Moot » friends

Interested in becoming an international friend to the moot community?

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:10:00 +0000

Following a request from some of the many international visitors to the moot community, we have set up an international friends of moot group. Joining this group via an annual subscription gift (different rate for students), gives you some of our current books and literature, 3-monthly newsletter and invitation to moot’s events. So we welcome all those who have found spiritual inspiration through our work, to have a more formal relationship with our community.

For more information on this, please follow the link to the new friends section of our website.

Christ, Friend God and the Kin-dom Podcast

admin — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:11:00 +0000

In her last gift to the Moot Community, Jemma Allen explores ‘Christ, Friend God and the Kin-dom’ in the Moot Eucharist on Sun 11th October. Jemma is off back to New Zealand tomorrow. I am really grateful for all that she has brought to the Moot Community and to me personally. So do listen to this important podcast which goes deep into our ethos and focus of the Moot Community.

Friendship is not some gimmick that we can market as a way of successfully living a Christian life. It is not even primarily about about an act of will or making friendships in a calculating way. Friendship as a spiritual practice, as the mark of a disciple, as a proclamation of the Good News of the Reign of God – this friendship is about entering into authentic relationships, relationships of vulnerability and trust, relationships of mutuality and care. In allowing ourselves to be affected by who we live with and how we live with them, by the gifts we receive in and from our friends, we open ourselves to being transformed by love and so enlarging the realm of God: the kinship and new community proclaimed by Christ. That, my friends, would be Good News!

Jonny loves moot

admin — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Those of you who are not following Jonny Baker’s blog (and if not, why not? You should be!) Might be interested to know that he’s given moot’s latest podcast a really good write up.

To quote: “I recommend a listen to ian mobsby’s interview with stuart burns which is on the moot podcast. stuart is the abbot of the burford benedictine community. i visited burford priory a few years back to have a look at their grass labyrinth and learned how to mow one. the community has since moved from burford but i have heard from several people what a wise guy stuart is. a few pieces stood out for me…”

Have a look.

Connected Minds

admin — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Following on from our very interesting discussion below about friendships, I came across this talk on the internet the other day, by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

It was some random link that someone sent me on Twitter – can’t remember who – but there is some excellent stuff here that could definitely feed into our discussion. I’m going to quote their precise here. Would love to know what you think:

“We think of ourselves as rugged, self-determining individualists, but our very existence rests on connected brains and minds. Social species such as ours do not fare well when forced to live solitary lives, and the impact of loneliness on individuals can be surprisingly damaging. Residents of transient communities and isolated individuals lack rich attachments, meaningful connections and enriching encounters, which can be deleterious on a physiological as well as psychological level.

An individual’s complete involvement in a thriving, engaged and altruistic community is more than spiritually beneficial. As a social species, humans create emergent organisations beyond the individual—structures that range from dyads, families, and groups to cities, civilisations, and international alliances. These emergent structures evolved hand-in-hand with supporting genetic, neural, and hormonal mechanisms because the consequent social behaviors helped humans survive, reproduce, and care for offspring sufficiently long that they too survived to reproduce. We are only now beginning to truly understand the ramifications of our individualistic lifestyles, as our social brains struggle to cope with isolation, loneliness and failing communities.

Join Professor John Cacioppo, author of the bestselling book Loneliness and co-founder of the study of ‘social neuroscience’ as he outlines the vital importance of altruistic behaviour, social connection, and inclusive communities in this exclusive and important RSA event.”

Listen to and/or watch the talk here.

Friendship as the locus of the Kin-dom

admin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:20:00 +0000

On Wednesday last week, Jemma Allen led a discussion on the importance of friendship, starting with the Greek philosophers, the Renaissance, right up to present thinking, exploring what it is, and what it encapsulates about being human. Very interesting to hear, were the different emphasies that we in the Moot Community have when we consider what friendship is.

Later, Jemma explored what the idea of friendship was in the context of Jesus, and how he reframes it to focus on intimacy, inclusion and empowerment in the context of justice. Rightly Jemma challenged our British language of seeing Jesus as Lord, which through friendships with all sort of people in the gospels, Christ in powerlessness, never Lorded. Jemma pointed out the first time Friend and Christ were used in Matthew 11,19:

The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!

I have just read through all the times when Jesus says friend in the Gospels, and it is quite moving. I love the idea of the Kin-dom, not about top down hierarchy, but the idea of a bottom-up society of friends.

God & our Work – Gareth Powell

admin — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:39:00 +0000

Last night was a bit of a little reunion. Gareth Powell came back to the Moot Eucharist to give the homily addressing the issue of God and Work. It was extremely good, and has been made available for podcast. If you have not subscribed to moot podcasts and want to hear it, click here
If you want to subscribe to Moot podcasts and hear it, then click here.
Personally I was challenged by Gareth’s thoughts about vocation and work, and then thinking about work in the context of our Rhythm of Life. At last we have started to have live music, Dorethe and Trine led some Taize chants using the new piano – horraahh. Now we just need to sort out visuals! Good to see you Gareth, don’t leave it too long before we see you again.

Helping an old friend

admin — Fri, 02 May 2008 12:42:00 +0000

This blog is a rather unusual one from me: I’m posting it to help out a very old friend.

Jane’s story has appeared in the local newspaper near were I grew up. Please take the time to read the full story here. It’s a sad tale of neglect, bad funding and downright abuse that could really do with the oxygen of publicity.

I’m posting it because I hope that it will shame people responsible into doing something about it – it may be that some mental health professional, politician or bureaucrat reading this may be in a position to help sort things out.

If you can digg/stumble upon/delicious the article for me, that would be really helpful. The article can be found here.

technorati tags:social justice, tabi, jane cockerton, dissociative identity disorder, lilacs, south west london and st.george’s mental health trust, lilacs, swlsg, did, tolworth hospital

Read All about it

admin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:54:00 +0000

Just to let you know, our very own Clare Catford is in the Daily Mail today.

There’s a link to the article online here.

Don’t forget her new book “Addicted to Love” is also out, which you can buy from Amazon through the search facility on the right of this page.

technorati tags:clare catford, darton longman todd, addiction, addicted to love, 12 steps, love addiction

Chilling in New York

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 16:06:00 +0000

Well at long last I am back in New York, and thoroughly healing after a grueling few months. I have been catching up with Mark McCleary on his way through to Nashville, Katherine Lee and Bowie Snodgrass. Mark and I went to see Susan his old flat mate from Belfast play in a small club in Lower Eastside. She had a great voice and songs, so I will blog about it later. Well I have just said goodbye to Mark and Katherine as they go on various flights, and now taking in arts, much reading in various Cafe’s, and from tomorrow begin work on the book before leaving this great city again to head back to the UK. I always find this city and San Fran so healing!! It is just bursting with creative energy. So tonight I am going to a classical concert and tomorrow a party with some friends. So see you all soon. See Mark’s blog for his experiences of New York – profound as ever. Aaron – it feels weird being here without you. Many good memories have coming back – and they like my English Accent – it was mentioned as being sexy – I could so easily live here!!!

technorati tags:bowie snodgrass, mark mccleary, katherine lee, new york, nyc, ian mobsby

new book about justice and christianity

admin — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:47:00 +0000

The new book by Emma Kennedy, Justice and the Heart of God (Lion Hudson), can be pre-ordered from the link above. It looks like a great resource for small groups or mini-moots, having a series of ten well researched studies addressing issues of great significance in contemporary society, such justice, climate change, gender, debt, refugee’s, aid and trade.

Did I mention that Emma is my sister?!

technorati tags:emma kennedy, justice, heart, god, justice and the heart of god, moot community, book, moot