We need each other

The word is always a word for others. Words need to be heard. When we give words to what we are living, these words need to be received and responded to. A speaker needs a listener. A writer needs a reader.

When the flesh - the lived human experience - becomes word, community can develop. When we say, "Let me tell you what we saw. Come and listen to what we did. Sit down and let me explain to you what happened to us. Wait until you hear whom we met," we call people together and make our lives into lives for others. The word brings us together and calls us into community. When the flesh becomes word, our bodies become part of a body of people.

Henri Nouwen Bread for the Journey

Learning and learning

You must by now know that I'm almost a compulsive learner.

I'm in the middle of my D.min annual summer school frantically learning how to write a thesis proposal which isn't due until next year. It isn't about just writing but thinking and finding the right question and identifying suitable methodologies and then setting about learning them! The last 3 weeks has been a bit on the crazy side but I'm surviving reasonably well. Today I learned that I'm a bit too much philosopher and not quite enough theologian, too much theorist and not enough practitioner. I have some significant thinking, rewriting, and new research to do.

I arrived to my summer school a week early! (The story of my life!) Somehow I didn't get/catch on to an email that changed dates. Still in a little window of opportunity - I decided to use part of the inheritance from dear Uncle Eric on a cello which I can transport easily. I think I'll call it "Uncle E" after him. So I'm also learning to play this new instrument which is quite different in feel!