by tashmcgill | Jan 3, 2008 | god ideas, Uncategorized
Or… This Is Not A List Of Resolutions
This year there are several goals that I would like to aspire too – things that have previously been part of the rhythm and balance of my life that I want to return to, as well as new things that I want to integrate into my being | doing | sharing life. In no particular order…
1. Restore the Lose Weight Discipline… haha, ok, so those who know the journey so far may scoff, but.. a trip to America and the summer celebration season has seen me stalling in second gear on this. I want to shake the last ten kilos by Easter, mostly for very prideful reasons.
2. Restore Thursday Night Dinners… before the Diet, I had a rhythm of life that was quite precious, and including weekly acts of hospitality… the best of which was Thursday Night Dinners, a weekly ritual of opening my home and cooking for others. A culinary and conversational challenge that often stirred great delight in my soul. I am a natural born nurturer I think.. I love to feed people’s bodies and souls, with sustenance and pleasure alike. It’s an act of worship, one that I’ve had to put aside over the last few months.
3. Restore Friday Night Sabbath… for every rhythm there is a natural ebb and flow. The flow-on from practiced extroversion and hospitality is a shutting of the doors in order to spend time at home, alone. These Friday Nights stemmed out of a sense of something missing the social activities I was involved with.. which in turn was really shown to be a sense of missing myself. Maybe not Friday Night Sabbath.. but Sabbath at least needs to return to my life this year.
4. Rebirth the Practice of Creativity in Art… I have barely painted in the last twelve months, a shocking absence especially considering that having sold the best of my work.. the walls of my home feel a little bare. I haven’t devoted the same amount of time to writing, songwriting, art or personal creativity as what I would like to… so it will be ‘rebirthed’ (not restored, for I am hoping for a fresh conception).
5. Take More Photographs of People I Love… I take photographs for work but I want to get back to capturing the moments of life wide open as I am living it. There are too many precious people whose faces, hands, eyes and posture I adore but keep sketched in my head. I want to capture these ones I love on film, through the eyes that find beauty there.
6. Read more History… of Humanity, of Judaism, of Church & Mission.
7. Read more Biography… of people that make a difference, that choose a different path, that find Life grasps them unexpectedly.
8. Read more Bible… I would like to steal Steve Taylor’s idea of Stoning the Prophets and start reading the Bible aloud with others, allowing spaces for reflection as well as exegesis.
9. Read more Letters… (this is your opportunity to participate.. go ahead and write me one).
10. Write more Letters… I wrote a couple of letters that I was exceptionally proud of in America, posted them off sealed with kisses and prayers. Unlike an email or a novel, you can’t keep carbon copies of letters so easily. You have to just write them as they come and then entrust the words you put down into the hand of the postman and the receiver. No endless editting, no cut and paste, no delete. The ink of indelible thought… precious and given as a gift.
11. Write more Books… I have 3 ideas that are already underway and if I don’t at least finish the first in time for November, I will be sorely disappointed.
Not resolutions… just very strong ideas.
by tashmcgill | Jan 2, 2008 | Uncategorized
At 30,000ft
at thirty thousand feet clear skies open
it clarifies my head and heart again
and lately when i’m stuck up here
i keep thinking of you, what you’re up to
twenty six days and thirty two
of these airborne hours to go
i’m so far east and west of you
it crystallizes everything i knew
spirit in me calling for you
i wrote you a good letter, told you truth
‘cept i didn’t know how true it was
til i got home to you
that i am blessed, blessed
i confess that i am beyond my portion
my cup overflows
Christmas And New Year Celebrations
Christmas week went by in a blur of activity and preparations, church productions, rehearsals and gatherings. There were swimming nights by the pool for music team end of year, late night gatherings for spas and drinks at my place, last minute rehearsals, shopping and busyness. There was lots of working that all needed to get done in the last few minutes before the year broke it’s back on Dec 24th. It’s such a hectic and ridiculous pace of life before everything pauses as if the world stops turning for a moment. Where were the rhythms of life that I was so desperately needing?
So… here are the highlights of the last two weeks.. in no apparent order..
1.
seeing the production come together with an incredibly talented bunch of people that all took personal ownership for various bits and pieces and showcased themselves as a really great team. they didn’t even need me on the final night!
2.
creating traditions with a team of musicians that love one another well. even if those traditions do include throwing people in the pool. sharing wise and encouraging words with one another. feeling completely immersed in a deep deep love with these wonder-full people.
3.
admitting that i’ve always had a thing for cowboys and seeing all the band dressed up with hats and moustaches included for the show.
4.
giving Luke the perfect Christmas gift, a little drum of his own to beat.
5.
talking to roni, uncle john & aunt val and my darling Danielle on Christmas Day.
6.
missing my community desperately on Christmas Eve and relishing how much we’ve grown together that I could feel that way!
7.
driving up north and watching the sunset as I travelled over the Brynderwyn hills on Christmas Day, enjoying being alone, being with God and anticipating days spent under summer skies with dear friends.
