phone, back to the email. And each time you switch, there's a few milliseconds of start-up cost. The neurons need time to rev up"

It's a great piece, very funny BUT seriously exploring the cultural norm' of multitasking. What is really surprising is that the forays into 'unitasking' seem to have a spiritual balance about them, the experiment has something to say about the contemplative life even though it's not written in that vein.

It left me with both a smile and a sense of 'ouch', as well as a huge challenge about the arenas where I multitask, and a feeling of how much 'multitasking' is at odds with, or at least in tension with, a spiritual life.

The article is here (do have a read BUT not while you are doing something else!)

I get lots of Gap Year adverts BUT I thought this was especially cool (and I don't mean the steam trains)

"Isle of Man we have an amazing partnership with the island's churches and Scripture Union Trust to provide a year of training and practice in youth work. It runs from September to July. The scheme is sponsored by the churches (5 Anglican, 2 Baptist, 2 community) and provides a year in community at Mallmore Hotel on the sea-front at Port St. Mary. The worker is based with a church, but is involved in schools work as well. There is training given in a range of areas, included a unit of personal choice. (eg. learn to drive, video production, dance academy) The only cost to the young person is for spending money and return fares.

Diocese of Sodor and Man (Yes this where Rev Awdry based Thomas the Tank Engine, and the steam trains still run daily)"

Let me know if you want to contact details

The two subjects that always seem to generate the most conversation from the blog are sheds and my eldest boy, H. The Youth Ministry stuff keeps everything ticking along nicely and is, I'm told, useful from time to time. However within the eclectic universe of Youthblogism, it is the above two topics that seem to grab people the most.

So, for those who have followed my sons' ongoing battle with Cerebral Palsy and the challenges that can present in all arenas ... but especially in relation to his desire to drive, you will enjoy this. Today *drum roll* he had his first driving lesson!!

I manged to borrow an automatic car and a chunk of private land and he was able to pilot his way around whilst I sat in the passenger seat. He did much better than I expected and although it has shown the need to work on his steering technique (currently effective but sloppy), his mastery of the brake and accelerator was spot on.

He is only 15 (and a half) but we are enormously privileged to receive mobility funding for him which the Charity Motability turn into a lease car. The lease car is due to change in November and we need to pick a car/modifications suitable for when H hits 17. We are going to an assessment centre in June hence the need for him to get some live experience.

For someone whose motor control, movement and speech is so affected, todays' achievement was quite something.

What really impressed me though was that after the lesson he borrowed the land owners Ride-on Mower and practised his steering technique. That's my boy :-)

I'm a big fan of Ventures
I'm a big fan of youth residentials
I'm a big fan of young people being given the chance to lead

So, I'm bound to plug a holiday which brings all these things together in one package, check it out!

My work at the moment on a 'Youth Strategy' to help Churches stay connected with, or reconnect to, adolescents is occupying much of my musing, praying, reading and research. One of the key pieces of work I am doing is identifying the 'hot spots' (and then learning why the Church is effective in relationship with teenagers) and the 'not spots' (to find out why not).

One of the 'hot spots' that if I am honest, surprised me, was too see that two of our villages started Boys Brigade units (completely ex nihlo) and built a vibrant and engaging piece of childrens' and youth work.

Tuesday night therefore saw me at a BB road show (Engage a generation) in which they were 'selling' their vision and what they can do for/with Churches. Thoroughly good evening (NICE buffet) but more importantly a passionate organisation that is well equipped to engage young people, build relationships, do good youth work which includes faith and spiritual identity.

The recent resurgence of Scouting and the growth of BB has definitely demonstrated that Uniformed work is attractive and thriving, which I am happy to salute (obviously)

Did I mention how unbelievably awesome it was being at the top of Loughrigg?

This video is flitting around the internet today. It's very simple BUT very effective, it contrasts two views using the same words .... watch it through or it won't make sense.

The Duffy Robbins session on 'Potholes on the Ministry Road' was superb. He looked at four potholes that cause major crashes in ministry as a warning/challenge to us and a tool for helping the Youth Ministers we serve.

The four were:

Pothole 1: Consuming activity
Pothole 2: "Professional Holiness"
Pothole 3: Dishonest Intimacy (the whole range of sexual temptations)
Pothole 4: Neglected relationships

I thought this was the best, wisest and most succinct list I have come across and I'm aiming to read fully what Duffy has written on this.

Duffy levelled these questions at us

Am I taking a day off and keeping it holy?
Who am I holding responsible for my families schedule?
What am I doing to let members of the family are more important than the kids in our youth group
Do I invest as much creative effort to make my family a fun and special place as I invest in the youth group at church.
Am I modelling a healthy family life

They are very family centric though and I'm interested in what the questions should look like for someone who is single (especially as in conversations recently it has been the young single workers who have been sharing painfully of the difficulty of living a balanced life that includes rhythm, deep relationships and spiritual discipline)

Not much time last night as I was solo parenting BUT did manage to set up stepped access to the Tall Den, and add some trellising to the front to hide the architectural very non-perfection of the struts*

*An attempt to form a hybrid school of design by combing Chaos theory and Engineering principals. The struts are however all broadly horitical or verzontal in orientation. (All proving that you can't hold struts and platforms level at four different points, on a slope, whilst fixing them into position single handed)

Goodbye DCSF, hello DOE!

"The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has been renamed the Department for Education responsible for education and children's services. Michael Gove (Conservative) has been appointed as education secretary, Tim Loughton (Conservative) as parliamentary under-secretary of state for children and families and Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat) as minister of state for children and families"

ht to

Community Care

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

ht to South Western Martin

I had a great family weekend! A trip to London zoo (superb), a great shared Church lunch to say a sad but fun farewell to our Rector as he heads for pastures new; and importantly, lots of time fettling in the garden.

