As a teenager on a family holiday in Rome, I visited the Capuchin Crypt. This series of small cellars is decorated with the bones of several thousand Capuchin friars. Femurs line the walls whilst finger bones adorn the light fittings. One room alone is dedicated to pelvises. My self-righteous 16-year old self was horrified. Not… Continue reading Lessons from a finger-bone lampshade
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A Purposeful Adventure – Carrs Lane Lived Community
Planting seeds On Tuesday, whilst visiting a community in Birmingham, I spent several hours digging over a vegetable plot, preparing it for vegetable seeds to be planted. I have a big blister on my thumb and a painfully pink neck to prove it. Every intentional community we’ve visited so far has involved digging and planting, whether… Continue reading A Purposeful Adventure – Carrs Lane Lived Community
A Purposeful Adventure – Windsor Hill Wood
My husband and I have recently returned from visiting Windsor Hill Wood in Somerset. Founded by Tobias Jones and Francesca Lenzi, this community ‘aims to create a peaceful environment where people going through tough or uncertain times can come and reflect on life’. Toby’s book ‘Utopian Dreams’ is what initially inspired our ‘purposeful adventure’, so… Continue reading A Purposeful Adventure – Windsor Hill Wood
God, gays and the floods
Large parts of the UK are currently facing prolonged and extreme weather conditions, including high winds, snow and extensive flooding. In the midst of this, some light relief came last month in the form of David Silvester, a local councillor and member of the much (and rightly) derided UK Independence Party. He claimed that ‘the… Continue reading God, gays and the floods
Marking footsteps
‘Mark my footsteps good my page,tread thou in them boldly. Thou shalt find the winters ragefreeze thy blood less coldly.’My husband and I have just returned from a weekend on the Dorset Jurassic coast, a stretch of coastline in the south of England that is breathtaking in its beauty. We were visiting the Othona Community,… Continue reading Marking footsteps
Getting back to reality – a reflection for Epiphany
With the Christmas holidays over and the decorations coming down, there is perhaps a sense of ‘getting back to reality’, or once again entering the ‘real world’. As my husband reminded me, the word ‘reality’ can often get confused with ‘normality’. Something may be normal, but on closer examination may not be as real (in… Continue reading Getting back to reality – a reflection for Epiphany
Extract from a Quaker cantata
Occasionally my musical and Quaker worlds collide, never more so than in my recent cantata 'The Nayler Passion', produced by The Leaveners in November. It's a 75 minute piece for piano, lute, chorus and baritone soloist. It tells the story of early Quaker leader James Nayler, drawing parallels with the Christian passion narrative.
A Purposeful Adventure – Othona and Mount of Oaks
In July I wrote about my and my husband’s plans for a ‘purposeful adventure’, a year of exploring a variety of intentional communities. As part of the planning process, before taking the plunge we are dipping our toes in the water. We’ll spend a weekend here and a week there visiting some places that may… Continue reading A Purposeful Adventure – Othona and Mount of Oaks
Protected: The Quakerly art of squashing
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Spontaneous hospitality
Some short thoughts.On Sunday, my meeting spent some time reflecting on the question 'What is our ministry?'. It was a really fruitful discussion and many people expressed how much they'd enjoyed it. It was preceded by a share meal, something readers of my blog will know I'm very keen on! I think there was a… Continue reading Spontaneous hospitality
Jolly Quaker 