Well- not quite.
But I think we may well reach the record mumber of sky lanterns ever released at one time in Dunoon this weekend.
The real world record was set below Jakarta- below. They set off more than 10,000. Which is about as many people who live in Dunoon- so perhaps we have a chance.
By the way they are falling from the sky in flame in this clip, I assume that these lanterns were not fireproofed!
As previously mentioned, Aoradh are doing a thing in Dunoon’s west bay next weekend- the 13th and 14th of December.
This will take the form of a partnership with some other community groups- the forestry commission, guides etc. The event was suggested by CLAN as a way of raising money/awareness for the development of the play park on the west bay. The forestry commission will be selling Christmas trees too.
Our bits will include an alternative worship thing, poetry, a Christian Aid BIG SING, mediation walk, and a mass sky lantern launch- this is the flier that we are including in the sky lantern pack-
The light keeps shining in the darkness, and the darkness can never put it out…
As part of our Advent festivities, Aoradh invite you to be part of a celebration of light.
Each year, we are plunged into a whirl of busyness around Christmas- all the presents we buy, the cards we send, the pressure of making ready for a feast. All these things are good, but it is so easy to lose sight of the Christ-child. We wanted to encourage one another to step aside, and reflect…
Our intention is to use these paper sky lantern as carriers of our hopes, expectations and prayers in this season of waiting, and so make our deliberate preparation for the coming Christmas.
You are invited to write prayers and thoughts on the lantern, and to be part of a MASS SKY LANTERN LAUNCH from the West Bay Dunoon, on Sunday the 13th of December, from 5.00 pm– weather permitting.
(NB We will need fairly calm, dry conditions for the mass launch to take place. If we are not able to launch on the Sunday, then we will go for 5.00 on Monday- then Tuesday and so on.)
The spectacle of a large number of sky lanterns rising over the Clyde together is something that we hope will live in our memories, as a visual reminder of the rising possibility of hope.
And of light flickering in the darkness…
Be careful as you write on the lanterns- they are fragile!
If you are wondering what a sky lantern is, or have never seen them launched, here is a clip. Imagine them rising up as prayers- powerful stuff!
Yesterday we took a trip over the Clyde.
It is a very ordinary trip to us- we do it all the time. We go to the bottom of our drive, turn left and after about 200 yards, there is the terminal.
The rhythm of the ferries in their back and forward battle with the tides is the backdrop to our lives here. The lights pass comfortingly by on wet stormy nights, and on still morning you can hear the safety information announcement clearly floating in the air as we lie in bed, wrapped up warm whilst the commuters head for the city.
Yesterday was ordinary.
But there is beauty in the ordinary.
There are fragments of wonder.
The dark nights are always a surprise when the clocks change from BST to GMT- it was already dark when I was home from work at 5.15.
Winter feels that step closer.
Darkness is rising.
So on this All Saints Day- may some fractals of light make their home in your soul.
For the winter is long
But also
Beautiful.
Photo by Scott Adams- http://www.flickr.com/photos/10021898@N02/797575782/in/photostream
On the shore a few hundred yards from where I live, is this rock.
It has probably been there since the last ice age, but at some point in the last 150 years someone thought that the point on one side looked like a beak so painted it black and began to call it ‘Jim Crow’. Quite who this was, and what the thinking behind the name was all about is unknown.
In June of this year there was much local controversy as someone painted over the decorations in the rock, restoring it to a natural stone colour. As far as we could tell, this seemed to be a protest against the symbolic meaning of a rock called ‘Jim Crow’. Here is the Dunoon Observers (somewhat partisan) take on the story at the time.
There was much debate as to what should be done about the rock- should it be repainted, or would it be better used as a different kind of community installation- perhaps decorated by different schools once a year…
However before this could be taken any further, someone had repainted the rock in its original colours.
So what is all the fuss about?
Well, the origins of the words ‘Jim Crow’ are pretty dreadful to most post modern sensibilities.
As far back as the middle of the 19th Century, ‘Jim Crow’ was a pejorative negative stereotype of people of African
origin. ‘Jump Jim Crow‘ was a popular song and dance routine performed by white men with black faces in 1828 in the USA. The minstrel shows that began in this time became popular all over the world- and would certainly have spread to the music halls catering for day trippers ‘doon the watter’ towards the end of the Victorian era.
