Matriarchy Rules

I have had a bit of a nightmare this weekend because I had to go into work unexpectedly which is 
a) Against  my religion to go to work on Saturday
b) Makes me late for everything else.

So I will not bother you for long but just wanted to share this that I found in Nehemiah this week. In the middle of a superficially quite boring passage on the rebuilding of the wall in Nehemiah 3 there are several descriptions of members of families, mayors, sons, brothers etc. etc doing sterling work as they built.

Then suddenly this

^11-12 Malkijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-Moab rebuilt another section that included the Tower of Furnaces. Working next to him was Shallum son of Hallohesh, mayor of the other half-district of Jerusalem, along with his daughters.

Along with who? Sallum's lovely, strong, big boned daughters that is who. 
This says to me a couple of things. Firstly, men and women can work together side by side to build community for God. 
Secondly, as women we have to step up and be counted when it is time for building. 
Being a wussy girl doesn't mean that we don't have a part to play and if our skills lie more in bricklaying than pie making, (even though pie making is an essential and important skill) then we need to be using what we have been given.We need to be who we are and take our place with our unique skills to do what needs to be done. Even if that doesn't always fit what might be termed as a traditional women's role.
Have courage, get on with whatever it is you are supposed to be doing and have a great week.

Brit Bats

Brits.co.uk

So, the Brits. I sat and watched it with my daughter last night. As expected, I had no idea who half the people on it were but, bearing that in mind, here are my observations.

Taylor Swift. Comes on in long white dress which she whips off to reveal much shorter dress while shaking down her long hair. Not exactly original love. Marti Caine was doing that centuries ago on the Val Doonican Christmas Special. Nothing new under the sun.

One Direction. I seriously don't get it. I have tried. I was young once. At least the Bay City Rollers were good looking. (Except the drummer, oh and the one with the spots - sorry)

Emile Sandee. You seem very nice. I liked the way you had your coat on for the last song. Always wise to take your ticket to the cloakroom before the rush starts. (PS HOH says yours was absolutely the best album of the year so that's all lovely)

Daughter asked who Bryan Ferry was. Thought he was Terry Wogan and that he had lost some weight. How the mighty are fallen.

Have had a non lusty type crush on Dave Grohl since I saw him stop a performance because a young boy was getting crushed in the crowd. Always good to see him out and about. Unfortunately, have never been able to stand any of his music for for than 15 seconds.

Mumford and Son. Ah the Mumfords. Love them. Their music is like a drunk man singing quietly to himself in a bar then suddenly 50 men with banjos all run in and start playing all at once. It's a very good thing. Then there are their totally non-Christian beautiful lyrics. Reproduced for you here. Enjoy.

And I came home
Like a stone
And I fell heavy into your arms
These days of darkness
Which we've known
Will blow away with this new sun

And I'll kneel down
Wait for now
And I'll kneel down
Know my ground

And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

So break my step
And relent
You forgave and I won't forget
Know what we've seen
And him with less
Now in some way
Shake the excess

But I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you
And I will wait, I will wait for you

Lyrics by Mumford and Sons

So what didn't he do?

I thought I might write about about something our pastor preached on a couple of weeks ago, mainly because it has been pinging around in my consciousness on and off since then. 
The thoughts come from Genesis 12. Abram and Sarai (as they still are at this point) are at an early stage of their life with God journey. Seventy-five year old Abram has just heard from God that he will be made into a great nation and he has packed up all he has, wife, sheep, tents, Lot etc etc (events later on in this chapter sometimes seem to indicate that this inventory is not listed in order of importance to Abram but that may just be me.) 
Then, it seems out of nowhere, the land is hit by a famine. There is nothing to eat. This is not just a physical disaster. Look where these people are. They are in the promised land. Abram is being led directly by God. They are right in the centre of God's will and they are hit by famine. 
I think sometimes, when things go wrong for us or we see things go wrong for other people, we have a couple of reactions. One is to woe is me (that is my particular talent which I have developed over years of whinging)  The next thing we do is to ask what we have done wrong, or what people we see who come into bad circumstances have done wrong. In fact, it seems that we can be exactly where God wants us to be and things can fall around our ears. It is not always a judgement on our behaviour. 
The most serious problem here emerges as early as the next sentence.

Then a famine came to the land. Abram went down to Egypt to live. 

Knee jerk reaction. Arrrrggh. Everyone out of here! Egypt! (Not exactly happy valley for Abram you would have thought) That's the place to go! 
Then he ends up prostituting his wife to Pharaoh  bringing down a curse on the Egyptian royal household and getting out by the skin of his teeth. You know how it is.
(Just an aside It's God who ends up rescuing Sarai from Pharaoh's household. One of many times when God rescues women from men. Who says God leads the Patriarchy?)
So what didn't Abram do? He didn't pray.He didn't ask. Disaster struck and he reacted. Don't say you have never done this. For once, I know it's not just me. Sometimes, we are supposed, I think to put our foot on the ball, stop and ask. Pray. Commit. Wait. Then possibly act. That was what was missing from this sentence.

This week.

Digital Spy

HOH and FOW2 went on a Dad Date to watch the zombie comedy"Warm Bodies". They loved it but both said that I wouldn't have liked it. I have a low tolerance level for watching zombies eating people's brains with a spoon. I'm funny like that. 

Wikipedia

Watched The Baftas. Approved of nearly everything  Except anything Tarantino wins. How can I judge when I haven't seen it? BECAUSE I CAN. Argo won which is good because it was very good and also because it gets the Cloonster up on stage as he produced it. Win-Win as the young people say.

Film Night

Guardian.co,uk

Re watching Mama Mia for umpteenth time with FOW2. So rubbish but so brilliant.  FOW2 has informed me that she is insisting that she has a donkey at her wedding. I have said that that would be OK so long as I get to stop off on the way to the church and belt out "The Winner Takes It All". Not sure how well that would go down in the middle of Plymouth but if it's good enough for Meryl, it's good enough for me.

Top moments also include

Julie Walters in full on Mrs Overall mode (and a bit of my Aunty Audrey)  doing "Take a Chance On Me."

Colin Firth playing the world's most unconvincing gay man (but at least he is a bit more cheerful than he was in "A Single Man.")

Pierce Brosnan cheerfully murdering any song he comes near. But he does it with so much gusto it's irrelevant to be frank.

"Slipping Through My Fingers" making me cry.

Meryl looking suspiciously lairy as she bellows "Do You Want Another One?" at the screen after the last song.

I feel we may have peaked televisually this evening.

Backwards Lent

As a non Catholic type of person, I don't really do Lent. I did give up Twitter last year and the only effect that had was making HOH laugh at me - no one on Twitter noticed. However, I am undaunted and I have decided that rather than giving something up I will take something up for 40 days. This is very non conformist and contrary of me and I am to be congratulated. SO I intend to do my prayer/Bible/thinking journal every day for 40 days instead of when inspiration strikes or when I have spare minutes. This should result in heavy duty thinking and very, very deep insights into spirituality. STOP LAUGHING HOH!
Family news - FOW1 has been elected secretary of his Band Society at York University (Think Biffy Clyro rather than Brighouse and Rastrick) When do these people fit work in?