The other night i caught, on the telly, an advert which scared the bejesus out of me. It first grabbed me when what seemed to be happening was a couple were having sex, or rather, about to have sex in some ally. Then came apparent sounds of protestation from the young lady. Horrifyingly, these were ignored by the guy. 'What the hell kind of advert is this?' i thought.
The drink driving adverts are fairly intrusive and direct; and there's the new sexual health adverts which also go for a heavy handed approach (and i'm not critical of either, the more hard-hitting the better when it comes to addressing issues like those), but this advert i was watching wouldn't assimilate to either of those categories, so i remained intrigued.
Then the first slogan appeared on screen: "If there's no consent, it's not sex!" cut back to the young man being put in a police holding cell, and then the second and final slogan: "Rape: short word, long sentence."
Talk about mixed feelings... Firstly, that slogan used to be a gag about marriage (it's not a word, it's a sentence) only that's not funny now. Then there's the thought that if this advert has an impact on however few potential rapists then it's worth it. The feeling that hit me the strongest, and remains with me most though, is 'What the heck kind of world is this i'm living in, that we have to have "rape's bad, kids, don't do it!" adverts on TV?'. And i'm not even prone to coming over all 'Daily Mail'.
I suppose that this is what we have to resort to when the last great pillar of sexual morality is reduced to simply 'consent' ie. as long as everyone agrees, it's ok.
22 November 2007
Mis-shapes V: Citizens on Patrol
(Police Academy 4)
For my final post in this series i wanted to talk about something which i found very positive, thus ending on a less whiney note. It's ever-so simple and requires little to be said about it. The thing is this: Be out there.
One of the things that came through, quite strongly for me, from all the staff at St.Thomas', was that they spend a specific amount of time each week just out, in public. They might be walking around a local estate or being in a coffee shop, praying, seeing who's about and chatting with people etc.
For me this tied in with conversations had with, and a post by, Kez. The idea of hope being where your ass is works, so put it in the streets, the pubs and the Costa-bucks coffee houses. It's the easiest thing for ministers to kill their week locked in church. There's something bold and gutsy about it, in terms of the arrangement of a weeks plan, the example set to the church and the demonstration of faith in one's faith.
Anyway, i think i've resolved to spending a couple of hours on a Thursday out and seeing what comes of it.
(Also, congrats to me for making the movie subtitle game work.)
For my final post in this series i wanted to talk about something which i found very positive, thus ending on a less whiney note. It's ever-so simple and requires little to be said about it. The thing is this: Be out there.
One of the things that came through, quite strongly for me, from all the staff at St.Thomas', was that they spend a specific amount of time each week just out, in public. They might be walking around a local estate or being in a coffee shop, praying, seeing who's about and chatting with people etc.
For me this tied in with conversations had with, and a post by, Kez. The idea of hope being where your ass is works, so put it in the streets, the pubs and the Costa-bucks coffee houses. It's the easiest thing for ministers to kill their week locked in church. There's something bold and gutsy about it, in terms of the arrangement of a weeks plan, the example set to the church and the demonstration of faith in one's faith.
Anyway, i think i've resolved to spending a couple of hours on a Thursday out and seeing what comes of it.
(Also, congrats to me for making the movie subtitle game work.)
21 November 2007
Mis-shapes IV: The Revenge
(Jaws 4)
There were two moments last week that were of particular horror in my mind, they were as follows:
In the seminar on 'mission to the poor and the marginalised' (which was held in a tiny back room and really poorly attended - more irony for you) there was a guy from St.Tom's talking to me about the work that he does. He wasn't running the seminar and was, in fact, disgruntled that it didn't go far enough for him. His complaint was that deep investment in people, giving them jobs, having them live with you etc wasn't really spoken of.
He was right and i was really excited by what he was saying and by his story. He talked of not being smart or wealthy, but of owning his own building company. One of the things he's done in the past has been give people jobs with him, build things with them, have them live with him and his wife - then BANG! This excitment i'd felt burst and turned to sheer horror when he said "...the thing is though, you've got to be careful about who you take on and invest in in this way. They've got to be saved first or, if they die, they go to Hell and all that energy and resources you've poured into them are just wasted".
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Secondly, in front of everyone on the last day, it was said that the wealth, freedom and lack of corruption we experience in this country is down to the Christian basis on which this country, its economy and its government are built.
I almost stood up and shouted "Bollocks!" except that i couldn't breathe, so instead i leant up and looked entirely aghast with all of the reasons this wasn't right barging through my mind. We didn't steal an Empire, it was ours to take, right? Slavery didn't give us a foot up, nor has oppression of women, come to think of it, our arms trading isn't too corrupt, and the same can be said of our dealing with the middle-east over oil. I'm sure there can't be too much of an economic benefit from getting Indonesians to make our sportswear etc etc.
The horror, the horror!
There were two moments last week that were of particular horror in my mind, they were as follows:
In the seminar on 'mission to the poor and the marginalised' (which was held in a tiny back room and really poorly attended - more irony for you) there was a guy from St.Tom's talking to me about the work that he does. He wasn't running the seminar and was, in fact, disgruntled that it didn't go far enough for him. His complaint was that deep investment in people, giving them jobs, having them live with you etc wasn't really spoken of.
He was right and i was really excited by what he was saying and by his story. He talked of not being smart or wealthy, but of owning his own building company. One of the things he's done in the past has been give people jobs with him, build things with them, have them live with him and his wife - then BANG! This excitment i'd felt burst and turned to sheer horror when he said "...the thing is though, you've got to be careful about who you take on and invest in in this way. They've got to be saved first or, if they die, they go to Hell and all that energy and resources you've poured into them are just wasted".
Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Secondly, in front of everyone on the last day, it was said that the wealth, freedom and lack of corruption we experience in this country is down to the Christian basis on which this country, its economy and its government are built.
I almost stood up and shouted "Bollocks!" except that i couldn't breathe, so instead i leant up and looked entirely aghast with all of the reasons this wasn't right barging through my mind. We didn't steal an Empire, it was ours to take, right? Slavery didn't give us a foot up, nor has oppression of women, come to think of it, our arms trading isn't too corrupt, and the same can be said of our dealing with the middle-east over oil. I'm sure there can't be too much of an economic benefit from getting Indonesians to make our sportswear etc etc.
The horror, the horror!
20 November 2007
Mis-shapes III: Live free or mis-shapes
(Die Hard 4.0)
At this point, from where i stand right now (sit), the great potential strength of what lifeshapes offers could fall victim to its greatest weakness. I've mentioned in a previous post that the intention behind lifeshapes is to bring balance and focus to Christian living.
In brief (very brief), The shapes are thus:
Circle - the stages on the circle offer a means of learning. You follow it through a process from reflection to action.
Triangle - says that our life should be an appropriate balance of up, in and out. Ie. relating to God, our own well being and our ministering to others.
Square - this is about identifying the phases we go through when we're learning and following something, and when we're teaching and leading something.
Semi-circle - (Weak) Still unclear on. Something about rhythms in life, times to be busy, times to rest, times to be missional, times to foster care in the Church.
Pentagon - Not pentagram, as some of the bad lot i fell in with were calling it. 'Five fold Christian ministry' Pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles and evangelists. (bit desperate if you ask me).
The thing is this, to a point the shapes and the processes they represent work. They poke and prod us and ask questions about how we live, how quickly we jump to decisions, how we're gifted, why we feel the way we do (and all of those things before God) etc. It's those questions that matter and the thought that goes into responses to them. The problem is that they come in the guise of a system. So, to people who like answers rather than wrangling with questions; for people with quite modernal outlooks on life; and for people who deal with their faith in quite boxy, clear-cut, right-wrong definitive terms, there is a huge temptation to fit, or make fit, everything, including themselves, into this system. When that happens it loses its power because in some senses it's a system that's not intended to be fulfilled. Its job is done as soon as it's got us to think, it doesn't require us to come back to it and squeeze back in all that it got us to think about. If the whole time you're working with the questions lifeshapes throws up you've got one eye on making your thoughts fit back, you'd only be stifled in that thinking.
Hence my constant referring to it as mis-shapes; we don't fit, life doesn't fit, we can't make a system which is whole, accurate and exhaustive, but, it does still acknowledge it as a thing which may be useful. The mocking of it basically keeps it in its place, where it serves us, not the other way around.
At this point, from where i stand right now (sit), the great potential strength of what lifeshapes offers could fall victim to its greatest weakness. I've mentioned in a previous post that the intention behind lifeshapes is to bring balance and focus to Christian living.
In brief (very brief), The shapes are thus:
Circle - the stages on the circle offer a means of learning. You follow it through a process from reflection to action.
Triangle - says that our life should be an appropriate balance of up, in and out. Ie. relating to God, our own well being and our ministering to others.
Square - this is about identifying the phases we go through when we're learning and following something, and when we're teaching and leading something.
Semi-circle - (Weak) Still unclear on. Something about rhythms in life, times to be busy, times to rest, times to be missional, times to foster care in the Church.
Pentagon - Not pentagram, as some of the bad lot i fell in with were calling it. 'Five fold Christian ministry' Pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles and evangelists. (bit desperate if you ask me).
