Jonny Spoor

Now I am disarmed..

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:40:53 +0000

I have waged this war against myself for many years.
It was terrible.
But now I am disarmed.
I am no longer frightened of anything
because love banishes fear.
I am disarmed of the need to be right
and to justify myself by disqualifying others.
I am no longer on the defensive
holding onto my riches.
I just want to welcome and to share.
I don’t hold onto my ideas and projects.
If someone shows me something better –
No, I shouldn’t say better but good –
I accept them without any regrets.
I no longer seek to compare.
What is good, true and real is always for me the best.
That is why I have no fear.
When we are disarmed and dispossessed of self
If we open our hearts to the God-Man
who makes all things new
then He takes away past hurts
and reveals a new time
where everything is possible.

Patriarch Athenagoras of Costantinople

Video

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 12:51:34 +0000

A Jew's prayer for the Children of Gaza

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:42:15 +0000

A Jew's prayer for the Children of Gaza

Video

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:28:21 +0000

Solidarity in Silence ( In Toulouse protesting against...

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:00:00 +0100

Solidarity in Silence ( In Toulouse protesting against against conditions of detained asylum seekers)

Thought I’d share an interview with Jean Vanier from 2007,...

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:50:00 +0100

Thought I’d share an interview with Jean Vanier from 2007, it’s a long one but well worth the watch and gives a lot of insights into his thinking and L’Arche.

Photo

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:52:56 +0100

"Attention is holy, That’s why everyone wants it."

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:33:52 +0100

“Attention is holy,
That’s why
everyone
wants it.”

- Robert Lax

Ps. I’m still alive something will appear soon!

I'm in France

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 10:48:55 +0100

After almost a month in France, I’ve finally found some time to write something on here. I’ve been overwhelmed by the welcome I’ve received at L’Arche in Trosly Breuil. I’ve met some incredible people and am constantly amazed by the inclusivity of the community which is such a challenge to churches and other communities. So what am I atually doing here. Well I spend most of the week in one of the workshops, helping out with the jobs there, companies in France send them simple jobs to do. Work is so important and it’s great that L’Arche not only give jobs to those in the community but they employ other people from the area. Next month I’m heading North to Ambleteuse on holiday with a small group from the community and am looking forward to a bit of a break by the sea.

Life seems so much simpler here and it’s been great not having too much access to the internet and using my time off to go walking or read. It’s been good to have space as well as being part of a lively community. But all in all it’s been awesome and I’ll find some time soon to write something a bit more coherent.

Some great thoughts/quotes on movements/revolutions

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:57:16 +0100

Some great thoughts/quotes on movements/revolutions

"There’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come."

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:23:23 +0100

““There’s nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.””

- Victor Hugo

The times I wish I lived nearer London!

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:58:00 +0100

The times I wish I lived nearer London!

One month to go

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 15:46:00 +0100

In only a months time, I’m going to spend some time in the L’Arche community at Trosly-Breuil in France. This is something I’m excited by but slightly scared and daunted as well. I’ve been reading Jean Vanier’s Community and Growth lately to try to learn as much as I can about L’Arche and it’s been very challenging.

“In community life we discover our deepest wound and learn to accept it. So our rebirth can begin. It is from this very wound that we are born.”

Despite my anxieties, I’m sure that this is going to be a time in which I learn a lot especially about myself and I’ll probably put a few updates on here.

New Sigur Rós Single- Gobbledigook

Thu, 29 May 2008 17:33:31 +0100

New Sigur Rós Single- Gobbledigook:

You can get it for free! People seem to like giving music away for free these days. But I really like this single it’s a bit Animal Collective esque!

Open Source Theology

Tue, 27 May 2008 17:30:54 +0100

When not working this is quite an interesting site, the discussion is always interesting if often over my head! It’s interesting how the concept of Open Source can be applied to different things. I’m a big fan of Creative Commons and all things copyleft.

Great Comment about NME

Sat, 24 May 2008 00:26:05 +0100

“”NME bands” fall within very narrow parameters. In the 80s, the paper prided itself on its coverage of hip hop, R&B and the emerging dance scene which it took seriously and featured prominently - alongside the usual Peel-endorsed indie fare. Now, though, its range of approved groups has dramatically shrunk to a strand embodied by the Monkeys, Babyshambles and Muse - bands who you don’t need specialist knowledge to write about and who are just “indie” enough to make readers feel they’re part of a club. Like everything else in publishing, this particular direction must be in response to reader demand, but it doesn’t half make for a self-limiting magazine.”

Caroline Sullivan in The Guardian

Enduring Voices on National Geographic

Wed, 21 May 2008 22:44:33 +0100

Enduring Voices on National Geographic

Mudhouse Sabbath by Lauren Winner

Tue, 20 May 2008 09:53:58 +0100

I got recommended this book and I didn’t think I’d enjoy it but it’s been a great read so far, particularly like this thought about liturgy.

“Sure, sometimes it is great when, in prayer, we can express to God just what we feel; but better still when in the act of praying, our feelings change. Liturgy is not, in the end, open to our emotional whims. It repoints the person praying, taking him somewhere else.”

Language Death

Sat, 17 May 2008 22:15:00 +0100

The death of languages across the world isn’t something that’s seen as a major issue by the media and the general public. But recently I’ve been reading quite a lot about it. Language Death by David Crystal is a fairly comprehensive guide to it. Here’s a few snippets.

“Surely, just as the extinction of any animal species diminishes our world, so does the extinction of any language. Surely we linguists know and the general public can sense that any language is a supreme achievement of a uniquely human collective genius, as divine and endless a mystery as a living organism. Should we mourn the loss of Eyak or Ubuykh any less than the loss of the panda or California condor?”

-Krauss

“The loss of languages is tragic precisely because they are not interchangeable, precisely because they represent the distillation of the thoughts and communications of a people over their entire history.”

-Marianne Mithun

New Mates of State Single- Get Better

Fri, 16 May 2008 15:56:08 +0100

New Mates of State Single- Get Better:

I’ve been playing their new album non stop at the mo!