We finally managed to get the kiln down the cellar steps today. It has been a bit of a puzzle- how to move half a ton of metal and fire bricks down some crumbling narrow stairs into a confined space.
Some very kind blokes who are used to moving heavy objects around the hillsides did the job. Thanks boys!
They were able to set up a ground anchor, and use a sledge and winch line to lower the kiln.
Its a big relief- and I look forward to seeing some pots emerging out of raw clay…
SATURDAY
.
like a weaned child I am content.
.
My soul is made sclerotic
From fast eating
Arterial flow all slow
.
But to this broken place
Your manna falls
.
Tiny morsels
Mixed in milk
Are all I can hope to stomach
And even so I am blown full
Like a belching baby
.
I ask no more
It is enough
FRIDAY
.
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
.
The half-shadow you cast on my spirit
Is warm and soft
And I am left hollow from feasting
And ragged from all my richness
.
I am desperate-
Reaching out beyond these straws I grasped
Craving for the shape of you
Held in distant memory
.
Catch me in this simple thing
Called home
THURSDAY
.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
.
Time is a claw in which I am squeezed
Each day hooked on a hundred demands
Each second hard wired to the current crisis
.
And in all the noise of it all
You are silent
Because you were not in the thunder
You were not in the lightning
.
You were not in my efficiency
You were not found in my effectiveness
.
You were waiting
In the stillness
For an end of the me
So the we could begin
WEDNESDAY
.
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
.
I have taken my seat at the high place of state
Sometimes I decided for life
And sometimes for death
I am the author of my own song
.
But then the stars shine
And I am small again
The flutter of my own heartbeat might carry away on
The whisper of the night winds
.
And I know nothing
But you
(Easter island image from here.)
.
TUESDAY
…my eyes are not haughty;
.
I walk with a purposeful stride
And people shuffle in my wake
Swaying at my turbulence
.
Because nothing is impossible for this man of God
No peak will remain unclimbed
No valley unseeded
None of your puny walls can stand against me
.
Why then Lord God
Would you mine my path
With these stumbling stones?
Talking of David- this made me smile-
I have spent some time preparing some meditations on Psalm 131 as part of our continuing Aoradh project to prepare some common meditations, which we then e-mail around our small community (along with others who have asked to be included in the circulation list- let me know if you would like to be included too.)
This next week I have been rediscovering my way into a favourite Psalm of David-
Psalm 131
A song of ascents.
Of David.
1 My heart is not proud, LORD,
my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
I am like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child I am content.3 Israel, put your hope in the LORD
both now and forevermore.(NIV)
I thought it might be good to post my contributions on this blog too, so here is the meditation for Monday-
This week we will use the words of one of the shortest and most tender Psalms of David.
David- the all conquering King of an ascendant Holy Nation, whose deeds in battle will be sung for a thousand years.
Whose beauty, talents and wild edge of passion make him the admiration of every man, every woman.
Standing before JHWH.
Consumed by his frail humanity.
Creaking on his feet of clay.
I caught the end of a lovely programme this afternoon on Radio 4 all about ‘pop up cinema’- an idea we in Aoradh have been playing with- where you set up your own cinematic happening.
Simon has had this dream of using the old buildings on Dunoon pier as a temporary cinema/discussion space. Others, it seems are doing similar things…
The programme was all the more interesting, as it contained a live (Scottish) audience discussion with one of my favourite directors- Ken Loach. He works in a rather unique way, with actors improvising rather than using a script. His subject material is often working class Britain, and people marginalised and brutalised by poverty.
His films are always challenging, poignant and saturated with humanity. And some have made me laugh out loud. One of the things he said on this programme really made me smile- he said that he could only make films about people that he liked.
This is film making that is motivated by a set of principles a million miles from those that predominate in Hollywood, and we British people should be proud of what Ken Loach has achieved.
The film being discussed on the programme is the challenging Sweet Sixteen– filmed within sight of my house over the other side of the Clyde in Greenock.
A powerful film, that I have not been able to watch twice- but some of the images still linger with me.
Here is a clip- with French subtitles for all you posh people who can’t understand the accent.
A couple of news stories this week brought this issue out into the open again-
Firstly, there was the story about the gay couple who won a court case against a Christian hotel for discriminating against them by refusing to offer them a bed.
Then in another story reported on the news today Lesley Pilkington, a psychotherapist for 20 years, faces being stripped of her accreditation to the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) after treating a patient who had told her he wanted to be “cured” of his homosexuality.
You can listen to the short news item with associated interviews here-
\’Gay cure\’ row- from \’Today\’, radio 4
Full story in the telegraph, here. It describes how a gay journalist struck up a conversation with her at a conference run by the US organisation called the ‘National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality’ or NARTH (see here for an earlier discussion about NARTH on this blog.) She then offered the man therepeutic help for his homosexuality.
She is quoted (here) as saying this- “When a therapist believes in good faith that a person can change his or her lifestyle she should be free to offer her expertise without the fear of the loss of her job or professional credentials. The equalities and anti-discrimination agendas are undermining the freedom of individuals to choose to change their lifestyles. These laws are leading to the elimination of a fundamental human right.”
I found myself feeling very sorry for this woman- she is facing a media witch hunt, as well as a threat to her livelihood. But I also find myself wondering at her naivety, and also worrying about her approach to therapy.
She is not without her supporters- see here and here. Some would see this as another attack on Christian values, undermining the Biblical basis for our society. I am afraid I do not concur.
Most therapeutic approaches (eg Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, Person Centred Counselling, Rational Emotive Therapy etc) start from a set of core beliefs about the nature of our psyche, and offer more or less evidence based therapeutic tools to provide opportunities for meaningful change.
But the kind of help being offered by some Christian Counsellors, such as Mrs Pilkington, starts often with a different kind of fixed position- one based on a view of sin, and in particular, the nature of sexuality-
“We don’t use the word ‘cure’ because it makes it [homosexuality] sound like a disease. We are helping people move out of that lifestyle because they are depressed and unhappy.
“We say everybody is heterosexual but some people have a homosexual problem. Nobody is born gay. It is environmental; it is in the upbringing.”
It seems (rather startlingly) that Mrs Pilkington has a son who is gay-
“He [my son] is heterosexual. He just has a homosexual problem,”
“[My son] is still gay … we are developing a relationship that was quite difficult for many years but is now coming back in a very nice way. I am confident he will come through this and he will resolve his issues and that he will change.”
I am a Christian, who has worked as a mental health specialist for 20 years, including a number of years as a therapist/counsellor, using CBT and Person Centred therapies. But I beleive that when ‘therapy’ is allied to narrow views, even narrow Christian views, it becomes very dangerous. It becomes very easy to lose sight of the individual, and focus instead on ideology.
You could argue that Mrs Pilkington gave fair warning to the journalist, and he carefully manipulated her and set her up. It is also quite possible that the full story has not come out in all the news articles that are out there.
But this kind of intervention has no place when practiced by someone working in a position of trust accredited by the BACP.
Christians are still getting into such strange waters over the issue of homosexuality. I find it so frustrating. Even if you accept the reading of the three Bible references that are unequivocally condemnatory of homosexuality as being directly translatable into our context- and there is a real theological debate about this- then you are forced to acknowledge that there are far more references in the Bible (and particularly the words of Jesus) against other things- Greed, avarice, jealousy, misuse of power over the weak and poor, religious bigotry etc etc.
Some of you may think that this is just because I have been sliding like a liberal for too long and if the Bible says it, then it is true. And you are entitled to your opinion. And to my continued friendship.
But please- do not take up therapy.
this fragile tent 
