The art of being here It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written, and it is good to get back to this with the inspiration of a poem by Wendell Berry. Wendell was a farmer in Kentucky for most of his life and has written both poetry and prose over many years often reflecting on the importance of the local and the ordinary. He has a wonderful and passionate gift of noticing things and bringing them to our attention. As a farmer he is big on respecting the ‘local conditions’ and of not importing into these our schemes and mechanised plans and processes which ride roughshod over the uniqueness of this particular patch of God’s earth. As a church minister I resonate with much of what he writes and often just replace the word farm with church or community. Just as the local soil profile, temperature patterns, rainfall averages, wind direction, ground cover all determine what will work or will not work on a farm so it is with a church and local community. A two way dialogue i
stillpoint is an offering and a space for busy people doing life and faith. A 5 minute read will hopefully stimulate thought and reflection on how the ordinary details of life can be shot through with wonder and significance. For folk within church, and those getting by perfectly fine without, there should be something here for all of you. After all, we only have this "one, wild, wonderful life" so let's celebrate it.