The results of the fettling being that the new den for my daughter is 75% complete and looking very cool (in a 'Heath Robinson' sort of a way given the random door and windows).

This is the first elevated shed den I have built and I'm quite pleased with the result ........ maybe upward expansion at the 'national shed museum' is the way to go.
There is a large recycled element to the construction with discarded windows, cupboard doors and front doors forming a major part of the fabric. I have an old set of wooden stepladders to create a staircase up to the door, but am currently trying to think of a way of making some stained glass window for the triangles fore and aft under the roof.

The other thing that is vexing me is that I seemed to have failed to pass on the Creosote loving gene to my daughter, thus I will have to employ one of these new fangled soppy ineffectual cosmetic wood coatings with names like Timberlove or Woodycare!

Someone at Church suggested I have an 'open shed' afternoon! I'm liking the idea :-)

It is ......

"That time on a Sunday afternoon when you've had all the baths you can usefully take in one day, and you start to enter the long dark tea time of the soul"

Douglas Adams

Diocesan notice: If your young people have submitted a grant application to the YEF then could I please please (please) have your adult sponsor forms by 3pm today latest as they have to be collated and posted TODAY. Thanking thee heartily :-)

I'm now back from the annual gathering of the dispersed tribe of Diocesan Youth Advisers and a thoroughly good gathering it was too. It was the turn of the North West to host this year so I duly pilgrimaged north (yes I did see snow) and set up camp in Blackpool.
We were really privileged to have Duffy Robins** as our guest/speaker and I appreciated his input massively (watch this blog). Other highlights included discussions on training, bouncing ideas off people, sharing resources AND a sandcastle building competition!***

To cap it all though it meant I was only an hour away from my beloved Lake District and I came back 'via' Rydal in order to have a stroll up Loughrigg. It was fantastic up top; a view right over lakes Windermere and Conniston (in the distance) while being buffeted by the wind was extremely good for the soul.

Snapped this piccy of Rydal water on the way back down whilst indulging in much grinning and singing.

Apologies therefore that communication from me has been a little tardy, am now catching up .... or trying to.

** If you are in travelling distance of Chester I REALLY recommend this day with Duffy tomorrow organised by Chester Diocese

*** I'd like to claim that the sandcastles were a serious piece of team work development training! Like I said, I'd like to :-)

Asbo Jesus has been exploring some Youth work themes, great stuff!

Please do not link to the pics here but link/credit to Asbo Jesus

I have been busy building in the garden and we now have a vegetable patch, yay! It's a raised bed for two reasons:
1. The lack of any flat area in the garden at all, and
2. Our soil is so rocky and clay filled that even our resident mole doesn't manage more than a couple of feet in any direction.
I'm growing (correction, attempting to grow) Chard, Carrots, Spinach, Baby Sweetcorn AND the only brand of lettuce I could find that didn't look like weeds*

Beyond the hedge I've cleared a space to build my daughter a new den** and this will be on legs like some sort of Papa New Guinean tall house***

* This is to help them mature without being ripped out, as happens with any flowers that make the mistake of looking like weeds in their early stages; OOps
** Den is an interesting word, my friend pointed out it was just another word for shed! Guilty as charged
*** Unless it doesn't stay up and then it will be a fresh expression of den based on a Martian tripod towards the end of "War of the Worlds"

I've added a new category, "Positive Youth Stories' and aim to flag up some of the great stuff young people are doing across the country

Young people prove they are worth listening to as they clock up nearly 28,000 hours as sports coaches in deprived areas with the street games project.

Details:

"A nationwide sports volunteering programme has helped over 1,200 young people from disadvantaged areas across the country, including 170 volunteers from London and the South East, to become sports volunteers, giving them access to sports coaching and community leadership skills.

The Co-operative StreetGames Young Volunteers, which currently has 1,206 volunteers aged from 16-25, have together clocked up nearly 28,000 hours working in the community to date - that's more than three years.

The news comes as two thirds of The Co-operative's customers and members, who voted in a recent poll, said that we should listen to young people more.

Peter Marks, Chief Executive of The Co-operative Group, said: "The Co-operative's work on community partnerships, such as our £1m Co-operative StreetGames Young Volunteers project, has shown us that when our young people are provided with supported opportunities they can be truly inspiring and it is clear that our customers and members believe in young people too.

"The sheer dedication of our young sports volunteers and the way they have grabbed this opportunity with both hands and are now inspiring other young people is truly outstanding and demonstrates precisely why we should listen to young people more and inspire them."

Over 50 per cent of the volunteers to join the scheme have gone on to obtain community leadership or sports coaching qualifications - boosting the national pool of coaching talent in the UK"

I love this site, it's several hundred message generators as in the pic below! A few seconds work and something a bit more attention grabbing to include in the notice sheet, programme etc. Genius!

Sign generator dot org

This is doing the rounds on t'internet at the moment, quite rightly though as this 12 year old girl articulates brilliantly a mandate for young people to be listened to, engaged and taken seriously. Fab!

If anyone has e-mailed since Friday night then I will not have received it yet. It looks like the primary and secondary hamsters powering the Diocesan servers have abandoned their wheels. I expect to be hooked back in electronically by 09:30 tomorrow although I will be at the office considerably earlier if you wish to send a pigeon or contact me via comments.

CAPTAINS LOG SUPPLEMENTAL: I'm hooked back up to e-mail, yay!