3 December – Adult Advent Announcement

Today’s poem, chosen by Caroline, is Adult Advent Announcement by David Redding

O Lord,
Let Advent begin again
In us,
Not merely in commercials;
For that first Christmas was not
Simply for children, 
But for the 
Wise and the strong.
It was,
Crowded around that cradle,
With kings kneeling.
Speak to us
Who seek an adult seat this year.
Help us to realise,
As we fill stockings,
Christmas is mainly 
For the old folks-
Bent backs
And tired eyes
Need relief and light
A little more
No wonder
It was grown-ups
Who were the first
To notice 
Such a star

Thoughts

In church yesterday we lit the first advent candle, a light that will shine out in the winter darkness, and heralded the start of our Advent journey.

Although I’m not sure that I agree with the picture of old folks with bent backs and tired eyes, I think that this poem holds an important message for us all.
The commercial side of Christmas has been in full swing since the beginning of October, and gradually the secular side of Christmas has leant increasingly towards being child centred. 

There are no children mentioned in the nativity, other than the Christ child, the first people who were involved all adults, Christmas is a time for all, old and young and Advent is a time to reflect on all that Christmas brings.

Prayer

Dear Lord
At the start of our journey through Advent
May the light of the candle
Kindle the light of hope in our hearts.
May your light lead the way,
Until you come again
In glory.
Amen

Comments
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Advent Sunday – True Rest

Today’s poem, the first of our Poems for Advent, is True Rest by Margie Casteel. It’s chosen by Carolyn

True Rest

Come with me to a quiet place
Away from all the noise and busyness
Let me wrap My arms around you
Enfold you in My love

Let me whisper peace to your heart’s storm
Soothe your troubled brow
Listen to the love song
I composed just for you

In Me is true contentment
In Me you will find what you long for
Come with Me to a quiet place
And receive rest, strength and peace

Margie Casteel

Thought

I’m starting our journey with this poem because in these troubled times, times of conflict abroad and disharmony at home, peace seems almost unachievable.
As we enter Advent, as the busyness increases, a reminder to come to the quiet place that is Christ’s love, is a good place to start.

Prayer

Lord
As we begin to sink under the weight of all that has to be done
Help us to immerse ourselves in your love 
And feel your strength and receive your peace
Amen

Advent poetry

During Lent this year we followed a book of poems with commentary. We’ve decided to repeat this during Advent --- but with poems that we’ve found or that have been nominated by members of the congregation and friends. We’re starting on Advent Sunday – 2nd December. If you’d like to nominate a poem that has a special meaning for you then contact me – leave a comment with your e-mail address or just email me at david.m.harris@btinternet.com

REACH middle-eastern lunch

Great lunch today in aid of the Hope School in Bethlehem. The Reach youngsters were so professional and the food was great!




Click on the slideshow to see bigger pictures

Inspirational Young Enterprise

The Young Enterprise team from the Chiltern Hills Academy made it to the BHS Christmas Fair today. On Tuesday at their weekly meeting they realised that the fair was only four days away and they really got their act together. Two members went down to the town and bought all the material they needed for their sweet bags. There was an intensive production session filling the bags with sweets, closing them with the gold ribbon they had bought, and making the labels. Deciding on the price was a little challenging but eventually they opted for £1: a reasonable profit but a price they thought would encourage customers to buy.

Another production session was held on Wednesday at lunchtime to ensure they had enough bags for the fair.

It was a real example of how having a clear objective to which they were all committed made a big difference, not only to the amount achieved but also to the enjoyment and sense of achievement of the team.

At the fair this morning, they were in high spirits: they had a table full of sweet bags and people were buying them. They were keen to tell me that they had ideas for the Victorian evening at Chesham and were planning to sell in school. They recognised that they would have to negotiate this.

Already this group has developed some skills which complement their school lessons and which will stand them in good stead whatever career they pursue!

Telford bridges on the Birmingham Canals

We saw two wonderful  bridges on the BCN last week.

The Engine House Aqueduct, built in 1825

The Galton Bridge, built in 1829. At the time it was the highest bridge in the world. The span is 46 m (151 ft) – but Telford’s Menai Bridge was longer!

We also met a walker with a pet pig!

Zone plus day 3

African Drumming and Calligraphy

Full set of pictures on the web site www.zoneplus.org.uk

Zone Plus - day 2

Street Art and Cooking today. 

Numbers are down but everyone had a great time. Here’s a video of the catwalk in the Street Dance



All yesterday’s photos now on the Zone Plus website and today’s Street Dance ones. Cooking to follow.

