Are you ready for ... ?

I have been asked this question so many times this week. Are you ready for Christmas?

In fact, I do feel ready for Christmas - which is probably not the expected answer.

The last two weeks have been extraordinary. I have hoovered behind the bed head and my bedside cabinet. I have mopped the kitchen floor. And today we vacuumed out the car and even washed it by hand. Later today I began to wonder what is going on with me - ... nesting??

No, definitely not. But maybe not for my own baby... Maybe I have been subconsciously cleaning up my life for the baby who is coming, who is about to be born, again. Advent is supposed to be a time of reflection and repentance, to prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. I have spent time this autumn raking over my Christian life to some extent (through a "Freedom in Christ" course at my church). And now all this physical cleaning?! Of course, in fact Jesus came not to a clean place all prepared for him, but into the opposite, a make-shift bed in a mucky stable. So I don't think we need to clean up our lives for Jesus to come into. But on the other hand, I am feeling that it is good to make the place (my heart, not really my house) ready. Ready for a new birth, a new beginning. A life lived with a Person, not with a set of doctrines or resolutions.

Best Reads 2013

Boy I have read a lot this year. Partly because of taking the bus to work two days a week (I drive on the others). Also because... I have come across some excellent books.

My reading year started with receiving a Kindle for a Christmas present. Having been reluctant to have one, I finally decided, though, that a Kindle might be a good thing. And I do believe that it has led to... more reading! I still read "real" books, borrowed from the local library, or from my brother Mark who reads as much if not more than me, or occasionally bought. And maybe one in three books I read on the kindle.

Kindle books:
I started by reading all three Hunger Games books by Suzanne Collins. I raced through them, quite drawn into that world (another dystopia to add to my collection), wanting to know the outcome. The books are gripping, although I kept asking myself if I really should be reading about teenagers being made to kill each other. A bit dodgy... But now that Alex has read them, I am glad I did first. And we all enjoyed seeing the two films so far.

Another attraction of the kindle is that many older books are free. So I have filled in quite a few gaps in my reading of classics this year. These included Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Wolf - so clever how it segues from one scenario to another as though the reader leaps from one narrator's head into another's; The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - a fascinating journey with the suffering narrator, where you get to experience what electric shock therapy is like among other things; The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”) - if you haven't read this, I highly recommend it, it is a fabulous story and so beautifully, amusingly written.

Also on Kindle I read Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant, which is a historical novel set in a convent in Italy in the 1500s, about a younger daughter who is sent to the convent against her will because of an "unsuitable" romance - living through that captivity with her is eye-opening. Quite an easy read but very evocative.

"Normal" books:
One great non-fiction book I read was The Child that Books Built by Francis Spufford. Since the author grew up reading many of the books that I did, it was such good fun being reminded of them all, but he also analyses them brilliantly to show how they shaped his growing understanding of the world. 

Another non-fiction book I adored was Congo Journey by Redmond O'Hanlon. This is a bit like Blood River in that it tracks a somewhat crazy white guy as he makes a sometimes dangerous, always fascinating journey on foot and by boat through the Congo. The author was interested in the wildlife of Congo in particular, giving brief but lovely descriptions of the birds and insects he found; his ultimate goal was to find the Congo dinosaur which was said to inhabit a remote, sacred lake. Whether he found it or not, I'll leave for you to find out... It is an amazing description of the country and the people he travelled with, giving occasional glimpses of the terrible history of the Congo. O'Hanlan entered fearlessly into the culture, drinking palm wine quite wildly with his guides at night, acquiring a fetish to keep himself safe, surviving on foufou, fish and monkey meat... Total immersion. It is a wonderful read.  

I also loved The Blue Afternoon by William Boyd, a murder mystery/love story/historical novel which describes 1930s colonial life in a new part of the world to me, the Philippines. The main character is loveable and annoying - but you so want to know how it all works out for him in the end. 

I raced through The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, set in 1930s Alaska - a very sweet poignant tale of an older couple who long for a child; it reads like a folk story and is based on one - it is a beautiful book.

My two favourite books were Flight Behaviour by Barbara Kingsolver, and Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth. Flight Behaviour combines my interest (is that the right word?) in global warming, with the fantastic writing of Barbara Kingsolver who is one of my top authors. It tells of how an invasion of monarch butterflies transforms life for the people of an Appalachian town. 

Sacred Hunger is a historical novel set in the 1700s in England, about the slave trade, and human nature. It is told from the point of view of a wealthy merchant who sends off a ship to buy slaves from West Africa and sell them in Jamaica, and also of a doctor who travels on the ship, who abhors the whole thing and ends up bringing about, although involuntarily, a mutiny on the ship. This book was mind-blowing in revealing to me how the slave trade was considered legal and defensible among the Georgians, and how their entire economy was wound up in it. Some people were beginning to see the vileness of it, and yet how to bring about change? It seemed impossible as all the powerful, influential people depended on it for their wealth and status. It has made me think about things in our society that we take for granted as being reasonable, and that we depend upon, and yet in future will be obviously abhorrent and utterly unacceptable. As Dan and I talked about it we thought that the way we are damaging the planet is probably the thing about which in the future (I hope at least) people will look back and say, "How could they have been so arrogant, so foolish, and so blind?" In a similar way, the people, governments, companies who could bring the necessary changes, have too much to lose. But at some point, the obviousness of the cause, - the truth, in fact-, will become so clear that the necessary sacrifices will have to be made. 

A good year in books! 

In the presence of greatness. Nelson Mandela RIP.

In December 1998, Dan and I attended some of the World Council of Churches assembly in Harare. Nelson Mandela came to speak at the opening ceremony, and so we were lucky enough to be in the crowd welcoming him in, and then to sit and listen to his address. This is the only photo we got which he actually can be seen in - there were so many people, so much excitement, so much pushing and jostling, shouting and waving.

The height of feeling of the crowd was infectious - they were greeting him as a hero, and like a long-lost family member coming home. A Zimbabwean lady beside us was screeching his name, Madiba Madiba! and waving her programme violently over her head, completely beside herself. In very noticeable contrast to the ecstasy of the crowds, Robert Mugabe walked along beside him solid and stony-faced. This was the year he was beginning to pay his "war veterans" their "pensions," the year when inflation first took off, bread riots began and the first food shortages began to occur.

In his speech Mandela talked about his years in captivity, and about the role of Christians in Africa (very graciously). He also talked about leadership. He looked straight at Mugabe sitting front and centre, when he said, "When I step down from the presidency, I shall ask myself, "Have I served my people?""

Although we only saw him fleetingly, the adjectives that are being used everywhere about him seemed apparent then: gracious, true, uncompromising, humble, joyful. It was the joy he brought to the people that I remember the most.

Alex's picture

Alex was told to make a picture and write an explanation of it answering the question, "Where is God?"

This is his explanation of his picture:

"In my piece of artwork I drew God's hand holding a globe of people. Above was a dove coming down from heaven to protect the people. God holding the people showed that God is in everyone and is always there holding everyone. A dove was coming down from heaven, which represented the hly spirit being in heaven, but also being in everyone, and protecting everyone."

I think that would be a great exercise for everyone to do.