The words ‘Jim Crow’ were used as a description of black people at this time- in the same way that others would use ‘Nigger’ or ‘Sambo’.
But the infamy attached to the words was just beginning.
Following the widescale freeing of slaves following the American Civil war, the politics of the Southern states gradually returned to the Conservative whites, and from the 1870’s, a whole series of ‘segregation’ laws were enacted. These were known collectively simply as ‘the Jim Crow Laws’.
The effect of these laws on black Americans in the first half of the 20th Century has been well documented. It took the great struggles for freedom of the 60’s and 70’s to break their power.
There is a sample of the scope and extent of the laws here.
People fought and died over these issues, and for many the struggle against prejudice and narrow judgementalism continues.
So, back to our little rock in Dunoon.
I have heard it said that the name of the rock comes from the fact that there used to be a local joiners yard owned by Jim Crow opposite the rock. I doubt this myself, but in any case, the words ‘Jim Crow’ had too much resonance in the past to ever have been neutral or value free, and the decoration on the rock is just too black-and-white-minstrel.
As you can see from here , there are strong opinions locally. One argument goes something like this;
Jim Crow is a local landmark- which has been there for over 100 years, and has nothing to do with racism.
The only people who have a problem with it are ‘incomers’ who have no connection to Dunoon.
For many years we had an American Navy base here, with lots of black sailors. No one ever protested about the rock.
It is a harmless much loved piece of local tradition, and should be left just as it is.
Jim Crow on a photo dated 1905
But the sight of the rock, golliwogged up in garish new paint has always troubled me. I believe that where tradition and culture are in league with prejudice, then it is time to take a closer look at what we actually want to base our local tradition upon.
It’s symbolism may be obscure, but it is no less potent when set alongside recent American history.
I hear that the matter has been discussed in Scottish parliament, and there may yet be further scrutiny of the matter.
Get rid I say.
Thanks to Si Smith for the link to this project which looks really great…
The guys behind this initiative have combined their faith and passions into a collective called ‘Earth Abbey’- their website is well worth checking out.
This is what they are about…
Sounds great.
I wonder whether we can gather something similar in Dunoon?
So, Dunoon is famous. Infectious even.
As of today, there are 18 suspected cases of swine flu in our little town. Emily’s year have been sent home from school and told not to associate with people for a week. Two of my workers are off because one of their families is suspected of having the virus too.
The hospital is just about at meltdown, testing and chasing down folk who have had sustained contact with those infected. The good news is that those who are suffering seem to be OK, and the Tamiflu vaccine is said to be effective.
Of course, Emily is very pleased to be off school however!
There is some footage from the news here.
I live in a small town. One of the first things that you learn when you move into town is that everyone has history, and the history is known to others. In fact it might even be what passes for entertainment in such places- the stratification of fellow residents according to all sorts of criteria-
These things are true in any community- but they are accentuated in small towns. The thing is, that this concentration of examination can mean that conflict in particular is corrosive and damaging, and potentially long lasting. There is little to divert or dilute, and it is likely that contact will still continue at some level within the communal spaces of the town.
Some conflicts are legendary- played out in the local courts, and the local paper. Once the solicitors get involved things rarely go well.
There seems to be a particular personality type that is associated with such things- someone who sees complex issues as black and white, and is motivated to seek first vindication and then perhaps, revenge.
There is always more to an issue than meets the eye;
By way of a case study- about three or four years ago, I was involved in a disciplinary hearing of a member of staff who worked for a local voluntary organisation. To cut a long story short, he was later dismissed in relation to another matter (in which I had some involvement in as well.) This process was long and protracted, and the man concerned showed no willingness or ability to understand or engage with any perspective but his own. It was clear that he saw himself as a victim of a malicious campaign led by myself.
At one point of this process, a window was smashed on a car on our drive, and then on two occasions, wheels mysteriously worked loose on the car- at considerable risk to myself and my family. There is of course, no evidence whatsoever to suggest who was responsible.
