Silent Sunday

Real Nappy Week

It's Real Nappy Week this week, so I thought I'd put down a bit of my experience with the washable wonders.

When I was pregnant, we decided to go down the washable nappy route, and I dutifully bought a load of terry nappies, which promptly went missing when we moved house! After a bit of consideration, and conversations with people who already had babies, I made the decision to get used to having a baby around, and changing nappies, etc., before starting with the washables, as I didn't think I'd want to be doing all that washing straight away.

With all our feeding issues, it wasn't until a few months down the line that I eventually felt ready to get started with the real nappies. After exchanging several emails with the very helpful Ella at Bum Deal, I invested in the Bum Deal Bargain Pack of 10 nappies. They came in assorted colours and designs, and I selected a mixture of Minky nappies, some with poppers, some with velcro. Each came with 2 Microfibre inserts, though nowadays you'd get 1 Microfibre and 1 bamboo, which is even better. I also bought fleece liners, which are brilliant because they draw the wetness away from baby's bottom, whilst catching hold of poo, and a selection of wetbags for holding dirty nappies.

I found these nappies to be really easy to use, especially with a newborn, as the poo isn't too bad. I did have to change them every 2 to 3 hours otherwise a bit of wicking went on, but as soon as I purchased some bamboo boosters as well, we had no problems with leakage at all. Poo could just be flicked into the toilet, and the whole nappy popped into the wet bag to join the other dirties.

Bible in a Year - Day 274

Day 268 - Isaiah 1, 2 & 3; Galatians 2
‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’
    says the Lord.
‘Though your sins are like scarlet,
    they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,    
 they shall be like wool.' (Isaiah 1:18)
He will judge between the nations
    and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into ploughshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,    
 nor will they train for war any more. (Isaiah 2:4)
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
  

Silent Sunday

What Your Footprint Says About You: Responsible Social Networking

Poor Paris Brown. Her irresponsible use of Twitter has landed her in very hot water. Much of the reporting has made it appear that she was in post when she wrote the offending Twitter posts, so it took me some time and internet digging to discover that the poor girl wrote most of her "offensive" tweets between the ages of 14 and 16 - before she was appointed as Britain's first Youth Police and Crime Commissioner. So, why all the fuss? Don't teenagers do silly things a lot of the time? Come to think of it, there are plenty of adults out there doing much worse. Paris is in the esteemed company of businesses, MPs and celebrities who have had to hang their heads after posting irresponsibly.

Many are calling for her to be removed from her post, claiming her youth and inexperience make her unsuitable for the role. Others are using the situation to further denigrate the opinion of young people these days. We are supposed to consider all teenagers to be irresponsible and poor role models, merely because one girl has made some stupid mistakes. I know a lot of young people from my time as a teacher and a youth worker. The majority are intelligent, well-mannered, valuable members of society. It is wrong to tar them all with the same brush.

What I think this event highlights is the need for better education in the areas of technology and social media. Children and young people are taught about internet safety, about not revealing too many personal details or posting photos of themselves, but seemingly nothing about the power of their digital footprint. Future employers can search the internet for our past and make decisions based on what they discover. Have we failed our young people by providing them with all these tools - Twitter, Facebook, iPhones, Blackberries, etc. - and failing to give them the education they need to use them responsibly?

Bible in a Year - Day 267

Day 261 - Ecclesiastes 1, 2 & 3; 2 Corinthians 9
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:8)
Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 10-11)
  

Day 262 - Ecclesiastes 4, 5 & 6; 2 Corinthians 10


Day 263 - Ecclesiastes 7, 8 & 9; 2 Corinthians 11:1-15


Day 264 - Ecclesiastes 10, 11 & 12; 2 Corinthians 11:16-33


Day 265 - Song of Songs 1, 2 & 3; 2 Corinthians 12
But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12:9)


Day 266 - Song of Songs 4 & 5; 2 Corinthians 13
Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you. (2 Corinthians 13:11)

Day 267 - Song of Songs 6, 7 & 8; Galatians 1 
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father... (Galatians 1:3-4)

Silent Sunday

Mooncup Experiences

Here's one for the ladies. And be prepared, you may feel it's a bit TMI at times...



If you're still here, I take it you're interested in finding out about Mooncups, so I shall give you my thoughts on using one.

When I originally heard about them, I was convinced they were the realm of hippies and other such crazy ladies with long hair and homemade hemp skirts. Then my mum started to use one, and told me it had revolutionised her life, so I did think a bit more seriously about the Mooncup. Just when I was considering buying one, I got pregnant, so it wasn't necessary.

My period returned at 14 months postpartum, and, not expecting it, I only had tampons and towels in the house. It was dreadful! After birth it seems everything down there had changed shape, and I had been religious about doing my pelvic floor exercises, so that couldn't be blamed. The tampons were uncomfortable, drying and wouldn't stay in position. I went through a ridiculous number, especially as just breathing or rolling over could cause them to fall out - not to mention the effect of a cough or sneeze!

So, my thoughts returned to the Mooncup, and I duly went to Boots and bought one ready for the next visit from Aunty Mabel.

Bible in a Year - Day 260

Day 260 - Proverbs 30 & 31; 2 Corinthians 8
Every word of God is flawless;    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. (Proverbs 30:5)
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

Easter

Easter turns everything on its head. We go through our lives knowing that some things are so, and they will always be so. And then along comes this man and He challenges our certainties.

Dead is dead. But Jesus was alive after crucifixion and two nights in a tomb.

Women were second class citizens, whose word wouldn't count in court. And yet Jesus chose women to find the empty tomb and be the first witnesses to His resurrection.

Wrongdoing, betrayal, lies don't go unpunished. But Jesus didn't berate His disciples or remind them of their failings; He spoke peace to them and came to them in love.

Second chances are few and far between. But Peter was offered the opportunity to make things right.

Death is the end; it will get us all. And yet Jesus beat death and offers us eternal life.

Will you take the chance in letting Jesus challenge your certainties today?

Good Friday

What does an empty cross tell us?

I have often gazed upon an empty cross at the front of a church and it strikes me that there is no reason for it.

 It doesn't speak of victory or resurrection.

The cross would be empty regardless of whether Jesus would live again or not.

It symbolises only death - a death to come, or a death that has already occurred.

I think of the cross it is meant to represent. Perhaps others had already died on this cross, maybe it had never been used before, but the likelihood is it would be used over and over until it would become impossible to know who had been executed upon it.

A better sign of victory would be an empty tomb, showing that even death could not hold Jesus down.

Instead we see this empty cross devoid of meaning specific to Christ. The crosses of the thieves were empty too, though they did not rise again.

Drawing of the crucifixion, by John of the Cross

My preference is for a crucifix - a cross bearing a statue of the body of the crucified Christ. Not because I enjoy looking upon his tortured and broken form, but because it holds meaning for me.

Are we not called to "preach Christ crucified"? (1 Corinthians 1:23)

Before a crucifix I am reminded that the cross is irrelevant without Jesus. It is not the cross that saves us, but Jesus' death upon it. It was upon the cross that He spoke the words of His triumph over sin: "It is finished." (John 19:30)

Saint Augustine comments on those who stood at the cross of Jesus: "As they were looking on, so we too gaze on his wounds as he hangs. We see his blood as he dies. We see the price offered by the redeemer, touch the scars of his resurrection. He bows his head, as if to kiss you. His heart is made bare open, as it were, in love to you. His arms are extended that he may embrace you. His whole body is displayed for your redemption. Ponder how great these things are. Let all this be rightly weighed in your mind: as he was once fixed to the cross in every part of his body for you, so he may now be fixed in every part of your soul." (GMI 248)

With a crucifix I am able to witness Jesus' wounds, His death, His love, my redemption. I am reminded of the great price paid for me. I can meditate upon the cruelty and the necessity of His death, for without it I would be a slave to all my sin; I would have no hope of a future; I would be lost.

And if there was no death, there could be no victory over it.

I gaze upon the crucifix, upon Christ's battered and broken body, and I wait with all creation for His resurrection.

"Christ of Saint John of the Cross"
Salvador Dali

7th Day of Lent - God's Word

Words are powerful. As James writes, "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing." (James 3:9-10). Words can be good and kind and build others up; or they can be hurtful and damaging and ruin lives.

 

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He said not to babble or use lots of words. God knows what we need, before we ask Him (Matthew 6:7-15). The Lord's Prayer is concise, simple, to the point. We honour God and call Him 'Father'; we ask for His will to be done; we request forgiveness and our needs to be met, and to be taught to forgive; and we beg to be protected from evil and temptation.

 

 God's Word is more powerful than any of ours. When God speaks, His words will achieve His purpose, no matter what attempts to get in the way. "It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11). As we've seen over the past few days, God speaks for the poor, the oppressed and the broken. He calls us to do the same. We have a choice to follow God's Word, and speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, or we can leave that mission to someone else. Either way, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18). Isn't it better that we choose to join God and use our words to promote social justice?

 

How will you use your words to build up the oppressed and broken today?

5th Day of Lent - Freedom

But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. (Deuteronomy 26:6-10)

How wonderful freedom is, and how easily we take it for granted. Each morning I can decide what to do with my day. I can take my daughter out for a walk, or we can read stories, or build a tower of blocks and knock them down. We could even do all three! There is no one, but her, telling me what to do or where to go. But how often do I thank God for my freedom? How often do I thank Him that I was born into a loving family in a country where I am free to be educated, to be paid for my work, to speak as I think?

It is only when our freedoms are curtailed that we begin to recognise the wonders of freedom. When our beliefs are mocked, when our religion is used as a reason to fire us, when we cannot speak our thoughts for fear of being sued. 