Great first day at Zone Plus

Graffiti – or rather Street Art – with Will Rosie from all about art.

Tomorrow: Street Dance and cooking

Earthquake-proof buildings – British engineering

The scientific world has roundly denounced the jailing of the Italian scientists for failing to forecast the earthquake and the entire leadership of the Italian disaster-warning agency has resigned. There was a facetious letter today suggesting that the UK weather forecasters should be jailed for forecasting a heat wave this week that didn't turn up. Let’s hope the sentences are overturned on appeal – and on some reasonable understanding of risk.

More about risk later but I thought I’d try to find some earthquake-related engineering so I Googled earthquake-resistant buildings, expecting to find some Japanese and US material (OK, the former probably wouldn't appear in western typeface!) but I was surprised to find a British engineering company that includes these in their product range. Have a look at their web site here and a detailed description of ’quakes and buildings here.

Reid Steel also have a marine division which makes, amongst other things, the Starfish – a super little rowing dinghy for children.

Engineering – and earthquakes

Silence for over a month – I’ve been catching up after a couple of trips so here we go again. There’s been some discussion recently about the need and opportunities for engineering projects in the UK. I say ‘some discussion’ because part of the problem is that engineering has a very low profile here.  I was going to research some exciting, interesting, leading-edge British engineering achievements or plans (not HS2!) and then came the news about the Italian earthquake convictions. While not strictly an engineering story, I think it epitomises the lack of understanding by one part of the establishment of another. Do we have another “two cultures” here?

The chance – probability – of an earthquake is a statistical thing. Have a look at the work done in California – another quake region – on the Southern California Earthquake Center web site here. To quote one section: “According to the new forecast, California has a 99.7% chance of having a magnitude 6.7 or larger earthquake during the next 30 years (see Figure 1). The likelihood of an even more powerful quake of magnitude 7.5 or greater in the next 30 years is 46%. Such a quake is more likely to occur in the southern half of the state (37% chance in 30 years) than in the northern half (15% chance in 30 years)” Now, this forecast was made in 2007 so what’s the chance of an earthquake there tomorrow?

While a little simplistic for the chance of an earthquake, one of the basic statistical models is the normal distribution. This is the distribution of probabilities around an average. Lots of things follow such a distribution – heights of a group of people, number of items in supermarket trolleys, in fact anything that is ‘normal’ The average is the most likely but some measurements will vary from the average – the further away, the fewer there are. The Standard Deviation of the distribution measures how spread out are the figures: in a normal distribution 68% of measurements will be within one standard deviation either side of the average. Go to two standard deviations and 95% are within this and at three, 99.7%. Standard Deviation is abbreviated to the Greek letter sigma (r) There’s a wonderful explanation of Standard Deviation on the Maths is fun web site here. There’s also a great model on the web which generates a normal distribution in front of your eyes. I left it running while drafting this entry:

If you want a really full explanation of Standard Deviation, have a look at the Wikipedia entry, but it dies get very dense.

Who was it who said “Lies, damned lies and statistics”?

A few days in France - Caudebec-en-Caux

We’re just back from a short trip to France: short but full of fascinating sights. We stayed for the first two days at Caudebec-en-Caux which is on the Seine between Rouen and Le Havre. The Seine is very wide here and as well as river cruise boats there was a fair amount of commercial traffic – including the cruise ship “Black Watch” which sailed downstream one afternoon. Rather surprisingly there were no small pleasure boats.

Looking upstream from Caudebec: the bridge is the Pont de Brotonne

The architecture of much of the town was the usual exotic style. The Manoir de Rétival, which overlooks the town, is actually a restaurant. Its web site claims it’s not an hotel, rather “Le séjour se déroule dans une atmosphère familial” (translated on the web as “A private atmosphere makes your experience of sojourn stand out.”) Very French.

The Manoir de Rétival

Dedication of new kneelers at Little Hampden Church

Bishop Alan dedicated some wonderful new altar kneelers at Little Hampden Church at a service of Evensong this evening. The Service was lead by Rev Caroline Bailey and was followed by drinks and nibbles.

The old kneelers were falling apart. Jeanette Green designed the new kneelers, using the colours in the windows as inspiration. Some of the Little Hampden congregation  ladies started to make the kneelers but they were not experienced enough so Jeanette, together with Kathy Featherstone and Lois Shoesmith completed them. Tonight’s service was a celebration of their work; unfortunately Kathy and Lois couldn’t attend but Jeanette was presented with flowers and a special gift.

Harvest at Little Hampden

Wonderful sights in the field next to us tonight: