Seeker

http://www.blogactionday.org/ Blog Action Day this year has the theme of #Raise Your Voice. The idea is for bloggers to celebrate people  "who raise their voice when faced with censorship, threats, and violence." Today I want to celebrate journalists who keep on reporting the facts in areas of the world where that is a really dangerous thing to do. In some places, to be a news reporter is to risk your life or your freedom. Last year 2014 nearly 100 media workers were killed directly because of their work. In 2015 so far 22 have been killed and 160 imprisoned.  These figures are from Reporters Without Borders , a non-profit organization founded in France in 1985 but now international. The quote below, from their website explains why freedom of information is so important: "Freedom of expression and of information will always be the world’s most important freedom. If journalists were not free to report the facts, denounce abuses and alert the public, how...

“Great things have small beginnings. Every downpour is just a raindrop; every fire is just a spark; every harvest is just a seed; every journey is just a step; because without that step there will be no journey; without that raindrop there can be no shower; without that seed there can be no harvest.” William Wilberforce A Parable of Jesus He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’   Mark 4: 30 - 32 Image Credits: Sprouted acorn: Flickr, CC License Raindrops: Public domain Images Spark: Pixabay, public domain Harvest: Pixabay, public domain Journey: Flickr, CC License

I belong to a small 'Contemplation and Faith' group. We meet once a month for an hour, which includes 25 minutes of silent contemplative prayer. We do this in a church, sitting in a circle around a lighted candle, although we could meet anywhere. Over the last few months we have have used a word or phrase from the Lord's Prayer to act as a focus. Nearly a year ago we began with 'Our Father' and at our next meeting we will have reached the doxology which Protestants usually add at the end of the Lord's Prayer: "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. In our monthly meetings, at the end of the silence we may share with each other something about the experience - or not - there is no compulsion. 25 minutes now seems rather a short time, but to go for longer could be daunting for new members. Once a month is not often, but part of our purpose is to encourage each other to engage in similar silent prayer when alon...