4th Day of Lent - Sabbath Delight

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday...
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

    and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight
    and the Lord’s holy day honorable,
and if you honor it by not going your own way
    and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
    and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land
    and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”
    For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:9-14)

The Sabbath is here inextricably linked to social justice. Our fasting is pleasing to God if we do away with oppression; our Sabbath is pleasing to God if we use it to put the needs of others before our own. Here in Isaiah, God tells His people, "Don’t use my holy day for personal advantage." (Isaiah 58:13, The Message)

3rd Day of Lent - Loose the Chains of Injustice

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke? 

Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,     
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 

(Isaiah 58:6-7)

Why do we fast during Lent? Our priest said, the other day, that fasting helps us to remember what Jesus gave up for us: He gave up Heaven, power and glory, and then He gave up His relationship with God the Father and He gave up His life. Puts our fasting from chocolate/TV/Facebook/caffeine/(insert other pleasure here) into perspective, doesn't it. Fasting during Lent also helps us to identify with Jesus' 40 day fast in the desert after His baptism. Jesus' fast was part of His preparation to do God's work, and similarly our fasting should enable us to get closer to God in order that we can do the work He has planned for us. Fasting also affirms our dependence on God and upon each other. We can do nothing alone, and, as John Donne wrote, "No man is an island, Entire of itself."

2nd Day of Lent - Choose Life

The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Luke 9:22)

As we journey through Lent, we are preparing to remember and celebrate Jesus' death and His resurrection. Jesus gave up His place in Heaven to live on earth like us and He died so that we could enter Heaven with Him. But His return to life 3 days after His execution was His victory over death.

Victory over death. Death is wrong. It's a result of our departure from the perfect creation. It is meant to make us angry, sad, grief-stricken. So why is it that we now live in a culture where death is campaigned for? We can kill babies in the womb, merely because they are inconvenient; we can kill babies up to birth for being disabled, or even for having a cleft lip; we want to kill criminals, rather than spending time and energy rehabilitating them; we call for euthanasia. Where did we start to go wrong? When did we decide that death was so simple and life of so little worth? Jesus died to give us life.

Ash Wednesday

By the sweat of your brow
    you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are    
 and to dust you will return. 

(Genesis 3:19)

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent. We have entered a period of fasting, pentitence, reflection and preparation, as we approach the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Today we are marked with ashes as a sign of penance and as a reminder that we were created by and for God, and not the other way around.

Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Day goes by many names: Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Carnival.

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent, a period of fasting, begins. Fasting used to be much more severe than it is now. During the Middle Ages, people fasted from meat, dairy and eggs, as these were thought to be the foods that gave the most pleasure. They also abstained from festivities and from sex! So, in preparation for the desert time ahead, the people celebrated and partied and ate. Many of the foods eaten on this day were rich, sweet delicacies, earning it the name 'Fat Tuesday' or 'Mardi Gras'. Its other name is Shrove Tuesday. The common belief is that shrove comes from the old English word 'shrive', meaning 'confess' as people were expected to attend confession and receive absolution before entering the season of Lent.

Pancakes were useful for using up the milk and eggs in the house before the Lenten fast. We continue the tradition today with Pancake Day. Ah, Pancake Day. I love pancakes. I love them covered in lemon and sugar, or maple syrup, or chocolate sauce. I even like savoury pancakes. You have to be a pretty special foodstuff to get your own day of celebration.

Just as the Christians of the Middle Ages rid their homes of the foods they would be unable to eat for the next six weeks and confessed their sins, we ought to rid our lives of those thoughts and habits that do not befit Christians. You might not visit a priest to make your confession, but we can all bow our heads before God and tell Him we are sorry for the things we have done wrong. And as the Christians of old fasted through the weeks of Lent to identify with Jesus' fast in the desert and to bring them closer to God, we can pick areas in our lives that need to be cleaned out to enable us to walk more closely with our Heavenly Father.

When I was at school, everyone seemed to give up chocolate for Lent, with varying degrees of success. It's still a popular fast today. My dad, however, encouraged us to take something up instead; to start doing something that would help another or bring us into a better relationship with God. One year I washed up after dinner every night. Another year I determined to focus more on reading my Bible.

This year I feel called towards justice. God calls us to "Act justly, love mercy and to walk humbly with Him."(Micah 6:8). I intend to spend Lent reading more of my Bible, praying more and writing letters to my MP and others regarding issues where I can speak up for those who can't speak up for themselves.

What will you be doing this Lenten season?

More Than A Pillow

At the weekend we bought B her first pillow. It's a flat little thing, with a cute pillowcase covered in a bizarre mix of animals: lions, fish, hippos and alligators. And yes, it's from Ikea, of course. She loves it, and will lay her head on it and make little snoring noises, though she is yet to fall asleep by herself on it. I'm watching her now, in the wee hours of the morning, as she sleeps so soundly, secure in the sense that I am close by, her snuffles matching those of her father lying on my other side.

Bible in a Year - Day 245

Day 239 - Psalm 128, 129, 130 & 131; 1 Corinthians 7:25-40
But the Lord is righteous;    he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked. (Psalm 129:4)
But with you there is forgiveness,    so that we can, with reverence, serve you. (Psalm 130:4)
Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption. 
He himself will redeem Israel    from all their sins. (Psalm 130:7-8)