Stories from July, August, & September 2020JulyGordie JacksonFollow7 min read·Apr 15, 2023--ListenShare1. My earthly fatherAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com2. My sistersAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com3. GrandparentsAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com4. The extended familyAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com5. DogsAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com6. “Please do not interrupt while updating”I can feel change. I can feel it moving inside. It reacts and then it looks for a way to manage. It usually has…gordiejackson.medium.com7. That wobbly Monday feelingWe wonder how the dog knows it is time for its walk or that it is Saturday which means the walk will be later. Yet how…gordiejackson.medium.com8. Before school there was community.As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com9. The Community CentreAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com10. Cherish is not her name but cherish her I doAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com11. I loved going on holidayAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com12. Sunday School teachersAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com13. Nineteen Eighty-FiveAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com14. Kindness can lead us to changeAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com15. Returning home spiritually and physicallyAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com16. Christ Unites IrelandAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com17. GalwayAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com18. Banbridge and the pub with no beerA few months before I was to finish in Galway I didn’t have a notion what I would do next. I had gone with an idea that…gordiejackson.medium.com19. Crossing the waterAs I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yousgordiejackson.medium.com20. A night to rememberThank yougordiejackson.medium.com21. ‘Mum’Thank yougordiejackson.medium.comAugust1. How has the coronavirus crisis affected me, my life, my faithElijah Interfaith Institute Summer School, Jerusalem,2nd August 2020gordiejackson.medium.com2. Day 1 of Summer schoolSunday 2nd August 2020 — Jerusalemgordiejackson.medium.com3. Is connecting to a zoom meeting giving me the same experience as travelling by plane?It was 37 degrees Celsius here on Friday. We have been experiencing warm weather for the last week. I remember when I…gordiejackson.medium.com4. Day 2 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolHosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com5. Day 3 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolMonday 3rd August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com6. Day 4 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolWednesday 3rd August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com7. Bibliodrama on day 4 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolWednesday 5th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com8. Day 5 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolThursday 6th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com9. As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous21 stories of thanks in one placegordiejackson.medium.com10. Elijah Summer School 2020 — week 1Sunday 2nd to Thursday 6th August — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com11. Elijah Summer School 2020 — week 1Sunday 2nd to Thursday 6th August — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com12. Day 6 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolSunday 10th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com13. Those feelings and thoughtsIt has been hot here this last few days. I thought it was me but then I checked the records for this last month. I have…gordiejackson.medium.com14. Bibliodrama — Day 6 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolSunday 9th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com15. Day 7 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolMonday 10th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com16. Day 8 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolTuesday 11th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com17. Day 9 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolWednesday 12th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com18. Day 10 of Elijah Interfaith Summer SchoolThursday 13th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com19. Elijah Summer School 2020 — week 2(final)Sunday 9th to Thursday 13th August — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the worldgordiejackson.medium.com20. A Quaker attempt to use words to explain silent prayerPrayer is the way ‘that of God within me’ responds to God.gordiejackson.medium.com21. Parasite, the filmAfter two weeks of Summer School by zoom I needed to return myself to ‘everyday life’. I have written previously that…gordiejackson.medium.com22. After 5 months I returned to the MeetinghouseIt felt right.gordiejackson.medium.com23. Verses I hear myself saying at Summer school: draft writingphoto credit: by Enoc Valenzuela on Unsplashgordiejackson.medium.com24. “You are on on the water just keeping walking.”That is how it feels. If I don’t remain present I will begin to sink.gordiejackson.medium.com25. “The only thing required of you is this moment.”I did return today and I felt ok. It is the ‘climbing the mountain’ effect when you get halfway and know you have come…gordiejackson.medium.com26. For as long as the magic continues you are in the right placePhoto by Christopher Campbell on Unsplashgordiejackson.medium.com27. Focus on the one person, the one thing, complete and then move to the next oneLord, I returned. I was up for it. So what happened? There was a sense of normal although there were only a few of us.gordiejackson.medium.com28. Can you smell a place?Sunday 2nd August 2020gordiejackson.medium.com29. Stories from the weekQuaker, Parasite, the film, Getting throughgordiejackson.medium.com30. Will COVID 19 be remembered as our Flood?The meetinghouse has been cleared out. A Quaker meetinghouse does not have a lot in it by design. What it does have is…gordiejackson.medium.com31. Bringing dead words to lifeLuke 23 verses 50 to 56gordiejackson.medium.com32. Days and timesTuesday 25th August to Saturday 30th August — what could be called diaries entriesgordiejackson.medium.com33. Being pulled from the present by dead voicesOthers are good but sometimes what they remind me of is not. You know how it is? You feel like you are sailing with the…gordiejackson.medium.com34. Whose words are you living out of?I read the female accounts of the words used by their male partners as they abused them. I was left feeling, “How can…gordiejackson.medium.comSeptember1. A community is born at UniI have hit 50 but there are still some thanks you to be utteredgordiejackson.medium.com2. Do you know that feeling when you see you have a flat tyre?Tee returns in the early hours of the morning from her trip to some Greek Island. I got the return pick up which she…gordiejackson.medium.com3. Catch up on the last few storiesTuesday 25th August to Saturday 5th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com4. Church: going to, being part of, leaving and joiningAnother thank you on hitting 50gordiejackson.medium.com5. Writing creates my spaceI come here to write. I come here to park up. I come here to rest. It creates a space for me. A space to do what? A…gordiejackson.medium.com6. If I were a sundial….If I were a sundial I would be noticing that the sun is not hitting me at 5 45 am as it did only weeks ago. Just when I…gordiejackson.medium.com7. Is it better to do things as you see the need rather than wait?Photo by Marie Bellando-Mitjans on Unsplashgordiejackson.medium.com8. Telling that the chicken is off is easier than telling if the person is!Saturday 12th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com9. Is the washing speaking to me?Conversations with myselfgordiejackson.medium.com10. If clothes hide nakedness what hides racism?Photo by Renan Kamikoga on Unsplashgordiejackson.medium.com11. To deny our racism stops us from dealing with itI turned the other day back to Reni Eddo -Lodge’s, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’. I note that…gordiejackson.medium.com12. You missed that video callTesting out Facebook Roomsgordiejackson.medium.com13. COVID 19 comes closeMonday 7th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com14. Self-isolatingWednesday 16th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com15. The sand is pouring through my hands as I try to catch it.Thursday 17th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com16. If we were a character in a painting could we live with that?Sunday 20th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com17. The self-isolating collectionMonday 7th September to Monday 21st 2020gordiejackson.medium.com18. ImaginationWhat do I hear beneath the sound of the traffic on the bypass? Could it become the sounds of waves crashing on my…gordiejackson.medium.com18. Change position and it may change perspectivePhoto by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplashgordiejackson.medium.com19. If takes nothing to reveal everythingPhoto by Ian Keefe on Unsplashgordiejackson.medium.com20. When Performance anxiety appears for everyday tasksI remember my first day at school. I found another who seemed as happy as me to be there so off we went. It wasn’t so…gordiejackson.medium.com21, Emerging from the shadowShadows are longest in the early morning. As the sun rises they get shorter.gordiejackson.medium.com22. I remember as a child what I seem to be experiencing nowTuesday 29th September 2020gordiejackson.medium.com
