We watched a fascinating television programme last called The Monastery. Five everyday blokes had signed up to spend something like 6 to 8 weeks living in a Roman Catholic Monastery. The monks live by the Rule of St. Benedict; sort of a guide to life, living in community (and or a monastery) and to many it holds a treasure of spiritual wisdom. To watch the, in various cases, profound experiences of these everyday guys fitting into and becoming part of the community was captivating. You could see these people interacting with God for the first time or for others it was like a personal revival of exploration into the spiritual life. I was astonished to see simple scenes where quite clearly the Holy Spirit was at work on people. Then there was the witness of these individuals, stating honestly that the monks’ simple way of life and commitment to the Disciplines had created space and opportunity for them to open themselves up to an inward journey in search of their self identity, and ultimately to find God.
Tony came in, taking time off from his job in the soft-porn industry, as a non-believer. To listen to his testimony that he woke up one morning not believing but reaching the end of that day “now believing in it, whatever ‘it’ is”, was ace. Tony has been back to visit the monastery on several occasions since leaving.
‘I go through life as a transient on his way to eternity, made in the image of God but with that image debased, needing to be taught how to meditate, to worship, to think.’ Donald Coggan
It is Christian Aid Week and I am proudly wearing a sticker that a little old lady gave me in the centre of town. The slogan of fundraising drive to help people in poverty, ‘You Add, We’ll Multiply’, is simple and to the point. A concept that is being used by other charities helping to Make Poverty History such as the Oxfam Unwrapped scheme. For Christmas I was given a card by Fran’s parents which informed me that my gift was a goat that had been given to a family in East Africa. What a great present. I named the goat Maria Jesus, a very Catholic name for this nanny goat supplied by a similar scheme put on by CAFOD.
I really encourage all of you to get involved in such charitable behaviour. We can all do our bit to save the world.
What a wonderfully exhausting weekend. While my Dad was turning 61 I was running around in a beautifully sunny sports park in Mansfield; it was the UKUA Open Tour 2. Saturday was windy and combined with the sunshine and my complete lack of sunscreen I went to bed with a very red and sore neck. Sunday saw the wind drop but the sun continued to shine as I faced the grudge match. Trigger Happy, who I had picked me up, versus Motion, the team I train with and had turned down. Motion went about 4 points up, we gave away easy points by making fundamentally simple mistakes. 2-6 down at the half meant we had to get ourselves in gear. We knew Motion would crack if we got in their faces and stepped our defense up. Malachi was making a lot of play for them, taking most first passes and looking for breaks. I was asked to mark him out of the game, and he got frustrated as my experience countered his tireless attempts to make things happen. Elsewhere Trigger had got their heads around the concept of man-to-man marking forcing Motion into harder throws, which either went into the ground or got eaten up by D. It was an epic point at the start of the second half and it marked the turning pint where Trigger gained momentum and Motion fell out with each other (the primary reason I was not playing with them at this tour). Trigger come back was an onslaught of back to back points and we defeated Motion with a triumphant 11-7 score line.
Trigger held their second division seeding finishing 10th.
Motion somehow improved their seeding by 2 to 16th in the second division even though they only won one game.
Floor Play, the Manchester girls team, short of numbers, joined forces with the also depleted force of Swift, from St. Andrews. They improved their seed finishing 5th in Women’s Tour 2 and also won the Spirit of the Game award.
Chevron, a legendary non-geo team, came 4th in the first division after reaching the final at Tour 1 in Bristol.
Rich Shorty, LeedsLeedsLeeds, has blogged some Ultimate Frisbee photos.