The man later appealed to an industrial tribunal, and defended himself successfully, in the sense that the organisation was found to have failed in it’s handling of the matter- mainly because a former chairperson admitted to the tribunal that he lied- having claimed not to have been in possession of information which it later transpired that he had, but had not acted upon.
It was a messy, difficult business, with the future of a vital local resource, employing a number of staff at stake. Hopefully over and done with…
Except it is not.
The man concerned has now engaged a solicitor to pursue his vindication. They have made formal complaints to the director of social work about me, and suggested that my lack of integrity means that I should be disciplined. This has been rejected, so I await his next moves…
What should be my response? He is unlikely after all this time to change his perspective. Too much depends on this view of himself persisting.
I could get lawyered up myself and prepare to do battle- it might yet come to this.
I could simply punch him on the nose. But although I am twice his size, I simply would not know how to start.
He has thrown my faith at me on several occasions- you know the way of it- ‘Bible basher!’, ‘Call yourself a Christian?…’
Well yes- I do. I follow Jesus, who had much worse accusations leveled at him. So I am going to do nothing at present. I hope that the man will find his way out of the destructive cycle that he is caught within. I will try my hardest to relax in grace, knowing that difficult people are usually people in difficulties.
And when we meet in supermarkets, I will look him in the eyes and offer what reconcilliation I can, lest we become another story of embattled and embittered small town life.
I had a long day in Helensburgh today- meeting some of my staff, and chairing some reviews. I caught the ferry home amongst the usual mix of commuters and weekend holiday makers-grateful to be heading home.
It has been a tough week- more because of my old internal demons that from time to time drag me back to places that I hoped to leave behind.
Waiting for me was an e-mail someone had sent to the Aoradh website.
Most such e-mails are friendly inquiries or greetings, and this one started in this vein- a woman who is retiring to Dunoon with her husband from abroad, and had been checking out the church situation over here on the internet, and so found her way to our site.
And one article had upset her sufficiently that she felt the need to e-mail to let us know.
This was not for the usual reasons that have brought us to conflict previously- doctrine, Biblical interpretation etc. It was rather because she found something that I had written judgmental and unkind.
Ouch.
It is always harder, I think, when things that you think yourself to be strong in, are found wanting by others. By this I mean that I consider myself to be a pretty tolerant, kind person, who goes to great lengths to be fair and just to others when I can- although I have my petty moments as my friends will tell you! The whole ethos of Aoradh had always been to stand for unity and love, against that brick wall kind of Christianity that finds others wanting.
But here it was- clear evidence that someone else saw me, or at least something I had written, in an entirely different light.
What this lady objected to was this article– and in particular, these words;
There is a new kind of prosperity however, fuelled by the idolatry of the house worshippers. We have a new middle class, who disgorge from the Western Ferry terminal every weekday evening, home to their semi-rural idyll after a hard day in the big city. At the edges of the town, new identikit houses spring up overnight, expensive designer accessories, fitted kitchens and all.
I replied to her e-mail, apologising and trying to explain that this was a piece of creative writing where I was trying to come to terms with being an incomer in this town, and to understand what formed it’s character. I was groping to understand the town’s economy- and the centrality of property. I was wondering in my own mind if the obsession with owning and renovating property (as seen constantly on the TV as well as locally) had become the way that we measured life.
I was wondering if property had become the god of our age.
Now shown to have feet of clay as prices tumble and the credit gravy train derails.
What this ladies motivations for expressing her disapproval, I have no way of knowing. Perhaps the words I wrote were badly chosen- and I certainly have no wish to offend. Perhaps she tends towards the argumentative and dogmatic- a character trait not unheard of within our churches. Perhaps she has a romantic view of the ferry journey over to Dunoon, and my words spoilt a precious image for her.
Was I being unkind and judgmental?
I am not sure. But I still think that these questions are important ones- to ask ourselves.
Because I have a great big rambling house by the sea. I try to use it for others, and fill it with music and friends and fellowship. But I know that it is a source of ego strength- in all its faded glory.
So I bring it again to God, asking him again to use it, and me. I can do nothing else.
As for the complaint- soon the lady concerned will begin her own transplanting into new soil. May she find the kind nutrients and generous watering she requires…
this fragile tent 