ange's musings

Mission is revealing to others their fundamental beauty, value and importance in the universe, their capacity to love, to grow and to do beautiful things and to meet God. Mission is transmitting to people a new inner freedom and hope; it is unlocking the doors of their being so that new energies can flow; it is taking away from their shoulders the terrible yoke of fear and guilt. To give life to people is to reveal to them that they are loved just as they are by God, with the mixture of good and evil, light and darkness that is in them: that the stone in front of their tomb in which all the dirt of their lives has been hidden, can be rolled away. They are forgiven; they can live in freedom. Jean Vanier, Founder of L'Arche

Great Saints, Great Sinners Richard Rohr Sin and grace are related. In a certain sense the only way we really understand salvation, grace, and freedom, is by understanding their opposites. That's why the great saints are, invariably, converted sinners. When you finally have to eat and taste your own hard-heartedness, your own emptiness, selfishness and all the rest, then you open up to grace. That is the pattern in all our lives. That's why it was such a grace in my hermitage year when I was able, at last---even as a male and a German---to weep over my sins and to feel tremendous sadness at my own silliness and stupidity. I think all of us have to confront ourselves as poor people in that way. And that's why many of our greatest moments of grace follow upon, sometimes, our greatest sins. We are hard-hearted and closed-minded for years, then comes the moment of vulnerability and mercy. We break down and break through. Source:  Letting Go: A Spirituality of Subtraction

The Lowen Household; 80 Taylors Mistake Road - my bedroom is the top right one A walk along an adjacent street brings these views of Sumner and the bay into sight. Bound by 3 streets, Sumner is a pretty small seaside town (population 3978 in 2006 - seriously small eh?). Very busy at the weekends with the arrival of surfers and relatively quiet in the week.  Interesting local feature of Sumner that I enjoyed yesterday is the Sumner cinema, which was opened in 1938 and has 3 screens, each with more seats (337 in total) than the Orpheus cinema (a small, family run cinema I am fond of in Bristol). Last night I enjoyed the almost private viewing (there were only 2 other people there) of '500 days of Summer' with my friend Jacqui - what a treat! Pretty good if you can seat ten per cent of the population in its local cinema at any one time don't you think! This headland known as 'Godley Head' reaches beyond 'Taylors Mistake Beach' a quieter neighbouring beach and

Worship finds its greatest expression in a life that moves gracefully through struggle.