The thing is this, to a point the shapes and the processes they represent work. They poke and prod us and ask questions about how we live, how quickly we jump to decisions, how we're gifted, why we feel the way we do (and all of those things before God) etc. It's those questions that matter and the thought that goes into responses to them. The problem is that they come in the guise of a system. So, to people who like answers rather than wrangling with questions; for people with quite modernal outlooks on life; and for people who deal with their faith in quite boxy, clear-cut, right-wrong definitive terms, there is a huge temptation to fit, or make fit, everything, including themselves, into this system. When that happens it loses its power because in some senses it's a system that's not intended to be fulfilled. Its job is done as soon as it's got us to think, it doesn't require us to come back to it and squeeze back in all that it got us to think about. If the whole time you're working with the questions lifeshapes throws up you've got one eye on making your thoughts fit back, you'd only be stifled in that thinking.
Hence my constant referring to it as mis-shapes; we don't fit, life doesn't fit, we can't make a system which is whole, accurate and exhaustive, but, it does still acknowledge it as a thing which may be useful. The mocking of it basically keeps it in its place, where it serves us, not the other way around.
Mis-shapes II: Back in the Habit
Incidentally, I've just decided that this mini-series on the lifeshapes conference will have movie subtitles (this mini-series will only run to about 4 posts, panic ye not). Let's see if i can make it work. For the uninitiated, thus far we have Dr Strangelove and Sister Act 2.
The Holy Spirit used to make me do weird stuff like shake, cry and fall over. Or, i think it did. Or, i don't think i was kidding myself too much, plus i was a teenager so i don't really know what was genuine and what was me wanting to fit in. And it was the 90's. I also used to really, really know loads about Christianity too, now i know hardly anything!
This week at St.Tom's was a week of unavoidable, unadulterated and near unbearable Conservative Charismatisism. Please understand, i don't say 'unbearable' to be deliberately rude. Rather, it comes from a personal place where i, as an adult with a deep commitment to Christ, reflecting on my former charismatic experiences, feel, in some ways, spiritually abused.
One of the things which was good/extremely difficult about this week was getting to see and partake in stuff which was formative to my spirituality, yet which is a very different place to where i'm at now, and revisiting it in light of that. One key thing i've come away with is a revised view on prophecy.
There came a point of choosing seminars and, in the spirit of the event, i thought 'which of these is going to pee me off the most?'. I found myself in the prophecy seminar.
"He's gonna talk about waiting on the Lord, giving out words to people, discerning the difference between your thoughts and God's and all the different ways God can speak - pictures, words, objects, Bible verses popping into your head etc" i thought. Guess what? I was right and i was satisfactorally pee'd off! Somewhere in the middle of this though, i realised that, along with the shedding of my conservative charismatic self, i'd shed the idea that God might speak to me with a particular message for a particular person at a particular time. Shame. I wouldn't talk about it in the way the speaker did, nor would i exercise it that way, but i did think perhaps it was something i'd been missing.
What's ironic (there's always got to be at least one ironic thing) is that there were two situations last week where i was given 'a word from God' by someone. Both were situations where the messenger was under a lot of pressure to come up with something, and both were situations where what was said meant nothing at all to me. Yet what God really seemed to be saying through all this was 'This kind of prophecy is a valuable thing and it is real sometimes, so listen for it'.
The Holy Spirit used to make me do weird stuff like shake, cry and fall over. Or, i think it did. Or, i don't think i was kidding myself too much, plus i was a teenager so i don't really know what was genuine and what was me wanting to fit in. And it was the 90's. I also used to really, really know loads about Christianity too, now i know hardly anything!
This week at St.Tom's was a week of unavoidable, unadulterated and near unbearable Conservative Charismatisism. Please understand, i don't say 'unbearable' to be deliberately rude. Rather, it comes from a personal place where i, as an adult with a deep commitment to Christ, reflecting on my former charismatic experiences, feel, in some ways, spiritually abused.
One of the things which was good/extremely difficult about this week was getting to see and partake in stuff which was formative to my spirituality, yet which is a very different place to where i'm at now, and revisiting it in light of that. One key thing i've come away with is a revised view on prophecy.
There came a point of choosing seminars and, in the spirit of the event, i thought 'which of these is going to pee me off the most?'. I found myself in the prophecy seminar.
"He's gonna talk about waiting on the Lord, giving out words to people, discerning the difference between your thoughts and God's and all the different ways God can speak - pictures, words, objects, Bible verses popping into your head etc" i thought. Guess what? I was right and i was satisfactorally pee'd off! Somewhere in the middle of this though, i realised that, along with the shedding of my conservative charismatic self, i'd shed the idea that God might speak to me with a particular message for a particular person at a particular time. Shame. I wouldn't talk about it in the way the speaker did, nor would i exercise it that way, but i did think perhaps it was something i'd been missing.
What's ironic (there's always got to be at least one ironic thing) is that there were two situations last week where i was given 'a word from God' by someone. Both were situations where the messenger was under a lot of pressure to come up with something, and both were situations where what was said meant nothing at all to me. Yet what God really seemed to be saying through all this was 'This kind of prophecy is a valuable thing and it is real sometimes, so listen for it'.
14 November 2007
Mis-shapes or, How i learned to stop worrying and love coded Christian language.
Low-bar, Huddle(v/n), Cluster, D2(adj), A word, The word, Saved, Person of peace, Biblical(adj), Buzz, Prophetic, learning circle, Truth(absolutely), Minister(v), Tool, Apostle (by our definition).
I find myself tempted to place a bet on who would win in a fight between boardroom speak and charismatic, conservative, evangelical, Christian speak. I may not ever find out the answer, but last week i got a pretty good look at what their love-child would look like! It ain't the kind of beast you'd want to have tell your children a bedtime story.
I've been at St.Thomas' Sheffield visitor's week, the intention has been to gain an understanding of 'Life shapes'. This is a system which is about giving Christian lives a balance and focus and it encorporates several geometric shapes intended for use as 'tools' to meet this end. There's loads i could, and probably will, say about this whole thing, for now though, i just want to vent my thoughts on nonsense what was spoked.
People arrive and, following coffee, begin to make their way to their seats upon which time the programme for the week etc will be made clear. As this is going on our host, from the front and with a mic, is welcoming folk and encouraging them to find seats. It's all very jovial and there's a sense of expectancy, he's making Christian Jokes; Jokes about holiness, first being last, the rapture etc. I'm irritated by this, these are cheap (not to mention unfunny) 'in' jokes. Skip forward 10 min or so and this same man is telling a story about when he first came to church and his friend asked what he thought of the sermon. He was confused and didn't know what his friend was saying, then he said "oh, you mean the guy in the frock who gave the speech?" [big laugh] His point was how big a gap there can be between people inside and outside of the Church, without really challenging it, and all the while completely unaware how far he's fallen prey to this cult.
The rest of this week was then spent coaching people in the way of speech and thought at St.Tom's, the end of which phrases like "...but that's where you've got to walk the people of peace in your cluster right around the square, through D2..." were used, and everyone knew what was meant.
I was irritated and scared by the keeness with which all this appeared to be being lapped up; as though people couldn't wait to get home and bemuse their friends with this new way of talking about Christianity.
Is it that difficult to talk easy about Jesus? Does his message and its required response really not lend itself to contempory speech? Is it approprate that Christianity have it's own dialect?
dunno.
I find myself tempted to place a bet on who would win in a fight between boardroom speak and charismatic, conservative, evangelical, Christian speak. I may not ever find out the answer, but last week i got a pretty good look at what their love-child would look like! It ain't the kind of beast you'd want to have tell your children a bedtime story.
I've been at St.Thomas' Sheffield visitor's week, the intention has been to gain an understanding of 'Life shapes'. This is a system which is about giving Christian lives a balance and focus and it encorporates several geometric shapes intended for use as 'tools' to meet this end. There's loads i could, and probably will, say about this whole thing, for now though, i just want to vent my thoughts on nonsense what was spoked.
People arrive and, following coffee, begin to make their way to their seats upon which time the programme for the week etc will be made clear. As this is going on our host, from the front and with a mic, is welcoming folk and encouraging them to find seats. It's all very jovial and there's a sense of expectancy, he's making Christian Jokes; Jokes about holiness, first being last, the rapture etc. I'm irritated by this, these are cheap (not to mention unfunny) 'in' jokes. Skip forward 10 min or so and this same man is telling a story about when he first came to church and his friend asked what he thought of the sermon. He was confused and didn't know what his friend was saying, then he said "oh, you mean the guy in the frock who gave the speech?" [big laugh] His point was how big a gap there can be between people inside and outside of the Church, without really challenging it, and all the while completely unaware how far he's fallen prey to this cult.
The rest of this week was then spent coaching people in the way of speech and thought at St.Tom's, the end of which phrases like "...but that's where you've got to walk the people of peace in your cluster right around the square, through D2..." were used, and everyone knew what was meant.
I was irritated and scared by the keeness with which all this appeared to be being lapped up; as though people couldn't wait to get home and bemuse their friends with this new way of talking about Christianity.
Is it that difficult to talk easy about Jesus? Does his message and its required response really not lend itself to contempory speech? Is it approprate that Christianity have it's own dialect?
dunno.