8.
the joy of communal living – preparaing meals, doing dishes, eating, sleeping, resting, laughing and playing together.
9.
the comfortable ache of loneliness now that it’s all done.
10.
the best christmas gift was perfect because it was so unexpected, so well thought out and speaks to my heart, my head and my ears… dave matthews & tim reynolds live at radio city on dvd… thanks mark. x.
11.
the perfect balance of people, solitude, silence, noise over the days at the beach.
view photos here
12.
laughing, dancing and celebrating the new year.. view photos here.
What’s Next?
Working today and tomorrow, then heading to Soul Survivor where I’m speaking a seminar or two and hanging out with a couple of young guys from church.
by tashmcgill | Jan 2, 2008 | Uncategorized
Love these cats…
by tashmcgill | Dec 13, 2007 | Uncategorized
I’m working away but watching with one eye on the tv as the show “superskinny me” is playing. The premise is putting 2 female journo’s onto the latest mad diet crazes in an effort to see how close they can get to a size 0.. hollywood’s dream size.
In the space of 2 weeks and half an hour of reality tv, a thirty-something woman has gone from having all the appearance of confidence and assurance to a weight-obsessed, colonic-addicted halfshell of a girl.
I’ve been thinking for a little while that it might be time to take a break. Stuff like this makes me worry – because I think it would be so easy to become either completely obsessed or start to hide away in a binge-purge lifestyle in order to maintain… whatever normal is.
by tashmcgill | Dec 12, 2007 | Uncategorized, worship
The Song That Just Won’t Leave Me Alone
And the problem it seems
Is with you and me
Not the Love who came
To repair everything
And I don’t know
What to do with a love like that
And I don’t know
How to be a love like that
What I really wish Blogger would do is create an application that allows me to determine the soundtrack you read this to. The collection of tunes for the last weeks posting is really cool. So … in case you feel really motivated.. you should line up these tracks on your iTunes and just soak in it for a while. Oh yes, you should. It will heal your soul. You should also drink a large and exceptionally fine single malt whisky no less than 12 years old (ht marko) and enjoy it under a dark black sky somewhere.
Soundtrack for the next few minutes of your life – my Christmas gift to you is 61.53 minutes of music for the Soul.
Catch Your Fall (Blow Out Your Candles) – David Yetton – 3.55min
Ran For Miles (Night On My Side) – Gemma Hayes – 4.32min
Naked As We Came (Our Endless Numbered Days) – Iron & Wine – 2.33min
West (West) – Lucinda Williams – 3.33min
Beside You (The Islander) – Dave Dobbyn – 3.43min
Won’t Give In (Everyone Is Here) – The Finn Brothers – 4.17min
Inside of Me (Real Life) – Evermore – 4.07min
Stall Out (Mutemath) – Mutemath – 7.10min
Colorblind (Cruel Intentions) – Counting Crows – 3.26min
Stable Song (Plans) – Death Cab For Cutie – 3.43min
No Ordinary Thing (You Are Here) – Opshop – 4.06min
Two Places At A Table (Last Fair Deal) – Rory Block – 3.38min
Ez (Music For The Morning After) – Pete Yorn – 4.42min
My Lover’s Prayer (Unknown) – Otis Redding – 3.12min
Ágætis byrjun (Ágætis byrjun) – Sigur Rós – 7.56min
Responsiveness In Mass Communication
Had an interesting meeting today with the new young adults guy at church, who also has responsbility for Sunday night services. Talked a lot about my observations over the past four weeks and the experimentation that we’ve been doing, the responses to it as well. The energy in the room has been at an all time low – people simply not engaging at any point in the service. The rise in room atmosphere has been happening around the notices – usually where there is a bit of comedy just in people doing their thing. The atmosphere relaxes and feels more personable. Consequently we’ve adopted some of this into our singing worship and seen a great response.
It was pretty obvious I was skating on some thin ice, which I can understand. After all, I live and breathe community gatherings, how to shape them into genuine and signficant experiences. I also don’t take it too seriously, and realise that there is room for safe experimentation. It’s going to be uncomfortable if I’m talking about things that they haven’t noticed or thought about in regards to the room. Right now there’s even confusion over what kind of atmosphere is the goal in the room. The ‘feeling’ around celebration even brings different things to the surface for different people. Still.. I brought it to the table, regardless of how it’s received. I offered to be on the frontline of doing something to make it work.
Yup, I’m still feeling about as frustrated as I was before. Lame-o. I think I need a holiday quickly followed by an attitude adjustment. From my perspective I think the basics would be to start with creating the kind of atmosphere that people can engage with, that energizes the room and helps buoy the whole thing along. Laughter is key, as is earnestness. Earnestness is not the same as seriousness. I think I put a serious foot in it when I commented on the overall tonality of the services finishing in the same low-frequency, mellow and reflective comtemplation. There is a space for it but it’s very difficult for some introverted comtemplatives to easily build spaces for energised, extroverted teenagers. I’m making some gross generalisations based on anecdotal observations… but I think the research would back me up. At least we could both acknowledge the absence of many that would formally have helped to shape our services.
