• Review of Predictions for 2018

    On 1 January I made predictions for the coming year. Time to see how I got on.

    1 – General Election in the second half of the year.

    Well, no we didn’t and the government linger on. Not right

    2 – “…and as the polls close, our exit poll predicts that the Conservative Party is unlikely to be able to form a new government…”

    Well, the government did linger on of a fashion.  N/A

    3 – The next but one leader of the Conservative Party becomes Ruth Davidson MP.

    Too soon to tell. Not right yet.

    4 – The hipsters get bored of vinyl and discover cameras with actual, you know, film.

    In September, I happened upon three or four hipster types from Denmark in the cathedral grounds taking photographs for a fashion shoot in Belgium. They had stopped shooting for a moment…. to reload film canasters.  Right – but likely to become more common yet.

    5 – No date for a new referendum on Scottish Independence.

    No date for a new referendum and no great call for one either. Right.

    6 – No progress for LGBT affirming Anglicans in England.

    Sadly correct. Right

    7 – Progress for LGBT affirming Anglicans elsewhere, particularly Brazil.

    Stunning progress in Brazil – marriage agreed by huge majority on synod floor. (And who else saw that coming!) Right.

    8 – Increasing realisation that sexual abuse is part of church culture. #churchtoo #metoo.

    Yes – meetings happening all over the place trying to work out how to respond. Few coherent policies yet. Right.

    9 – FTSE lower at the end of 2018 than it is at the beginning. (7687)

    As I write this the FTSE is at 6728 – worst year in a decade. Right

    10 – The end of the beard.

    Those with style, manners and culture have seen the error of their ways and shaved. A few young and misguided types cling on. Completely and utterly right.

     

    Not a bad year, I think.

4 responses to “How would you teach me to pray?”

  1. Chris Avatar

    Thanks for this, Kelvin. I still can’t answer the question, I just know when it’s been answered for me.

  2. Patrick Hall Avatar
    Patrick Hall

    I have never found personal prayer particularly easy. It’s not that I don’t believe in it, because I really do, but faced with the challenge of articulating everything before God, I somehow dry up and get frustrated with myself.

    I guess I settled on the idea of simply bowing my head and being still in God’s presence. I don’t try to converse with God anymore and simply trust that everything flows through in those moments of stillness. Somehow, it works for me.

  3. Meg Rosenfeld Avatar
    Meg Rosenfeld

    This is hardly original with me, but one way of praying is to sing, either aloud (I recommend doing so in the shower, if you don’t live alone) or in your head. The music seems to give wings to the words, and we have so many beautiful hymns. However, if you’re the least bit of a wise-acre, you must guard against “rewriting” the words of hymns and anthems; the new lyrics can be dreadfully tenacious, says (sigh) one who knows

  4. Elizabeth Anderson Avatar
    Elizabeth Anderson

    Thank you for this. I’ve struggled with prayer… We’ll, always, but especially since having children (or doing a theology doctorate… One came right after the other so hard to pick a cause)… This gives me hope and encouragement not to give up.

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