8 November 2007
An Incon-vein-ient Truth?
It's impossible to look at images of frozen landscapes these days without associating them with global warming, CO2 emissions, melting ice-caps and Co. How much more so when the depiction of those images are entwined with an urgency surrounding the sun?
Last night i went to see horror/vampire movie '30 Days of Night'. The plot is simple; the northern most town in Alaska is preparing for the period when the sun goes down and does not rise again for a month. Soon after the sun has gone down a hoard of vampires begin to feed on the townsfolk with unstobbable ease.
Right from the opening shot (of the place where the ice meets the sea) it seemed to me that this film was setting itself up to, in a unique way, discuss this climate crisis. My problem is that i can't work out wether or not i was making it up. Here's what i saw:
The use of vampires as the nemeses is at once natural and brilliant. The sunlight is their enemy; they suck the life blood from their victims; if you're biten but you don't die you become one of them, therefore we have the ability to be both victim and perpetrator in this allegory; Then, and most strikingly, is sense in which they are preying on this area and highlighting its vulnerability.
There was a point where the lead vampire says "It's taken centuries to make them not believe [in us], we can't let them suspect now."
This struck me as underlying the arguments climate change naysayers put forward. 'Our cars and planes don't make a difference, go back to sleep'.
Towards the end, in an attempt to cover up what's actually gone on, the vampires set fire to the town in the hope it will look like some horrible accident. Here we have the image of this town literally being consumed and melting, not only this, but it's achieved by letting oil run through the streets and lighting it.
Then there's the magnitude of the enemy; mighty, without conscience and invulnerable. Combined, obviously, with the horror of it all.
Finally, one of the central themes of the film is that of survival and 'what are you prepared to sacrifice in order to live?'.
If your stomach's up to it, go see this and let me know if i'm hearing the film correctly, or if it's just a better than average gore-fest.
15 October 2007
11 October 2007
i was just thinking...
If God is ultimate, then it is what's ultimate that is 'good'. This means, rather than saying "God is good" (which, whilst true, primarily allows us to project our notions of goodness onto God), is it not better to say "Good is whatever God is"? This allows God to take the lead, and exclusively 'own' and demonstrate goodness.
Also...
If what God has said through Jesus is "take up your cross, die to self, crucifixion, love your neighbour as yourself", then the entire emphases of this life shifts onto 'the other' to the complete detriment of self. This means that our greatest sins are the systems which encourage and facilitate our caring for and relying soley on ourselves, and our lapping-up there of, and our greatest achievements are places where we give of ourselves and depend on one another.
In the Nth degree, sacrifice and prefering of others = life and survival, the preferring of self = death.
...Right?
Can we stop the credits rolling?
As 'An Inconvenient Truth' begins to roll its credits, the following (please translate to suit a more British ear) appears on screen:
Are you ready to change the way you live?
The climate crisis can be solved - Here's how to start... Go to www.climatecrisis.net
- In fact, you can even reduce your carbon emissions to zero
- Buy energy efficient appliances and light bulbs
- Change your thermostat (and use clock thermostats) to reduce energy for heating and cooling
- Weatherise your house, increase insulation, get an energy audit
- Recycle
- If you can, buy a hybrid car
- When you can, walk or ride a bicycle
- Where you can, use light rail or mass transport
- Tell your parents not to ruin the world you live in
- If you are a parent, join with your children to save the world they live in
- Switch to renewable sources of energy
- Call you power company to see if they offer green energy
- If they don't, ask why not
- Vote for leaders who pledge to solve this crisis
- Write to congress
- If they don't listen, run for congress
- Plant trees, lots of trees
- Speak up in your community
- Call radio shows and write to newspapers
- Insist that America freeze CO2 emissions
- And join international efforts to stop global warming
- Reduce our dependence on foreign oil, help farmers grow alcohol fuels
- Raise fuel economy standards; require lower emissions from automobiles
- If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change
- In the words of the old African proverb, 'when you pray, move your feet'
- Encourage everyone you know to see this movie
- Learn as much as you can about the climate crisis
- Then put your knowledge into action
Are you ready to change the way you live?
The climate crisis can be solved - Here's how to start... Go to www.climatecrisis.net
- In fact, you can even reduce your carbon emissions to zero
- Buy energy efficient appliances and light bulbs
- Change your thermostat (and use clock thermostats) to reduce energy for heating and cooling
- Weatherise your house, increase insulation, get an energy audit
- Recycle
- If you can, buy a hybrid car
- When you can, walk or ride a bicycle
- Where you can, use light rail or mass transport
- Tell your parents not to ruin the world you live in
- If you are a parent, join with your children to save the world they live in
- Switch to renewable sources of energy
- Call you power company to see if they offer green energy
- If they don't, ask why not
- Vote for leaders who pledge to solve this crisis
- Write to congress
- If they don't listen, run for congress
- Plant trees, lots of trees
- Speak up in your community
- Call radio shows and write to newspapers
- Insist that America freeze CO2 emissions
- And join international efforts to stop global warming
- Reduce our dependence on foreign oil, help farmers grow alcohol fuels
- Raise fuel economy standards; require lower emissions from automobiles
- If you believe in prayer, pray that people will find the strength to change
- In the words of the old African proverb, 'when you pray, move your feet'
- Encourage everyone you know to see this movie
- Learn as much as you can about the climate crisis
- Then put your knowledge into action
18 September 2007
Good luck with the job, Geth.
My brother Gethin has been out in the States this Summer working on one of the camps for kids they have. While he's been in the land of the free and the home of the brave he's been offered a job being involved in some way in the organising of next Summers camps. He's undecided about taking it as far as i know, one thing i do know however, is that should he go for it he'll need to get a more permanent visa. This means that the American home office will want to be checking him out fairly thoroughly, including perhaps stumbling across this little piece of wonder-web! I thought two things when i realised this:
First: i could make it difficult for him to get his visa depending on what i decide to type here. I thought i'd start relatively tamely, for instance - declaring my immense love and favour of hyper critical american comic, satirist and protestor Bill Hicks.
Second: If the American home office do decide to check out Gethin's background and somehow find their way here, i could leave them a personal message!
If you have any thoughts on how i could mischievously complicate his visa, or have an idea for a message for the government o' USA leave a comment.
Gethin should perhaps consider getting in touch with me soon, all i want is a text or a phone call and look at the lengths he's made me go to.
It's not the winning...
Bloody Tottenham! This Saturday gone has not been a great one for me, WBCFC have played their first game of the season and we lost 3-2. That is bearable - no, bearable is the wrong word, familiar is what it is. (The only positive i can take from the game is that my goal tally is now three goals from the last two games, that's not bad.) From there i went to find somewhere showing the spurs V gooner *expletive, deleted* game, it wasn't being shown on sky, possibly just aswell since all Tottenham did was toss away a 1-0 lead to lose 3-1 - at home no less! This news was then closely followed by Wales getting spanked, and i don't mean one of those pleasant spankings, by the austrailians in the Rugby. It's been a while since three of my teams have all been beaten in the matter of a couple of hours, and i'm still smarting from it - again, not in a pleasant way.
13 September 2007
What denomination would Jesus be?
This post needs putting in context, for that you'll need to check out Glen's post on the question of 'what's becoming of our denominations?'. I would continue to leave my comments there but for two reasons: 1. i think this takes the discussion down a slightly different thread to that which Glen intended and 2. i'm not interested in smearing my ignorance all over his blog.
What follows reflects part of my thoughts on the discussion and also shows me up for the bad Baptist i am:
Having been raised as part of a generation, and in a context, where what counts most is 'the individual in the right now', (and that having had a greater impact on my identity than the concept of 'Baptist') i feel massively disconnected from the past. This leads to a hunger to reconnect and find something of real meaning and significance. However, to attempt to do that under the guise of a specific tradition, brand or label of Christianity just seems a bit unsatisfying and disingenuous. My disconnection puts me in a sort of catch-22, it means that while i do want to rediscover stuff, none of it feels like 'my story'; not the baptist story or any other denominational story. It's not that i don't realise the massive value in those stories, i just don't feel that i own them in any way.
I do feel enormously bound to Christ, but the terms of discussion used in Glen's post, and in the comments, make me feel like that's not enough, like i need a specific denominational framework to hang it all on. My story, probably, is that of a 'humanist for Jesus', or a 'secularist for Jesus', again though, this has no depth whatsoever (since i just invented it), and so i swim around dissatisfied and whiny, adrift from the past, certainly from anything pre-1950, wondering if i'm alone in this, or is it a symptom of my post-modernal state?
Have i missed a point somewhere? Does this match or completely juxtapose your experience? Anyone fancy throwing me a line?
What follows reflects part of my thoughts on the discussion and also shows me up for the bad Baptist i am:
Having been raised as part of a generation, and in a context, where what counts most is 'the individual in the right now', (and that having had a greater impact on my identity than the concept of 'Baptist') i feel massively disconnected from the past. This leads to a hunger to reconnect and find something of real meaning and significance. However, to attempt to do that under the guise of a specific tradition, brand or label of Christianity just seems a bit unsatisfying and disingenuous. My disconnection puts me in a sort of catch-22, it means that while i do want to rediscover stuff, none of it feels like 'my story'; not the baptist story or any other denominational story. It's not that i don't realise the massive value in those stories, i just don't feel that i own them in any way.
