Story of Stuff

Have a gawk at this site - a wonderful way of showing how the stuff we buy comes to be where it is and at whose expense. www.storyofstuff.com

Surrounded by the Perilous Poozers of Pompelmoose Pass

I'm working on tomorrow's sermon and being helped by Poozers!
My parents encouraged me and my siblings to read - books were always part of our birthdays and Christmases. Dr Suess was a favourite with his wacky language and brilliant artwork. He was also something of a subversive, taking the opportunity to point out a few truths to the world. My favourite is Yertle the Turtle. I have used that story as part of a presentation on The Powers & the Church. It went down particularly well in Vanuatu. As Anne and I were planning for this Sunday I remembered the story I had trouble in getting to Solla Sollew where the character is surrounded by the Perilous Poozers of Pompelmoose Pass all because he is trying to find a place where he will be free from troubles. Of course there is no such place. The character heads back home understanding that he has to tackle the troubles rather than run from them.
Anne and I will share the story at church.
Here's where some of my thoughts are heading...
Sometimes our wounds are overwhelming [like it is in the Dr Suess story] Do we run from what surrounds us, threatens us, and wounds us? Or do we walk into the situations and find our way through despite our wounds?
Do we run from our troubles or find a way to make the best of them?
Personally I think that our wounds heal better when we face them rather than try to deny them. But don’t you think for a minute that I am here to tell you that there is a clear way to handle difficult situations. Sometimes stepping back from a troubling situation is the best option, and sometimes making the best of what you have is the best option. And both alternatives can leave you with deep wounds that are hard to heal. But facing the reality of these wounds is, by and large, an essential part of their healing. Trying to escape life’s wounds by heading off to Solla Sollew ‘where they have no troubles, at least very few’ isn’t going to get anyone that far in the long-term, because troubles in life are not optional.

river tragedy

The following cartoon in today's The Press is a fine example of how we should respond to the tragic loss of six 16 year olds and their teacher in the waters of the Mangatapopo River, in the central North Island this week. While there is a great deal of hand-wringing about why such things happen, and while there will be the necessary enquiries as to whether the right safety precautions were in place, and while many will look for someone to blame (the usual human practice of seeking a scapegoat), Mike Moreu captured something about what we can do now that needs few words...
[see this and other cartoons by Moreu on http://www.stuff.co.nz/693207a17217.html]

Leunig on Anzac Day

Michael Leunig usually reserves his words for the characters in his wonderful cartoons - but a few years back he wrote an opinion article for Anzac Day in the Melbourne Age newspaper. I uncovered it this week - it is worth a read...

Here's a snippet:
"Anzac Day, it seems, must now be done with bluster, hoopla and media hypnotism. Like the landing and the campaign itself, there is something appalling about this in the eyes of many Australians new and old - some disgraceful misuse of humanity by the wielders of political and economic power."

And I cannot resist another snippet, as he has a go at the appalling Onward Christian Soldiers hymn that in 20 years in ministry I have never chosen for a service (though once someone else chose it and I had to put up with it)...

"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus going on before.
Christ, the royal Master, leads against the foe; Forward into battle see his banners go!" This drab, common little hymn, this melodramatic Anglo jihad song was taught to us in the 1950s, and in Sunday school or religious instruction class we were often heard singing it. The volume and gusto we usually displayed came from the intuitive belief that if we sang loudly and vigorously enough we would somehow have the choral momentum to go the distance and get through it quickly - a bit like running fast over hot coals.
To sing it on the back foot might mean that the song would become so feeble as to break down and groan to a halt, leaving us stranded forever in the dull wasteland of its meaningless words.
The lyrics seemed to be more about a rampaging gang of morons than a wandering prophet who espoused radical love.

My grandfather Lloyd Campbell Stewart fought in Italy in 1943-45. He returned but said little - my father recalls that he came back a different man - dark hair replaced with grey - but more than that, distant. On Anzac Day I want to remember the cost and sacrifice without glorifying warfare. I believe that war is ugly and dehumanizing - a denial of God's creativity. Even though at times a stand has to be taken...

Read more...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/04/26/1177459869956.html

artistic scary facts

I've just found the following site 'Running the Numbers. An American Self-Portrait' by Chris Jordan, where he depicts the reality of waste in massive displays that are made up of the thing he is talking about. Sounds complicated but click below and all will be revealed.

Depicted here are two million plastic beverage bottles, the number used in the US every five minutes - the second two images are zoomed in.

http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?icl=7