Author Archives: malcolmsmusingscom

I don’t know if you can hear meOr if you’re even thereI don’t know if you would listen to a gypsy’s prayerYes, I know I’m just an outcastI shouldn’t speak to youStill I see your face and wonderWere you once an outcast too? In the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Esmeralda, a gypsy teenage dancer, comesContinue reading “God Help the Outcasts”

Last night we saw the stage musical ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ excellently staged and performed by ‘The Lowestoft Players’. Based on the 1831 Victor Hugo novel… set in 1482 Paris… adapted by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz… Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bell-ringer, is an orphan with significant physical disability. He lives an isolated life, rarelyContinue reading “Discovering My Hunchback”

As a child… I attended ‘Oak Hall’ also known as ‘The Hall’ or ‘Chapel’; I went to services, Sunday School, activities… Church was ‘St Paul’s’, or ‘St Mary’s’. I didn’t go to church. I got older… Anywhere I went to do Christian religious stuff was church – whatever the denomination or tradition. I hadn’t changedContinue reading “Church & Sanctuary – my developing understanding”

We were with some friends at church. Maddy shared some words of Mahatma Gandhi: ‘Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.’ Being whole-hearted rather than half-hearted… Walking theContinue reading “No Half Measures”

On Monday I mentioned my daily looking in the bathroom mirror whilst shaving… They say a mirror doesn’t lie! That’s scary! Snow White’s evil queen asked her mirror: ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?’ The queen’s speaking mirror couldn’t lie either! The Disney film quote is ‘Magic mirror onContinue reading “Reflecting on Mirrors”

I taught in a middle school… our geography teacher was loved and inspirational… our maths teacher took children each year to the Lake District… our technology teacher attracted lonely children to his workshop… our caretaker looked after our building wonderfully… our secretaries kept the school well-organised… The Christian teaching ‘You are the body of Christ’Continue reading “Bodies… Broken… Beautiful.”

Today’s an ordinary day. I got up, went to the bathroom, looked at my face in the mirror as I shaved. I showered, dressed, put washing in the washing machine, drunk tea, read my Bible, (Song of Solomon – that’s a challenge!) reflected, prayed, hung the washing out, ate a bowl of Shreddies, drunk coffee,Continue reading “Appreciating the Extra-Ordinary in the Ordinary”

Lead me oh Lord, won’t you lead me Sometimes life seems to get very complicated; I need a simple prayer to focus… I am tired and I need thy strength and powerTo guide me over my darkest hourFor just open my eyes that I may seeLead me oh Lord, won’t you lead me Sometimes IContinue reading “Lead Me, Guide Me”

We enjoy watching ‘Who-dunnit’s TV… especially ‘Vera’. I know that the man with blood on his hands, or the woman screaming, ‘I’m going to kill you,’ isn’t always the murderer. Vera’s taught me that conclusion-jumping is unwise. A smiling man pushing a baby in a pram with ‘I’m the Daddy’ on his T-shirt? Perhaps conclusion-jumpingContinue reading “Jumping to Conclusions”

Yesterday… Nick told me about his alcohol addiction and an eating disorder. Last year he went into a treatment centre for three months; he’s been clean now for nearly a year. ‘I’m never going back there again,’ he said. ‘I’ve got too much to lose. I’ve got seven grandchildren; I want to see them growContinue reading “Second Chances”