A Drop In The Ocean

St Mary's has signed up to the 24 Hours of Prayer initiative, "Thy Kingdom Come".

A list has been drawn up of those willing to take part and we have each been asked to nominate a time and day to pray for one hour for five people.

I may have mentioned before that I find prayer difficult without the 'trappings' of a set liturgy, so this is going to be a very long 60 minutes.

We were told we could choose where we wanted to perform this duty, either walking, in the company of others, on our own at home - basically, where we liked.

After giving it some thought my decision was to do it at home between 7.00 am and 8.00 am tomorrow (29th) as this is a Bank Holiday and I am unlikely to be interrupted.

The view seems to be that a very large number of people praying over a set period will institute change.

Whether this will prove to be true I have no idea but it will at the very least effect some sort of change in those who pray.

If it does nothing else for me it will be a good exercise in self-discipline..

We shall see.

AGAIN

Yet another violent act of hatred leaves our world shocked and shaken.

What possesses one human being to unleash such a vicious cruel attack on other human beings, mostly young, going quietly about their everyday lives?

Even though we can hardly be unaware of the frequency of such murderous acts, yet still we hope that normal life is still there to be lived.

It is impossible for most of us to plumb the depraved depths of these assassins, yet still we strive to understand why.

Poor children.

Poor Manchester.

Poor world.

A Lovely Afrernoon

I have just come back from a piano recital in St Mary's by Alexander Ardakov.

The programme consisted of Tchaikovsky Chopin and Rachmaninov

He  is a world acclaimed pianist and the playing was wonderful.

It's possible that I've never mentioned before that St Mary's superb accoustics attract musicians of all ages, styles and abilities.

Every Thursday lunchtime there is a concert of classical music, sometimes the performers are students, sometimes young professionals just making a name for themselves, and sometimes someone of world standing who is familiar with the famous St M's accoustic.

We also have a jazz concert three or four times a year which attracts well known artists from many quarters.

It is quite a long time since I went to one of the performances as a member of the audience and had forgotten what a pleasure and privilege it is to be able to enjoy music of such a  high standard in a 'mere' church.

The sun was shining outside but I was quite happy to be inside just absorbing the music.

My friend Crow

This is a Google Crow not mine but looks a little like him.

For a few months there has been a dip in the numbers of birds coming to my restaurant, due in part I think, to the long period of drought but since the long awaited rain arrived there is a sudden run on breakfasts.

All the usual characters have started to turn up as soon as it gets light and by the time I am up (6.15) there is quite a line-up along neighbouring rooftops.

I heard a Jay uttering its harsh cry yesterday, the first one this season and for the last two days my Crow is back.

Oddly for such a very large bird he seems to be quite timid and nervous of the much smaller birds.  They will happily eat without any sign of fear just a few feet from him, but, if any of them move towards him he hops sideways and gets ready to take off.

He watches me from the safety of a shed or garage roof but won't come down to eat until i am safely back in the house.

I love the robins and blue-tits, finches and sparrows but there is something special about Crow.

He has been coming to my garden for three years now and I am really pleased to see him looking glossy and healthy.

A friend in the church whose garden looks onto the churchyard is surprised that I find crows in any way attractive.  The churchyard has several resident ones and she regards them as pests.

While it is true that compared with blackbirds or thrushes or even the robins, the crow is somewhat lacking in musical virtuosity, they make up for it with character and personality.

Or maybe it's just that being a fairly solitary individual myself I have some fellow-feeling for my large black friend.