Stories from July, August, & September 2020

July

Gordie Jackson

7 min readApr 15, 2023

1. My earthly father

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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2. My sisters

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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3. Grandparents

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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4. The extended family

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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5. Dogs

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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6. “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…

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7. That wobbly Monday feeling

We 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…

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8. Before school there was community.

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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9. The Community Centre

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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10. Cherish is not her name but cherish her I do

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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11. I loved going on holiday

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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12. Sunday School teachers

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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13. Nineteen Eighty-Five

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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14. Kindness can lead us to change

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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15. Returning home spiritually and physically

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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16. Christ Unites Ireland

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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17. Galway

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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18. Banbridge and the pub with no beer

A 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…

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19. Crossing the water

As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

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20. A night to remember

Thank you

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21. ‘Mum’

Thank you

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August

1. How has the coronavirus crisis affected me, my life, my faith

Elijah Interfaith Institute Summer School, Jerusalem,2nd August 2020

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2. Day 1 of Summer school

Sunday 2nd August 2020 — Jerusalem

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3. 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…

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4. Day 2 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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5. Day 3 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Monday 3rd August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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6. Day 4 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Wednesday 3rd August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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7. Bibliodrama on day 4 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Wednesday 5th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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8. Day 5 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Thursday 6th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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9. As I head towards 50 I want to say some thank yous

21 stories of thanks in one place

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10. Elijah Summer School 2020 — week 1

Sunday 2nd to Thursday 6th August — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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11. Elijah Summer School 2020 — week 1

Sunday 2nd to Thursday 6th August — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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12. Day 6 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Sunday 10th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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13. Those feelings and thoughts

It 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…

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14. Bibliodrama — Day 6 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Sunday 9th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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15. Day 7 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Monday 10th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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16. Day 8 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Tuesday 11th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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17. Day 9 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Wednesday 12th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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18. Day 10 of Elijah Interfaith Summer School

Thursday 13th August 2020 — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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19. Elijah Summer School 2020 — week 2(final)

Sunday 9th to Thursday 13th August — Hosted in Jerusalem, participants zoomed-in from around the world

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20. A Quaker attempt to use words to explain silent prayer

Prayer is the way ‘that of God within me’ responds to God.

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21. Parasite, the film

After two weeks of Summer School by zoom I needed to return myself to ‘everyday life’. I have written previously that…

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22. After 5 months I returned to the Meetinghouse

It felt right.

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23. Verses I hear myself saying at Summer school: draft writing

photo credit: by Enoc Valenzuela on Unsplash

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24. “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.

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25. “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…

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26. For as long as the magic continues you are in the right place

Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash

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27. Focus on the one person, the one thing, complete and then move to the next one

Lord, I returned. I was up for it. So what happened? There was a sense of normal although there were only a few of us.

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28. Can you smell a place?

Sunday 2nd August 2020

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29. Stories from the week

Quaker, Parasite, the film, Getting through

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30. 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…

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31. Bringing dead words to life

Luke 23 verses 50 to 56

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32. Days and times

Tuesday 25th August to Saturday 30th August — what could be called diaries entries

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33. Being pulled from the present by dead voices

Others are good but sometimes what they remind me of is not. You know how it is? You feel like you are sailing with the…

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34. 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…

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September

1. A community is born at Uni

I have hit 50 but there are still some thanks you to be uttered

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2. 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…

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3. Catch up on the last few stories

Tuesday 25th August to Saturday 5th September 2020

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4. Church: going to, being part of, leaving and joining

Another thank you on hitting 50

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5. Writing creates my space

I 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…

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6. 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…

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7. Is it better to do things as you see the need rather than wait?

Photo by Marie Bellando-Mitjans on Unsplash

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8. Telling that the chicken is off is easier than telling if the person is!

Saturday 12th September 2020

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9. Is the washing speaking to me?

Conversations with myself

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10. If clothes hide nakedness what hides racism?

Photo by Renan Kamikoga on Unsplash

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11. To deny our racism stops us from dealing with it

I turned the other day back to Reni Eddo -Lodge’s, ‘Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race’. I note that…

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12. You missed that video call

Testing out Facebook Rooms

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13. COVID 19 comes close

Monday 7th September 2020

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14. Self-isolating

Wednesday 16th September 2020

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15. The sand is pouring through my hands as I try to catch it.

Thursday 17th September 2020

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16. If we were a character in a painting could we live with that?

Sunday 20th September 2020

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17. The self-isolating collection

Monday 7th September to Monday 21st 2020

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18. Imagination

What do I hear beneath the sound of the traffic on the bypass? Could it become the sounds of waves crashing on my…

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18. Change position and it may change perspective

Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash

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19. If takes nothing to reveal everything

Photo by Ian Keefe on Unsplash

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20. When Performance anxiety appears for everyday tasks

I 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…

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21, Emerging from the shadow

Shadows are longest in the early morning. As the sun rises they get shorter.

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22. I remember as a child what I seem to be experiencing now

Tuesday 29th September 2020

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