I do feel enormously bound to Christ, but the terms of discussion used in Glen's post, and in the comments, make me feel like that's not enough, like i need a specific denominational framework to hang it all on. My story, probably, is that of a 'humanist for Jesus', or a 'secularist for Jesus', again though, this has no depth whatsoever (since i just invented it), and so i swim around dissatisfied and whiny, adrift from the past, certainly from anything pre-1950, wondering if i'm alone in this, or is it a symptom of my post-modernal state?
Have i missed a point somewhere? Does this match or completely juxtapose your experience? Anyone fancy throwing me a line?
7 September 2007
For the child/geek in you...
I took a 'what superhero are you?' quiz; i figure i only came out as The Flash because Jesus can't have been on the list.
Your results:
You are The Flash
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
Your results:
You are The Flash
| Fast, athletic and flirtatious.  |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz
6 September 2007
Year's Gone By.
Aaaaaahhhhh, I am beginning to feel that i can now look back on this year that's past, my first of four full-time, training as a minister. I've had my end of year review and this very morning recieved the final set of marks i've been waiting for. There are a heap of things i could talk about, but i'm just going to mention a couple.First - my marks.
I'm really quite pleased with how i've done, i'm now the proud owner of credits!!! Whilst i don't really know what that means i do know that it means far more than any academic possesion i've had before. Until now the best i've had has been 4 'C' grade GCSE's, (and we all know they give those out in cereal boxes) maths, english language, geography and drama. Going into this year i had two major anxieties and my academic ability (or more specifically, my academic discipline) was one of them, i'm therefore thrilled to have written stuff and have clever people read it, and for them to think it's ok. (My second major anxiety is far too complex to start talking about here.)
Second - books.
There have been three books which i've enjoyed more than others this year and which, no doubt, will prove to have been key points along my way.
1. How (not) to speak of God, by Peter Rollins. Whilst i've taken part in some Pete Rollins bashing on kez's blog, i still think this book is brilliant in the way it addresses questions of orthodoxy, heresy and the depth to which we think we know and understand God.
2. The Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. This book's point is simple: God is with the poor, God loves the poor, if we love God and want to know God, we need to love the poor and be with the poor, otherwise our faith is nonsense. Read it and be refreshed that someone is blazing a trail out of mediocre, bland Christianity. Read it and be deeply upset that it might require you to follow on.
3. Original Blessing, by Matthew Fox. Of the three books here, this is the only one from any of the reading lists this year. It argues that God is primarily about affirming life and humanity, rather than condeming it. It's title is an obvious play on 'original sin', and while it's not attempting to deny the fall, it does attempt to redress the balance between a Christianity which is sin obsessed and one which is life obsessed.
Incidentally, the picture is of the college grounds, the quad. I'm particularly enjoying the way the pink of the blossom works with the pink of this page!
22 August 2007
Greenbelt
I can't wait for Greenbelt, i love Greenbelt, this will probably be my last post until after Greenbelt, i'm so excited about Greenbelt, Greenbelt is my favourite, perhaps i'll see you at Greenbelt. Greenbelt- Woohoo!
Knock, knock...
I'm beginning to notice that i only really blog about things which bother me and that this fact then turns my blog into an arena for rants. To buck this trend here is a joke -
Knock, knock.
- who's there?
I'd love hope
-I'd love hope who?
Ha ha ha ha, you said you'd love a poo! ha ha ha.
Actually, that knock knock joke reminds me of something which really upset me!
Earlier today I was sat in the lounge and there was a knock at my door. I got up instinctively, since often a knock at the door can be a sign that there is someone there who either wishes to come in, or at least would like my attention for some reason. This action was also tinged with curiosity since i wasn't expecting anyone. When i got to the door there stood a man in his forties who I didn't recognise. He was in the kind of coat a football manager would wear, not the woollen Ron Atkinson type, the polyester Martin Jol type. He asked if the car parked out front was mine. (This car is the car i got back from the garage yesterday and i've only really stopped stroking it momentarily since, and this was in order to get some sleep last night.) My face must have contorted horribly, since i thought about a thousand things at once and not one of them was positive: Had he just driven into it? Had he driven into it last week? Had he seen who'd driven into it last week? Has he stolen it? Of course he hasn't stolen it, if he'd stolen it i wouldn't be looking at it and he wouldn't be knocking on my door! Has he seen someone attempt to steal it?
These were the things which were racing around between my ears while i answered his question with a simple 'yes'. "Don't worry" he said, "it's nothing bad". If anything, this statement only raised my anxiety further, if it's nothing bad it still must be something, and since it is indeed something, the fact that one chooses to make reassurances rather than come straight to the point is a concern - particularly when i've only just got my car back from the garage!
As he made his frustrating protestation, he extended his hand which had something in it. By sheer reflex i also extended mine to receive what he was offering me. It was a small piece of solid plastic with lettering on it which i couldn't read on account of my heightened adrenaline levels. I was only to be confused further when he said "These are just some numbers i made up."
'Why have you come to my house to show me numbers you've made up?' I thought. Then it all clicked as he said "We can put these on all your windows and lights" - He was showing me a sample of the etched licence plate numbers cars have for security. I realised that he was selling me something on my doorstep and as such fell into the mental category of visitor i like to call 'door-to-door salesman'. At this point i decided to treat him as such, and said a firm, but accompanied with a smile and direct eye eye-contact "No thanks, I'm not going to take any". He responded with "Why not?". 'Persistent' I thought, and so i opted for a recently adopted tactic of dealing with door-to-door sales and telesales. I figure ultimately they want my money, so tell them you don't have any. In my case it's true, and even more so since some *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* drove into my car and buggered off!
"I can't afford it" I said, in no way offering anything for discussion. "Well," he said "we don't do it now, we'll come back and do it when it's convenient". His stupidity knocked my concentration and i was offended that he thought i was stupid enough to think he'd set about the job right there and then. I got half way through attempting to explain that my lack of cash ran beyond just what money i happened to have in the house, then i gave up, realising that had i gone any further it would have been an invitation to discuss finances and price etc. Then it all turned. "So you want your car stolen do you?" he asked. 'Bloody hell!' i thought, i've heard more subtle threats made in pre-heavyweight championship press conferences. "Of course i don't want my car stolen" i said, he looked at me and gave a terribly Gallic, 'que sera' laced shrug. It was at this point i much more consciously noted that he wasn't wearing any sort of i.d and i didn't even have a company name.
He asked again, more forcefully and aggressively "why not then?" and i said "well, for one, i don't agree with door-to-door sales' immediately the response came 'It's my job, you've got a job haven't you?' There were about eleven levels on which i'd have liked to respond to just this one statement of his, but my main concern and prioirity was his insistance on making this personal. I just said "It's not about you".
"So why don't you like door-to-door sales?" he said. Almost laughing at his inability to guess, even in the face of the conversation we were having, why i don't like door-to-door sales, i thought i'm going to have to somehow make it even more explicit. "I often find that it can get aggressive and confrontational, and all on my own door step" Still refusing to acknowledge any of the irony and persisting with what someone must have told him about 'as long as you're in conversation you can still make a sale' he said "I see your point, but this is my job, it's my business, I've got to make sales, I've got to sell to make money. I've already made seven sales like this. The people you work for have got to sell a product for you to get your money, that's all I'm doing."
In a fraction of a second i had a whole conversation with him in my head about my job and where the money comes from - and converts - and door-to-door evangelism - and fear based evangelism and - indoctrination - and the whole concept of titheing - and selling Jesus as a product - and the idea of Jesus as an exclusive ticket to Heaven, and decided not to take it down that road. Instead, i gave a resigned 'yes'. He had finally given up though, he took his piece of plastic back and turned to leave, i wished him luck but he didn't respond in any way at all, he was already working out which other cars on the street correlate to which houses... i returned to Kelly in the lounge who, having heard everything, was completely freaked out by the stranger at the door. And i get angry about door-to-door sales at the best of times.
I'm not sure how soundly i'm going to sleep over the next few nights, but at least i'm not going to Hell.
Knock, knock.
- who's there?
I'd love hope
-I'd love hope who?
Ha ha ha ha, you said you'd love a poo! ha ha ha.
Actually, that knock knock joke reminds me of something which really upset me!
Earlier today I was sat in the lounge and there was a knock at my door. I got up instinctively, since often a knock at the door can be a sign that there is someone there who either wishes to come in, or at least would like my attention for some reason. This action was also tinged with curiosity since i wasn't expecting anyone. When i got to the door there stood a man in his forties who I didn't recognise. He was in the kind of coat a football manager would wear, not the woollen Ron Atkinson type, the polyester Martin Jol type. He asked if the car parked out front was mine. (This car is the car i got back from the garage yesterday and i've only really stopped stroking it momentarily since, and this was in order to get some sleep last night.) My face must have contorted horribly, since i thought about a thousand things at once and not one of them was positive: Had he just driven into it? Had he driven into it last week? Had he seen who'd driven into it last week? Has he stolen it? Of course he hasn't stolen it, if he'd stolen it i wouldn't be looking at it and he wouldn't be knocking on my door! Has he seen someone attempt to steal it?
