Power

A friend recently helped me see an interesting connection,  I was telling her about the Bromley by Bow Centre in East London (1).  This once declining church was given a radical face lift by it's Methodist minister, Andrew Morton.  It became an arts centre for artists with attitude.  The staff then went out to the local community and instead of asking them what it could do for them, asked them to help them with their project.  These were people who might find this concept quite confusing at first, because they were supposed to be the clients

My friend said that's like Jesus going to the well, and asking the Samaritan woman for water (2),

I was reminded of how Jesus handles power.  Simon the pharisee thought he was quite radical inviting Jesus to his house (3), But he treated Jesus in a lowly manner, and Jesus pointed this out to him.  Zacchaeus (4) thought Jesus was amazing, he literately looked up to him,  Jesus treated him as an equal, and visited his house and shared his food.
1 www.bbbc.org.uk/
2 John 4. 1-42
3 Luke 7. 36-49
4 Luke 18, 1-10

Where we live in Europe

 This is a map from the blog 'Strange Maps' which describes where 100 million people live in Europe.  I thought I would see if this correlated with where lights are left on at night.

Wilderhope

Here is the borderland,

Ridge-walled with high trees.

I approach Wilderhope,

It’s back turned in an endless gaze.

This is a secret place,

Chosen with delight and circled by swifts.

Also a challenging place,

Pushing boundaries.

That's not my Mum!

Swifts at 20.09

At the weekend in Shropshire we saw the swifts circling Wilderhope Manor.  I wondered whether my swifts had arrived in Leicester.

I have had half an ear open for them all day.  They arrived at 8.09pm this evening, Tuesday 12th May 2015.  I heard them come charging in.  They look great and there are lots of them.

The Summer has started.