wee beautiful pict

2 amazing animations about refinding faith & heart after centuries of church & empire in britain

Two animations, by some of my chums aboot 

refinding faith and recovering heart & courage in britain

- enough to re-imagine alternative futures after centuries

of a church wedded to empire (and it's new kid: globalisation).

Fit de youz think?

Dreamday Scotland: can we paint a new picture of Scotland

 2009 being the 10th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament, Fee  and I thought we'd pop by the book festival to join the Beyond Devolution discussion. 

The panel: Tom Brown, Charlie Jeffery, Hamish Macdonell and Henry McLeish - chaired by Ruth Wishart. 

We setup #beyonddevolution feed in case any floating tweeters in the audience -as a quick way of aggregating any comments or quotes that stick out.

Some good quotes to set tone:

'The status Quo is not an option' - Hamish Macdonell

'Biggest challenge over next 10 years in Scotland - is for scots 

to go through deep attitude change' - Tom Brown

'80-20% inequality and constitutional questions are 2 main 

issues over next 10 yrs' and 

we scots have more memories than dreams - Henry McLeish

jesus in govan, scotland

the big man: scotland's most innovative christianity comes out of its best well known housing scheme: govan in the VOICE of the urban gael grounded in some very particular PLACES and FOLK within glasgow - how many other cities around the uk have these hidden (from mainstream media and religion) histories growing from long thought dead taproots of an ancient-young story of Christ erupting off radar of government, corporations and middle class church - of, as the big man says: jesus entered the wilderness and loved the wild.. 

Aye: Jesus loves scotland; we need to love it too.   It's people's stories and old songs and wisdom of grannies fae oor scottish highlands and irish coasts - many in our cities have come from there via clearances and many cultures around world by sea, we are a mongrel people in haggisland - many threads make up these lifegiving stories of this land and this tapestry making continues today- but we ALL who share this 'place' are being reduced to slaves of transnational economic empires - old and new haggis eaters - ALL of us have been robbed - and we need to act now to mend it - projects like Gal Gael which Colin (above) have sought to mend 'places' - 

These stories and songs, work traditions, languages and essential home grown wisdom, the big man argues: have been bleached oot - leaving the people without the lifesaving roots and anchors and harbours where life can begin again and flourish on its own without charities and benefits and the acidic feeling of 'shame' they bring.   This violence - accelerating during the thatcher years- has robbed many in housing schemes of dignity and work ethic to be able to join the rest o society in task o helping wee scotland find its own future from the rubble of its nobles and chiefs love affair an empire that, in a real sense, has raped us all - of our friendship with: land, people and a god who likes jock tamson's bairns in the land of haggis, tartan and the white flower that breaks the heart - let's follow their example and tie up the monster of empire that spins its silly guff about economics and charity - and 

take back the land it stole from all of us- a land of good creative work, sharing economies and doing stuff as if people mattered and the honouring of auld elders and grandparents from the bens and valleys and their stories and wisdom here -who still walk at 3 miles and hour - the speed that Jesus o the gaels walks - aye

audio interview 

text 

global meltdown: what's in 'your' urban saint survival toolkit?

Feature Post: In this Scotland's 'Year of homecoming'  I'm using me blog to look at what's a happening around a scotland coming out of the mists of an auld world - a world where christianity was in bed with empire - into raging economic meltdown (thaw?).  Can this christianity be rehabilitated in time? it has a crackin story! can it be unfrozen from its entombment to stand before world empires in its robes of comedy and humanity?  

To kick off, here are 3 things we lost under the snow that are erupting all over the world right as acts of defiance and tools of resistance to empire in a global age:   1. outrageous prayer, 2.  gift-economy and 3. imaginative comic non-violent guerilla action... ring any bells with an ancient near east movement sparked off by a young activist called Jesus and brutally put down by the empire of their day?  check it oot!..

global meltdown: abyss opening or heaven coming down?

A series of ecological, economic and political shocks are rocking the world.    

Although the current crises are dreadful - they may be waking many up to the fact that 'empire' (economic or otherwise) may not be an inevitable 'way' of securing our future as we used to think - and that this reality shock could open up some amazing possibilites. 

edinburgh guerilla mince-meet action

- arranging 4 (mince -hah) meet ups at 4 venues at 4 times of the day around edinburgh on December 10th

- inviting a spectrum of wild saints, muddy activists and big-hearted artists to hear from each other about how their new funded and unfunded projects are getting on - over a laugh and some mince pies

- hit n run- marvellous