These were the things which were racing around between my ears while i answered his question with a simple 'yes'. "Don't worry" he said, "it's nothing bad". If anything, this statement only raised my anxiety further, if it's nothing bad it still must be something, and since it is indeed something, the fact that one chooses to make reassurances rather than come straight to the point is a concern - particularly when i've only just got my car back from the garage!
As he made his frustrating protestation, he extended his hand which had something in it. By sheer reflex i also extended mine to receive what he was offering me. It was a small piece of solid plastic with lettering on it which i couldn't read on account of my heightened adrenaline levels. I was only to be confused further when he said "These are just some numbers i made up."
'Why have you come to my house to show me numbers you've made up?' I thought. Then it all clicked as he said "We can put these on all your windows and lights" - He was showing me a sample of the etched licence plate numbers cars have for security. I realised that he was selling me something on my doorstep and as such fell into the mental category of visitor i like to call 'door-to-door salesman'. At this point i decided to treat him as such, and said a firm, but accompanied with a smile and direct eye eye-contact "No thanks, I'm not going to take any". He responded with "Why not?". 'Persistent' I thought, and so i opted for a recently adopted tactic of dealing with door-to-door sales and telesales. I figure ultimately they want my money, so tell them you don't have any. In my case it's true, and even more so since some *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* drove into my car and buggered off!
"I can't afford it" I said, in no way offering anything for discussion. "Well," he said "we don't do it now, we'll come back and do it when it's convenient". His stupidity knocked my concentration and i was offended that he thought i was stupid enough to think he'd set about the job right there and then. I got half way through attempting to explain that my lack of cash ran beyond just what money i happened to have in the house, then i gave up, realising that had i gone any further it would have been an invitation to discuss finances and price etc. Then it all turned. "So you want your car stolen do you?" he asked. 'Bloody hell!' i thought, i've heard more subtle threats made in pre-heavyweight championship press conferences. "Of course i don't want my car stolen" i said, he looked at me and gave a terribly Gallic, 'que sera' laced shrug. It was at this point i much more consciously noted that he wasn't wearing any sort of i.d and i didn't even have a company name.
He asked again, more forcefully and aggressively "why not then?" and i said "well, for one, i don't agree with door-to-door sales' immediately the response came 'It's my job, you've got a job haven't you?' There were about eleven levels on which i'd have liked to respond to just this one statement of his, but my main concern and prioirity was his insistance on making this personal. I just said "It's not about you".
"So why don't you like door-to-door sales?" he said. Almost laughing at his inability to guess, even in the face of the conversation we were having, why i don't like door-to-door sales, i thought i'm going to have to somehow make it even more explicit. "I often find that it can get aggressive and confrontational, and all on my own door step" Still refusing to acknowledge any of the irony and persisting with what someone must have told him about 'as long as you're in conversation you can still make a sale' he said "I see your point, but this is my job, it's my business, I've got to make sales, I've got to sell to make money. I've already made seven sales like this. The people you work for have got to sell a product for you to get your money, that's all I'm doing."
In a fraction of a second i had a whole conversation with him in my head about my job and where the money comes from - and converts - and door-to-door evangelism - and fear based evangelism and - indoctrination - and the whole concept of titheing - and selling Jesus as a product - and the idea of Jesus as an exclusive ticket to Heaven, and decided not to take it down that road. Instead, i gave a resigned 'yes'. He had finally given up though, he took his piece of plastic back and turned to leave, i wished him luck but he didn't respond in any way at all, he was already working out which other cars on the street correlate to which houses... i returned to Kelly in the lounge who, having heard everything, was completely freaked out by the stranger at the door. And i get angry about door-to-door sales at the best of times.
I'm not sure how soundly i'm going to sleep over the next few nights, but at least i'm not going to Hell.
14 August 2007
go here.
I know i've mentioned the blog already and there's a link under the heading 'head down the blog', but i'm enjoying sarcasmo so much i feel it warrants an advert in the form of a post of its own. It never fails to provoke a response from me, usually laughter, though the cat video has disturbed me in a full psyche-altering fashion. Check it out, enjoy.
Huh, honestly!
Last week Kelly got a summer straw bag from e-bay for £4.50 (postage included). It's a lovely bag and came complete with a little purse, which came complete with sixty quid stuffed in it. She tried lots of ways of thinking about it which would mean it was actually now ours, but we decided anything we did with it that wasn't send it back would be an endeavour to keep it. Send it back we did.
Then, on Thursday, some *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* drove into my car while it was parked outside the house, and then drove off again leaving nothing more than the wreckage and skid marks. Oh, and me in ball of fury, out of pocket £150 excess, almost four years no claims wiped out and a beefed up premium.
I figured, since honesty obviously doesn't pay, I'd attempt a half truth myself. This month i've received two copies of 'Hot Fuzz', one from a certain record store in Wakefield and the second from a certain on-line distribution site. I thought it would be most convenient for me to return the one from the web-site to the record store, since it was still properly packaged and unwatched. I was turned away from the record store who said that since there was no proof of purchase they wouldn't take it. This means i now have to go through the rigmarole of confessing to those who got me the second copy that i already have it and, via a lengthy postal process, go about arranging some sort of exchange. I'm not wicked, where's my rest?
I think there's a great deal to be thought and said about how exchanges are made with others of things we own, will own, have owned, the value placed on these things, why we find counting our blessings so uninstinctive and the great truth that, if there is such a concept as grace, none of us get what we deserve.
Then, on Thursday, some *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* *expletive, deleted* drove into my car while it was parked outside the house, and then drove off again leaving nothing more than the wreckage and skid marks. Oh, and me in ball of fury, out of pocket £150 excess, almost four years no claims wiped out and a beefed up premium.
I figured, since honesty obviously doesn't pay, I'd attempt a half truth myself. This month i've received two copies of 'Hot Fuzz', one from a certain record store in Wakefield and the second from a certain on-line distribution site. I thought it would be most convenient for me to return the one from the web-site to the record store, since it was still properly packaged and unwatched. I was turned away from the record store who said that since there was no proof of purchase they wouldn't take it. This means i now have to go through the rigmarole of confessing to those who got me the second copy that i already have it and, via a lengthy postal process, go about arranging some sort of exchange. I'm not wicked, where's my rest?
I think there's a great deal to be thought and said about how exchanges are made with others of things we own, will own, have owned, the value placed on these things, why we find counting our blessings so uninstinctive and the great truth that, if there is such a concept as grace, none of us get what we deserve.
27 July 2007
25 July 2007
Try Hard poor.0
Die hard 4.0 is plenty of fun, and a fantastic example of the final nail in the coffin of an ever worsening franchise that started out being seminal. It's a brilliant exercise, on the part of the filmakers, in missing the point. I was hoping to see the resurrection of John McClane, instead the whole thing reinforced the character's death somewhere in the aquaduct in 'Die Hard With a Vengence'. This wasn't the down-to-earth, bummed out and vulnerable John McClane. What we got was some tongue-in-cheek, superhuman, parody of an imitation, without any of the character's course, streetwise wit. How's this for a character arc: our very first introduction to the man in 1988 showed us a guy afraid of flying, by the end of Die Hard 4.0 he has surfed on a fighter jet!
Holy baptism, Unholy baptism and our stuff.
There's been so much going on lately that i haven't been able to reflect on it properly and therefore haven't blogged. I could list stuff, but that would be arduous for me and tedious for you. Instead i'll try and identify themes and commonalities amidst the nonsense. One of the central issues is undeniably money and possessions. At WBC lots of thought and talking has recently been done around questions of ownership, generosity, humble living, idolatry of wealth and ways of playing outside the 'rules' of contemporary western consumerist culture. Part of this has been about helping people to realise how wealthy we are, how wealth centred we are and how contrary that is to, certainly my understanding of, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This becomes somewhat awkward, ironic and perhaps inappropriate in a locality, and now virtually a country, which has had all it owns destroyed by what some people are accounting as an act of God.
It's also massively to my shame that it takes something like this to happen on my doorstep for me to pray anywhere near fervently about the weather. When comparative events take place elsewhere in the world (usually far more destructively) i'll think "oh God, why?" or "please help them" and then have my tea. This situation however has brought out the real hypocrite in me and shown what my response ought better look like to international events. Somehow these things shouldn't happen here; our buildings are made of concrete, we have the internet, satellites, cruise control and pop-charts. Yet here we are with mini- infrastructures way out of control, literally a wake of destruction and further communities at the mercy of clouds abilities to retain water... and people keep asking me what i want for my birthday!?
This becomes somewhat awkward, ironic and perhaps inappropriate in a locality, and now virtually a country, which has had all it owns destroyed by what some people are accounting as an act of God.
It's also massively to my shame that it takes something like this to happen on my doorstep for me to pray anywhere near fervently about the weather. When comparative events take place elsewhere in the world (usually far more destructively) i'll think "oh God, why?" or "please help them" and then have my tea. This situation however has brought out the real hypocrite in me and shown what my response ought better look like to international events. Somehow these things shouldn't happen here; our buildings are made of concrete, we have the internet, satellites, cruise control and pop-charts. Yet here we are with mini- infrastructures way out of control, literally a wake of destruction and further communities at the mercy of clouds abilities to retain water... and people keep asking me what i want for my birthday!?
