And that is what we`re about to do. Yesterday morning as I was reading the West Australian newspaper three articles in particular intrigued me -

One was about a feature film titled I am Eleven produced by Genevieve Bailey which will be screened in Perth this week at Cinema Paradiso. The article starts off by explaining the motivation behind the film. `Genevieve was feeling sad and restless. Her father had recently died, she`d survived a serious car accident and her job at a newspaper meant she spent her days surrounded by images of destruction and devastating loss. `I wanted to make something optimistic and hopeful, something that would make me happy. I thought back to my favourite age in life; I loved being 11 and remember feeling on top of the world and full of ideas and opinions.` It was the genesis of her first feature film - a five year project spent working, saving and then travelling the world to interview 11 year olds in 12 different languages. Bailey wanted to capture them at an age `where these `not quite kids, not quite teenagers` briefly linger between the openness and sometimes naivety of childhood and the sharp and surprisingly brave wisdom and knowing of adulthood `

I wonder what age you would identify as being `on top of the world` or `full of ideas`?

But then I read this brief article titled Guides pledge drops Queen, and God The article goes on to state that `Under the new pledge, guides promise to do their best `to be true to myself and to develop my beliefs`` This replaces the former line of `to do my duty to God and the Queen. So that led me to ponder What do young folks believe in? This is actually a badly written article because a comma has been left out after the word `best` which changes the meaning somewhat and two other lines were not included in the article but the Republican spokesperson seems to be referring to them as something new which they aren`t. So here is the full version

The new Girl Guide pledge:
I promise that I will do my best.
To be true to myself and develop my beliefs.
To serve my community and my country.
To help other people and keep the Guide law.

So let`s just pause there and listen to our gospel reading for today where Jesus teaches in the synagogue in Nazareth - As you listen to the reading, notice any particular word or phrase that connects for you.

Reading - Mark 6:1-6
After Jesus had spent time by the Sea of Galilee, he returned to his hometown and his disciples came along, too. On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue and was a real hit with some - `We had no idea he was this good!`

But others were sneering - `How come he got so wise all of a sudden? He`s just a carpenter—Mary`s boy. We`ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers, James, Joses, Jude, and Simon, and look his sisters are here with us. Who does he think he is?` They were so wrapped up in their own spite that they never got any further with what Jesus was trying to share.

Then Jesus said to them, `A prophet has little honor in his hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.`

He wasn`t able to do much of anything there—just laid hands on a few sick people and healed them. He couldn`t get over their unbelief. So he left and made a circuit of the other villages, teaching and healing there.

In the light of recent Australian census figures showing declining religious involvement, one particular phrase struck me in our gospel reading for today `He couldn`t get over their unbelief`. And I couldn`t help thinking of a book called `The Hogfather` by Terri Pratchett. Some of you may remember `The Hogfather` on TV before Christmas last year. It was a quirky story in three episodes - I missed the middle episode but one key passage in the last one intrigued me enough to want to read the book through which I did whilst I was on holiday. The gist is that the Auditors want to be in control of a neat and orderly universe and humans don`t fit in there too well mainly because of their ability to imagine things differently.

So the aim is to stop this ability by hiring an assassin called Mr Teatime to get rid of The Hogfather who is something akin to Father Christmas. His crazy scheme is to generate an atmosphere of unbelief amongst children by getting rid of the tooth fairy and stopping the Hogfather appearing with presents for them on Hogswatchnight (December 32). The problem is if the Hogfather disappears, the midwinter solstice sun will not rise and there will be no new year, no existence for humans; but only the character of Death knows that.

So Death decides to take over the role, wearing a long red cloak and a beard in order to make people continue to believe in the Hogfather; however, things start to become complicated because he starts fulfilling the children`s wishes too literally. Meanwhile, he leaves it to his human granddaughter, Susan, to find out what`s happened to and then rescue the real Hogfather; but first she wants to know why it`s so important to risk life and limb on this quest.

`All right. So you`re saying humans need... fantasies to make life bearable.`

# Really? As if it was some kind of pink pill? No. Humans need fantasy to be human. To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.

`Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—`

# Yes. As practice. You have to start out learning to believe the little lies.

`So we can believe the big ones?`

# Yes. Justice. Mercy. Duty. That sort of thing.
`They`re not the same at all!`

# You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy. And yet you act as if there is some ideal order in the world, as if there is some... Some rightness in the universe by which it may be judged.

`Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what`s the point—`

― The Hogfather by Terri Pratchett

`Take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy.` Well this week they do indeed seem to have ground things down to the finest particle as last week`s headlines tell us. It`s good to know that `WA plays part in finding God`! and in today`s Sunday Times we have a clever play on words `God a particle of faith`! They`re referring to the discovery of the Higgs boson which had been postulated as giving mass and shape to other subatomic particles. There`s actually a very good explanation in this article but I wonder what Terri Pratchett would make of this news about finding this so-called `God-particle`.

Somehow I think it`s light years away from the shaping to life that he was on about. I also find it a weird irony that our culture has faith in theories that link into imagining a big bang origin but seems unable to imagine a fairer world beyond our insular shores. Which is possibly why I love Pratchett`s phrase `To be the place where the falling angel meets the rising ape.` And the next song reminds us how important it is to imagine. (The `Playing for Change` organization`s recording of John Lennon`s classic Imagine.)

Now I want to make it clear that I do not see Jesus`s understanding of God`s domain as fantasy or imaginary. Neither do I see it being identified with `a particle`. But in struggling for a fairer, more loving world, it is indeed from our capacity to imagine things differently that change can happen. Like the musicians who formed the `Playing for Change` organization, or that 11 year old French boy seeing himself as a citizen of the world which in turn links in to Jesus naming God as a loving father and each other as beloved brothers and sisters. So let`s listen to the words of advice Jesus had for his followers in trying to get this kingdom message across. It forms the second half of our reading from Mark`s gospel for today and has been put into a modern context by Petersen in his translation in The Message.

Reading - Mark 6:7-13

Jesus called the disciples to him, and sent them out in pairs. He gave them authority and power to deal with the evil opposition. He sent them off with these instructions:

`Don`t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this. You are the equipment. No special appeals for funds. Keep it simple. And no luxury hotels. Get a modest place and be content there until you leave. If you`re not welcomed, not listened to, quietly withdraw. Don`t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and be on your way.`

Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life can be radically different; everywhere they went they sent the demons packing; and brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.