Business in Glasgow

What a weekend this has turned out to be, Danielle has eventually become Dorothy (I rooted for her early on in the series). José Mourinho has once again championed his cause with winning the Champions League, 45 years since it was last achieved by Inter Milan. All these events will capture the imagination of many people and will leave them discussing and talking at the morning break on Monday morning.

The most significant thing that took place this weekend for me was the announcement that J. Craig Venter has been attributed with creating the first artifical cell,Mycoplasma Mycoides. This is an amazing piece of scientific discovery and indeed has already divided the scientific community as to how far science can go in its pursuit of new things. Ian Bell’s article in Saturday’s Heral said this: ‘science’s latest sensation forces us to ask what it is we do with the world we inhabit, for what purpose and by what right?’ It is clear that Ventor is not just concerned with the science but the possibility and the prospect of creating new opportunities to cure the sick, feed the hungry, basically create a brave new world.

Of course we have heard it all before and no doubt we will hear it all again but the issue always comes back to this, when we use our intellect to it’s fullest capacity, then are left with the outcomes and the responsibility of acting on that knowledge and information, we are always left with a moral question, what is our motivation? Is it self interest? Is it pride in our abilities and our achievements or do we seek the greater good and the welfare of all?

It will be interesting to see in a few years time where this discovery leads. One thing is for sure, we cannot ‘unknow’ what we know, unlearn what we have learnt, uncreate what has been created but we will certainly be held accountable for how we use our knowledge as humanbeings. Perhaps for myself and my own thinking, something to be discussed I hope in the canteens and the staff lounges, is that instead of being filled with a sense of pride at what man has been enabled to achieve, it would be far better if he promoted his humility in recognising that with these great opportunities come tremendous responsibilities.

Engage is going to take a break over the summer period and will probably come back in a different format than before. However, in order to keep continuity, the table talk chats on my blog site here will continue.

Something has to be said I think, on the aftermath of the General Election, with the dust now settling and what with the proverbial volcanic ash dust causing havoc in the skies and now the financial realities beginning to bite, there is a degree of uncertainty abroad on different fronts.

It is hard to maintain a buoyant attitude towards life, at every turn something else comes along to either knock your confidence or undermine any kind of joy or pleasantness you have experienced or are experiencing.

I can’t help but think that in countries where they have even more to complain about and less to encourage them, you often find a much more cheerful disposition towards life and the prospects and possibilities that it contains. A salutory lesson perhaps to those of us who are of a more morbid and mournful disposition.

So the challenge for me today on this beautiful, bright, late spring sunny morning is to be cheerful, sometimes it is all to do with an act of will, just as it it true that sometimes to love someone you have to be deliberative about it.

My encouragement to you today is to take some heart in the warmth of the sunshine and be grateful even for the simple things like that which make the day just that little bit brighter.

Following on from the recent survey exploring connections between work and spirituality, one of the key words that repeatedly came up was “busy”.

What about an opportunity to find a quiet space in the busyness of life and work, just to be? Sounds good doesn’t it? Interested?

Do email Gayle if you would like a slot.

Our week of prayer, starting on Sunday 16 May will cover 168 one hour prayer slots, split:

84 @ the Prayer Room, Renfield St Stephens, Glasgow 8 a.m -10 p.m
84 @ home slots or wherever you are at 10 p.m – 8 a.m

I very much look forward to hearing from you.

At the time of writing I still don’t know if we have a government or not. In one sense of course we dohave a government. The wheels of the civil service continue to grind away and there is still food in the shops etc etc. However it will soon show if there is no agreement on the way ahead, regarding the ‘hung’ parliament. Confidence will begin to creak, suspicions will grow, uncertainty will flavour  everything. Its bad enough when things are ticking along quite nicely but when the battery in the clock has almost discharged and the ‘big hand’ starts to stutter what then?

It is easy to have a go at politicians and at times I suppose some of them have left themselves open to huge criticism but would you aspire to what they have to do? I have been thinking about that quite a lot during the election campaign. Would I ever consider being a politician? The public servant aspect appeals but the wheeling and dealing would leave me feeling uneasy. The question around the Engage dinner table this Tuesday will be reflecting on “Do we need a better political system?” Come and join us if you can from 5.30pm until 7pm’

A Bank Holiday is a wonderful little oasis in the midst of a busy season leading up to our ‘real holidays’ when you can get a well earned rest from the labours of life don’t you think? Hmmm… or do you see a Bank Holiday as another encroachment into a week of deadlines when, because it is shorter you have all the more to do, because the work that should have been done on Monday now has to be done on Tuesday first thing, or alas even before Tuesday has begun?

One person’s gift of time is often another person’s deficit in time, but one thing is for sure, no one get’s any more of a day or a week than anyone else. So is time your helper or your taskmaster? What does the time you have mean to you?

Engage this Tuesday will be reflecting on ‘Time’ and how we feel about how it affects us aS people. You will  be welcome to join the discussion at 5.30pm Tuesday 4th May 2010.