10 July 2007
"...Come hell or high water"
To those of you who occasionally check in here, i'm sorry that there's been nothing new here for a little while, there have been several distractions in this past month or so which have made blogging difficult - but now i'm back!
Loads seems to have been going on that i'd have really liked to comment on but now lots of those things have either passed or been blogged about plenty by other folk. Highlights of things i've not talked about are:
1. Kelly's nanny.
2. My assignments. They went in tentatively (and a couple a bit late), but the marks i've had back so far are ok.
3. A portion of my neighbourhood flooding in 'the great flood' (I didn't think it was that good personally). Huge devastation, great need, receded waters (and with them receded spectacle and media interest), the floods hit in one of the poorest areas in Wakefield where a large portion of that community aren't insured. A moment which makes me laugh and saddens me enormously at the same time, was when an individual who held a postion of responsibility in the situation was overheard to be talking about a holiday they had booked on the second weekend (when it was due to really rain again and everyone was desperatly anxious about it) and said, quite unwittingly, that he would be going on it "come hell or high water". There's plenty to talk, think, reflect on and, most importantly, do, so i will probably revisit this topic over the next few weeks.
4. A friend of mine, dan, is attempting to set up a project for homeless people in Wakefield (which the council's statistics say there aren't any of). The project aims, for this year, to run as a signposting and advocacy agency; but most importantly as a research project, to be able to take evidence of homelessness in Wakefield to the authorities. 'The Way Home' has been named, an account opened and funding applied for. Watch this space...
5. The devastating fire at 'the simple way'.
6. A new Prime minister.
Just to say,the scripture with which i've resonated most through these events, and my reflections on these events, has been Habakkuk 1.2-4:
How long O Lord must I call for help but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you "Violence!"
but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralysed, and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted.
Again, i'm confident that i'll come back to this and explain further my thoughts along these lines.
To finish on an up-note, i'm going to catch Die Hard 4.0 this week as well as go on a stag do at the weekend, which will involve that winning combination of football, steak and beer.
3 July 2007
a sad update
Kelly's grandmother passed away at breakfast time on Thursday 28th June, her funeral service was held on Friday morning 6th July. Thanks to those of you who've prayed (please continue to do so) and communicated your good wishes, they've been very much appreciated.
4 June 2007
more blogging coming soon.
Not blogged for a bit, been busy writing essays, amongst other things, i'll get back to working on my pink page soon.
In the mean time, i'd appreciate those of you who pray, praying for Kelly, her family (particularly Kelly's mum, Brenda) and her grandmother (Nanny /Peggy) who is in the process of taking her final bow. I'm not often fond of euphemisms, but that's one i like, it implies a life that's worthy of applause and a desire for dignity in its closing phase.
In the mean time, i'd appreciate those of you who pray, praying for Kelly, her family (particularly Kelly's mum, Brenda) and her grandmother (Nanny /Peggy) who is in the process of taking her final bow. I'm not often fond of euphemisms, but that's one i like, it implies a life that's worthy of applause and a desire for dignity in its closing phase.
24 May 2007
I'll have a 'Screaming Organism' please barman.
I've nearly finished reading shane claiborne's book 'The Irresistible Revolution' and am increasingly convinced, nay, more vociferously convinced that the Church has sold me short. One of the things that i've not really had a problem with has been different people's different Christian theologies:
You want a theology which is centered around movement of the Holy Spirit? Here it is...
You don't want to spend so much time lying down or laughing and shaking? Here you go...
You want one which means it's ok for you to be gay? Can do...
You want to be able to remain in judgement of homosexuality? Sure thing...
You want Jesus' ressurection to be metaphorical? Try this...
You want everyone to go to heaven? No problem...
You want heaven to just be for Christians who believe the same things you do? I got one right here that does the trick...
You want to be able to completely ignore the Old Testament? Certainly...
You want to guard a literal interpretation of scripture? Give this a whirl...
Now, i'm not saying that i wouldn't want to take issue with some of the positions represented here, i'm simply stating that these different positions are held and, in the minds of those that hold them, are legitimated. There's even the possibility of mixing together, a la Tom Cruise in 'Cocktail' stylee, some of these positions. What i do want to say though, is that no matter which theology you run with, i don't see how it is possible to remove from the gospel dramatic caring for the poor and love of enemies. Somehow it seems that, for the most part, we've turned these ideas into saying 'hello' to the poor who come to us (fairly few, since church is a broadly middle class pursuit) and vaguely putting up with people at church who we don't get on with so well.
What i'm saying is that whichever theological cocktail we go for, umbrellas and all, if there isn't the 'ice' of bold intervention where we see injustice, and desperate, drastic love of real enemies, all we're left with is a tepid drink worthy only of being spat out. (familiar?)
If the Church is the body of Christ, why do we merely doff our caps at exploitation and war, and put a pound in the box marked 'poverty'? Why aren't we an organism, screaming at the top of our lungs and working our fingers to the bone to usher in the kingdom of God?
Know what i mean?
You want a theology which is centered around movement of the Holy Spirit? Here it is...
You don't want to spend so much time lying down or laughing and shaking? Here you go...
You want one which means it's ok for you to be gay? Can do...
You want to be able to remain in judgement of homosexuality? Sure thing...
You want Jesus' ressurection to be metaphorical? Try this...
You want everyone to go to heaven? No problem...
You want heaven to just be for Christians who believe the same things you do? I got one right here that does the trick...
You want to be able to completely ignore the Old Testament? Certainly...
You want to guard a literal interpretation of scripture? Give this a whirl...
Now, i'm not saying that i wouldn't want to take issue with some of the positions represented here, i'm simply stating that these different positions are held and, in the minds of those that hold them, are legitimated. There's even the possibility of mixing together, a la Tom Cruise in 'Cocktail' stylee, some of these positions. What i do want to say though, is that no matter which theology you run with, i don't see how it is possible to remove from the gospel dramatic caring for the poor and love of enemies. Somehow it seems that, for the most part, we've turned these ideas into saying 'hello' to the poor who come to us (fairly few, since church is a broadly middle class pursuit) and vaguely putting up with people at church who we don't get on with so well.
What i'm saying is that whichever theological cocktail we go for, umbrellas and all, if there isn't the 'ice' of bold intervention where we see injustice, and desperate, drastic love of real enemies, all we're left with is a tepid drink worthy only of being spat out. (familiar?)
If the Church is the body of Christ, why do we merely doff our caps at exploitation and war, and put a pound in the box marked 'poverty'? Why aren't we an organism, screaming at the top of our lungs and working our fingers to the bone to usher in the kingdom of God?
Know what i mean?
15 May 2007
Field of Dreams
I've not seen this film (the title of the post) since I was about 13 years old. I remember at the time not being particularly interested in it, but going along with the suggestion of watching it, only to be completely charmed by it. I watched this film again last night (and very timely it was too). It's absolutely fantastic, completely magical and profoundly spiritual. It's about chasing ghosts or mystical messages in a way that is both exciting and intensely frustrating, whilst at the same time not fully realising all that's been achieved, or how far you've come in this pursuit already. It also speaks of Heaven being this place and the completion of dreams, it talks of faith, of sacrifice of material wealth, of family and finally, of the deep spirituality of sport.
If you've not seen it: get hold of it. If it's been a while since you've watched it: revisit it!
If you've not seen it: get hold of it. If it's been a while since you've watched it: revisit it!
Glory, glory Tottenham Hotspur!
As yet, I've failed to mention spurs aquiring of a top 5 finish for the second year running. Could this be the cusp of usurping a mediocre and inconsistent state of being that Tottenham have nurtured for way too long now? Just maybe. If they offer Berbatov the greatest contract they've ever offered anyone. Just maybe.
Biblical interpretation
I've been having conversations of late, with my brother, regards the minefield of biblical interpretation. Here's a funny, if a little offensive, case in point. One of the things Bart Campolo has been talking about recently has been how he goes about assessing, from his experience and the world around him, what God is like and then takes that as a means for interpreting the God of the Bible. At the end of the day, isn't that all we have?
Approach with caution if you're easily offended, of a nervous disposition, a small child or have a tiny sense of humour.
Approach with caution if you're easily offended, of a nervous disposition, a small child or have a tiny sense of humour.
10 May 2007
10 things i've learnt this week
1. Apparently spider-man 3 sucks. This is a real shame since i was really looking forward to the filmic telling of the venom story.
2. I need to crack on with my writing of assignments. I promised myself i'd be in a better position this semester than i was this time last semester. Another broken promise.
3. I've spent alot of time in recent years unlearning things i previously 'knew' about my faith. I'd got to a point where i thought i didn't know plenty, this week though i've learnt that i know even less than that. you follow?
4. Patios are a bugger to get up, but even worse to re-lay!
5. When i'm all geared up to play football and that opportunity is stolen from me at the 11th hour by a circus arranging itself all over my pitch without due notice, don't provoke me further lest you feel the full force of my wrath.
6. There are some people who manage taxi ranks who perhaps ought not, since they are prone to delivering swift and brutal shoeings to drunk customers on saturday nights. However, being involved in a situation like this can be overshadowed mere minutes later, by the power of conversation and engagement with grief, emotional pain and loss.
7. All the hip-hop i used to listen to as a kid is now very, very hard to come by. i believe that a sample though, is winging it's way to me as i type. shhh, don't tell my wife.
8. I've missed bbqs even more than i thought.
9. A simple way to test wether or not God is on your side, is to drop a sealed yoghurt on a hard floor. If the pot splits open and spills it's toffee flavoured, dairy natured contents everywhere, you're out of favour. Alternatively, you could try skewering beef onto a fondu fork, the moment the fork passes through the beef you have to try and stop the fork following through into the palm of your hand. If you don't manage to stop it, this also means God is not with you. The stigmata like injuries may help you convince those around you however, that he in fact is.
10. Handing over decision making regards your future to those around you, is about as much fun as a barrel of severed limbs.
2. I need to crack on with my writing of assignments. I promised myself i'd be in a better position this semester than i was this time last semester. Another broken promise.
3. I've spent alot of time in recent years unlearning things i previously 'knew' about my faith. I'd got to a point where i thought i didn't know plenty, this week though i've learnt that i know even less than that. you follow?
4. Patios are a bugger to get up, but even worse to re-lay!
5. When i'm all geared up to play football and that opportunity is stolen from me at the 11th hour by a circus arranging itself all over my pitch without due notice, don't provoke me further lest you feel the full force of my wrath.
6. There are some people who manage taxi ranks who perhaps ought not, since they are prone to delivering swift and brutal shoeings to drunk customers on saturday nights. However, being involved in a situation like this can be overshadowed mere minutes later, by the power of conversation and engagement with grief, emotional pain and loss.
7. All the hip-hop i used to listen to as a kid is now very, very hard to come by. i believe that a sample though, is winging it's way to me as i type. shhh, don't tell my wife.
8. I've missed bbqs even more than i thought.
9. A simple way to test wether or not God is on your side, is to drop a sealed yoghurt on a hard floor. If the pot splits open and spills it's toffee flavoured, dairy natured contents everywhere, you're out of favour. Alternatively, you could try skewering beef onto a fondu fork, the moment the fork passes through the beef you have to try and stop the fork following through into the palm of your hand. If you don't manage to stop it, this also means God is not with you. The stigmata like injuries may help you convince those around you however, that he in fact is.
10. Handing over decision making regards your future to those around you, is about as much fun as a barrel of severed limbs.
30 April 2007
Can't get me, I didn't say 'amen'-off-ground-no-returns ahhh ha ha!
In sunday's service at Wakefield Baptist Church we prayed:
I like this prayer, it's my prayer. I didn't write it or lead it, but I prayed it and continue to do so. That said, it does need criticising, or rather I do if I'm to pray it.
I guess this means I'm still working out if this is a prayer I really mean, it might just cost me something.
We pray for the Church
in it's stand for the poor,
in it's love for the the outcast and the ashamed,
in it's service to the sick and the neglected,
in it's proclamation of the Gospel,
in this land and in this place.
I like this prayer, it's my prayer. I didn't write it or lead it, but I prayed it and continue to do so. That said, it does need criticising, or rather I do if I'm to pray it.
"We (1st person plural) pray for the Church (also 1st person plural)"
'We pray for us', or 'I pray for me' is what's going on here essentially.
When I first read it, it took me a few moments to work out what I was actually praying for and this realisation came in several stages.
First: I could see 'poor' and 'outcast' etc and I thought 'Ooh, this is my kind of prayer, I'm going to like this prayer, I'll probably mean it'.
Second: I knew, before I could workout why, that it wasn't a prayer for the ashamed and the sick. It was then that I realised it was a prayer for the Church. 'How right is that' I thought 'that I spend this time praying for the Church rather than for the neglected, directly?'
Third: at this point I got to have a go at myself with one of the gripes I often reserve for those morons who are part of the Church but don't get it (that's a lot of people in my book, by the way).
This prayer starts here, 1st person singular. The Church is not some vague 'them' or other. It's not seperate or apart from, it's 'we', me included. If I am to criticise the Church (and I do all the time for multiple offences) I am to criticise myself. If I'm to criticise myself I am to call myself into change. If I am to do that and do not change, I'm wasting my time and my breath, both are quite valuable to me.
I could see how crap I am in my stand for the poor etc, and I appreciated this prayer from myself (though I did note that I'm not as crap as some people and poured mini-congratulations upon myself). The horror with prayer, and this prayer particularly, is that as one prays, one must surely open oneself up to the potential of having God answer the prayer through one. You dig? I can't pray for God to save you from drowning and leave it at that if I'm the one holding the ring, I've then got to throw you the ring too. So it is with this prayer; I pray it, I then have to be brave enough to let God answer, which means I have to be ready to do my part. (Ghandi's "Be the change you want to see" anyone?)
I guess this means I'm still working out if this is a prayer I really mean, it might just cost me something.
26 April 2007
Movies, Yaaaaayy!
Films I've seen for the first time in the past couple of weeks are 'Crank', '3 burials of Melquides Estrda' and 'The Assassination of Richard Nixon'.
Crank - Do not make the mistake of assuming the title is not cockney rhyming slang. I watched this one evening, after spending a lovely day with friends eating cake in the sunshine, as a fun way to wind the day up. I knew it was going to be a trashy action movie, I didn't know how much I'd regret watching it. The story revolv - ha ha ha ha ha 'story'! It's about a gangster who's been poisoned in his sleep, when he wakes he's got about an hour to live - if he keeps his heart rate sky high. Mayhem ensues in what is, ultimately, a blank cheque the film makers had written themselves.
If you ever find yourself in the position where you've been kidnapped, you know the police are going to bust in and rescue you in about 90min and your kidnappers say "you've got a choice, we'll either kill you now, or you can watch 'Crank' with us and then we'll kill you", just tell them to get on with it and kill you right there and then.
This film is so brash, mindless and misguided it even features, what is essentially, a rape scene (which is played for laughs), where the audience is put in a position where it's expected to cheer on the lead character who is committing this atrocity.
3 burials of Melquidas Estrada - Tommy Lee Jones directorial debut, brilliant (in it's true 'shining brightly' sense)!
It's about the promise made by a Texan (Jones himself) to a Mexican friend that, should the friend die in the US, he'll return him to his home town in Mexico for burial. Melquides (the friend) does indeed die and the journey back to Mexico is made all the more tense by the kidnapping (by Jones' character) of the killer, to accompany and assist him in the task.
Actually that's not what it's about, that's the story; it's about loyalty, friendship, trust, grief, US/Mexico relations, hope/ambition, isolation and penance.
The assassination of Richard Nixon - Sean Penn is awesome in this! Set in the early 70's, this is about a man who is so committed to honesty and fairness, that when it means he's actually unable to function in a corrupt world, his commitment turns to bemusement and, finally, to an anger focused on the most significant abuser of power and truth of the time - Nixon. Lots of comparisons had been made to taxi driver, and rightly so for a number of reasons, but I would cite one of the main differences as being how identifiable the main character is. This, obviously, adds enormously to the horror.
One of the things I do from time to time, if I know I'm going to be busy, or there's alot of films on their way I want to catch, is list them. I thought this might be an interesting place to make and keep that list.
The lives of others
This is England
Half-nelson
Fast-food nation
Days of glory
Inland empire
Spider-man 3
Grindhouse
Any thoughts?
Crank - Do not make the mistake of assuming the title is not cockney rhyming slang. I watched this one evening, after spending a lovely day with friends eating cake in the sunshine, as a fun way to wind the day up. I knew it was going to be a trashy action movie, I didn't know how much I'd regret watching it. The story revolv - ha ha ha ha ha 'story'! It's about a gangster who's been poisoned in his sleep, when he wakes he's got about an hour to live - if he keeps his heart rate sky high. Mayhem ensues in what is, ultimately, a blank cheque the film makers had written themselves.
If you ever find yourself in the position where you've been kidnapped, you know the police are going to bust in and rescue you in about 90min and your kidnappers say "you've got a choice, we'll either kill you now, or you can watch 'Crank' with us and then we'll kill you", just tell them to get on with it and kill you right there and then.
This film is so brash, mindless and misguided it even features, what is essentially, a rape scene (which is played for laughs), where the audience is put in a position where it's expected to cheer on the lead character who is committing this atrocity.
3 burials of Melquidas Estrada - Tommy Lee Jones directorial debut, brilliant (in it's true 'shining brightly' sense)!
It's about the promise made by a Texan (Jones himself) to a Mexican friend that, should the friend die in the US, he'll return him to his home town in Mexico for burial. Melquides (the friend) does indeed die and the journey back to Mexico is made all the more tense by the kidnapping (by Jones' character) of the killer, to accompany and assist him in the task.
Actually that's not what it's about, that's the story; it's about loyalty, friendship, trust, grief, US/Mexico relations, hope/ambition, isolation and penance.
The assassination of Richard Nixon - Sean Penn is awesome in this! Set in the early 70's, this is about a man who is so committed to honesty and fairness, that when it means he's actually unable to function in a corrupt world, his commitment turns to bemusement and, finally, to an anger focused on the most significant abuser of power and truth of the time - Nixon. Lots of comparisons had been made to taxi driver, and rightly so for a number of reasons, but I would cite one of the main differences as being how identifiable the main character is. This, obviously, adds enormously to the horror.
One of the things I do from time to time, if I know I'm going to be busy, or there's alot of films on their way I want to catch, is list them. I thought this might be an interesting place to make and keep that list.
The lives of others
This is England
Half-nelson
Fast-food nation
Days of glory
Inland empire
Spider-man 3
Grindhouse
Any thoughts?
20 April 2007
Don't look here.
I've just seen this report on a piece of work, by graffiti artist Banksy, being removed. This guy's stuff is brilliant, very peace-loving, very anti-establishment, often funny or poignant and very creative. Search his name under google images or check out his book 'wall and peace' to see the stuff he's done. He's a little bit of a hero of mine. Here's the report http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070420/tuk-uk-britain-art-fa6b408.html look at the terms it's reported in; his work is given credibility by either how much money it's worth, or which celebs have bought it. Both of these factors entirely miss the point of his work. The spokespersons final comment did cause me to smirk though.
17 April 2007
Where i'm at.
Blogging's rubbish, computers are even more rubbish and headaches induced by fury at sodding computers and blogs are particularly rubbish!
I can't sort out putting a photo of me on my profile (how apt, given the title of the blog); I've accidentally deleted forever Rob's comment, and other people have had difficulty leaving comments at all. Blogging is also quite fun though, hence my return to this seat in which i've wasted much time and sworn in too rich a manner and quantity.
I thought it might be helpful to explain a little bit about some of the things that are racing around my head these days, since that's probably what will most affect what i blog.
I was raised as a fairly traditional, conservative, evangelical, charismatic, Christian (although at the time i was just a 'Christian', because in my mind, that's the only sort of Christian there was). I don't want to talk disparagingly about that though, since it has served as foundational in my spiritual journey. Also, support given me in what i'm doing now and the way i'm doing it, by friends and family who come under that banner, has been deep, genuine and even liberating. What i will say is that, somewhere in the past 5-10 years, i've moved away from a form of Christianity which looks to contort what the Bible says into a list of moral behaviours, to a form of Christianity which looks to contort what the Bible says into a principle: love.
The Christ i now see in scripture actually loves people and is far more interested in justice, peace and freedom, rather than a privatised, individualistic 'holiness'. This has changed my guilt. The story about planks and specks in people's eyes now makes real sense to me. Where it used to be about grades of personal sins; swearing = speck, having sex before being married= plank, it's now about personal sin V corporate sin. I'm not talking about corporations in a buisness sense (exclusively), i'm talking about stuff people do corporately, eg. concern ourselves with status symbols while people starve - plank! Buy products which either save us money or make us feel cool, which have been made by people who are desperately exploited - plank! Have spare rooms while people sleep on streets - plank! pay tax to a government who then spend it on warfare - plank!
Am i naive? Yes.
Am i an idealist? Yes.
Am i living according to the kind of morality i laid out above? No.
This is my question:
a) What if we actually believed, and lived like, Jesus was serious when he said 'whenever you do/refuse to do this for the least of my people here, you do/refuse to do it for me.'
b) How do we begin to figure out how to do that?
Please excuse me, i'm going to spend some time weeping and repenting before continuing to live my life unchanged.
ps. for more on these kind of questions, and subsequent questions, go to dan hussey's blog, jody gabriel's blog and ben brown's blog. These are some of the people who have been key in my thinking about how radical i'm prepared to be to follow Jesus (don't hold your breath with Ben and jody's blogs though, i'm considering running a book on whether either of them will ever post again and which one will be first).
I can't sort out putting a photo of me on my profile (how apt, given the title of the blog); I've accidentally deleted forever Rob's comment, and other people have had difficulty leaving comments at all. Blogging is also quite fun though, hence my return to this seat in which i've wasted much time and sworn in too rich a manner and quantity.I thought it might be helpful to explain a little bit about some of the things that are racing around my head these days, since that's probably what will most affect what i blog.
I was raised as a fairly traditional, conservative, evangelical, charismatic, Christian (although at the time i was just a 'Christian', because in my mind, that's the only sort of Christian there was). I don't want to talk disparagingly about that though, since it has served as foundational in my spiritual journey. Also, support given me in what i'm doing now and the way i'm doing it, by friends and family who come under that banner, has been deep, genuine and even liberating. What i will say is that, somewhere in the past 5-10 years, i've moved away from a form of Christianity which looks to contort what the Bible says into a list of moral behaviours, to a form of Christianity which looks to contort what the Bible says into a principle: love.
The Christ i now see in scripture actually loves people and is far more interested in justice, peace and freedom, rather than a privatised, individualistic 'holiness'. This has changed my guilt. The story about planks and specks in people's eyes now makes real sense to me. Where it used to be about grades of personal sins; swearing = speck, having sex before being married= plank, it's now about personal sin V corporate sin. I'm not talking about corporations in a buisness sense (exclusively), i'm talking about stuff people do corporately, eg. concern ourselves with status symbols while people starve - plank! Buy products which either save us money or make us feel cool, which have been made by people who are desperately exploited - plank! Have spare rooms while people sleep on streets - plank! pay tax to a government who then spend it on warfare - plank!
Am i naive? Yes.
Am i an idealist? Yes.
Am i living according to the kind of morality i laid out above? No.
This is my question:
a) What if we actually believed, and lived like, Jesus was serious when he said 'whenever you do/refuse to do this for the least of my people here, you do/refuse to do it for me.'
b) How do we begin to figure out how to do that?
Please excuse me, i'm going to spend some time weeping and repenting before continuing to live my life unchanged.
ps. for more on these kind of questions, and subsequent questions, go to dan hussey's blog, jody gabriel's blog and ben brown's blog. These are some of the people who have been key in my thinking about how radical i'm prepared to be to follow Jesus (don't hold your breath with Ben and jody's blogs though, i'm considering running a book on whether either of them will ever post again and which one will be first).
16 April 2007
who is blogging for?
How do?
Interesting that i start my first post with a greeting, suggests i intend this to be read by those who aren't me. It suggests that i think whatever it is will be recorded in/on this tiny patch of cyber-space is worth reading; that i have something to say of such interest and magnitude, that i need some sort of platform. Or is it just a place where i can record some of my less dark musings? If that's the case, why use such a public space; why not just keep a diary with a tiny 'my little pony' padlock, like the good old days? (i never had a diary with a tiny 'my little pony' padlock - maybe that's what i'm making up for here). Is this whole blogging thing a tiny part of our societies current obsession with celebrity? - read me, love me!
Actually I was struck by something yesterday as I was reflecting on catching parts of 'You're the one that I want' and 'Any dream will do'. One of the things the Bible says is that God has put eternity on people's hearts; essentially that there is part of us, as created by God, which is concerned with somehow finding a place for ourselves in eternity. It occurred to me that this whole celebrity obsession thing comes from a huge desire to make oneself known and remembered as widely as possible. If that isn't testament to having eternity on our hearts, what is? The other thing which struck me, which i haven't been sickened by in quite the same way with previous shows of this nature, is their ability to bring out, highlight and then exploit, for entertainment purposes, some of this countries psychologically damaged/ disturbed people. Brilliant! Let's put that on telly, cos we all need a little light entertainment on a Saturday night.
Anyway, read my blog cos i need to be affirmed and remembered. I'm reckoning on blogging about once a week on stuff of slightly more substance than that of what i had for tea or where i'm going at the weekend. I might blog again before this weeks out cos this is just a taster, a bit of a practise.
Interesting that i start my first post with a greeting, suggests i intend this to be read by those who aren't me. It suggests that i think whatever it is will be recorded in/on this tiny patch of cyber-space is worth reading; that i have something to say of such interest and magnitude, that i need some sort of platform. Or is it just a place where i can record some of my less dark musings? If that's the case, why use such a public space; why not just keep a diary with a tiny 'my little pony' padlock, like the good old days? (i never had a diary with a tiny 'my little pony' padlock - maybe that's what i'm making up for here). Is this whole blogging thing a tiny part of our societies current obsession with celebrity? - read me, love me!
Actually I was struck by something yesterday as I was reflecting on catching parts of 'You're the one that I want' and 'Any dream will do'. One of the things the Bible says is that God has put eternity on people's hearts; essentially that there is part of us, as created by God, which is concerned with somehow finding a place for ourselves in eternity. It occurred to me that this whole celebrity obsession thing comes from a huge desire to make oneself known and remembered as widely as possible. If that isn't testament to having eternity on our hearts, what is? The other thing which struck me, which i haven't been sickened by in quite the same way with previous shows of this nature, is their ability to bring out, highlight and then exploit, for entertainment purposes, some of this countries psychologically damaged/ disturbed people. Brilliant! Let's put that on telly, cos we all need a little light entertainment on a Saturday night.
Anyway, read my blog cos i need to be affirmed and remembered. I'm reckoning on blogging about once a week on stuff of slightly more substance than that of what i had for tea or where i'm going at the weekend. I might blog again before this weeks out cos this is just a taster, a bit of a practise.
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