The Sun - 1: Genesis 1:14-19

Don’t you think it interesting how we read what we want to, and project onto our readings our preconceptions of what we already think the reading is about?

Genesis 1:14 talks about the lights in the firmament being for ‘signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years’. My initial thoughts were around the ‘signs’. What could these signs be? The moon turning to red at the end of the age, perhaps? And the seasons; how does the sun tell us about the seasons? It comes up and goes down every day regardless of the time of year. Although, depending on your position on the globe, the arc of the sun will vary according to the season.

But verse 14 hadn’t even mentioned the ‘the sun’ yet – only, ‘lights in the firmament’. I had already projected onto the scripture my own preconceptions of what I thought it was talking about. The lights would have to include the stars, sun, and moon. The stars have always been connected with the thought and practice of interpreting signs, and the different constellations do change according to the seasons.

Its not until verse 16 that the scripture reveals something of the nature of those lights: greater light to rule the day; lesser light to rule the night; and the stars. They weren’t even called ‘sun’ and ‘moon’ then. Probably to keep to the point that it was God who created them, therefore, it is God who is to be worshipped, not the greater and lesser lights (many pagans were at that time worshipping sun and moon, which they saw as deities – some still do).

But my initial thought was around projecting my preconceptions onto the scripture: I already know what this is about! But maybe I don’t, really….

God’s creation had a purpose, and the purpose and creation were good.

I wonder what else I miss seeing and understanding because I think I already know what its about? The creation reflects the nature and purposes of God, which are quintessentially good. So, why do we continually seek to stuff everything up?

How should we be interpreting the lights for signs, seasons, days, and years in the context of them reflecting that nature and purposes of our good and gracious God?

muggings - cause, effect, and hope

excellent interview on bbc radio4's today programme this morning, that looks at the question of why young people go around mugging others. you can listen again here.
youthworkers, camila batmangelidgh of kids company, and shaun bailey bring a damning critique and indictment on our liberal democracy that has neglected the care and safety of our children so that they actually feel unsafe in the world. that feeling of being unsafe coupled with a lack of love and care, along with a relentless media-driven diet of violence places too many children literally into survival mode that means the only way they can see that they can be safe is to become known as dangerous.
of course, this sounds like more liberal wishy-washy excuse-making for bad behaviour, but i find myself saying more often these days, that delinquent parents and adults are making delinquent children.
we do well to remember that jesus welcomed children into his circle in such a way that shocked his culture, when he said, 'to such as these (children) belong the kingdom of god'. in other words, the 'status' of children is second to none in the eyes of the king of the universe. that also means that the responsibility for the love and care and nurture and discipline of these first-class citizens of god's kingdom lies with adults.
the critique of the youthworkers mentioned above is that adults are the cause of their own misery because they have failed in their responsibility to the children they have begotten.
this is a complex issue that will not suffer simplistic solutions. it will require nothing less than a cultural shift, probably taking a generation or more to flow through.
but its not hopeless. einstein said that it only takes 8% of any given population to change for the rest of the population to change with them.
people like camila and shaun need to play a louder and more prominent role in helping our society to understand what's going on and develop strategies at a political level that are more effective than what we currently have.
churches need to take heart and realise that they have an enormous part to play in this issue too, as they provide most of the country's youthworkers. organisations like frontier youth trust and oasis trust do great work in training youthworkers and contributing at a significant political level by engaging in prophetic dialogue with the makers of public policy. youthwork programmes like ascension eagles cheerleaders take a long term approach to working with young people and their wider community that actually effect a cultural shift at a micro level.
the downward spiral of violence and revenge is not the only way to be feel safe in our world. the dear man whose son was murdered by 2 young men for his mobile phone and travel card has chosen to look for a better way.
the season of advent leading to christmas reminds us that god did not, and has not given up on the human condition, flawed as it is. the decision of god to live among us as jesus of nazareth, taking responsibility for the children he created continues to inspire a real, living and transformational hope that the way life is, is not necessarily the way it needs to be, and that the human condition is actually redeemable.
there is hope yet, and there are those who live hope.

stop the traffik

check out this short film, with daniel bedingfield, about this most heinous of human crimes.
then check out the rest of the website, and join with me and sign and up to start the process of doing something about it.
see also the protest4 link on the side, one of the pioneers of which is me old mate si johnston, and emily's link that keeps us in touch with her work in bangkok with girls involved in prostitution, some of whom are there against their will.
this issue of slavery and trafficking of people will gain more momentum over the next few months in the leadup to the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the british empire.
but the tragedy is, 200 years later, its still an enormous worldwide problem that continues to grow.
and what's to be done? next year will see the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, with many commemoration and other kinds of activities to mark it. today, the prime minister, tony blair, spoke of his 'deep sorrow' that it ever happened. you can read the full text of his speech here. you can also listen again to a couple of slots on the bbc's 'today' programme that open some thoughts on what might happen if the pm offered a full apology. there are people here who want an apology to include financial reparation.
i think that, while an apology would be a good thing, it will undoubtedly open up a whole raft of legal claims made for financial and other kinds of reparation. that in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but the real problem with that kind of thing is that inevitably the legal fraternity gets involved and any pot of money put aside to pay claims to genuine claimants is significantly reduced after legal bills.
i remember listening to an example of the church in canada being taken to court by the aboriginal peoples of canada for damages in land settlements, and 90% of the money went to lawyers and only 10% to those who had a rightful claim.
in australia (when i left 7 years ago) the pm would not offer a full apology to the aboriginal people for their displacement from their ancestral lands for fear of opening a pandora's box of legal and financial woe (to the federal govt) that could be enormous. the aboriginal people did not want money, only an apology for the wrong done them.
the issues around slavery and peopletrafficking will increase over the next 3 months as the bicentenary draws closer.
what do you think about it all?

Inspiration

i have come that you may have life, and life in ALL its fulness.

Jesus of Nazareth (John 10:10)

i'm rich!

How rich are you? >> I'm loaded. It's official. I'm the 319,576,092 richest person on earth!

i sometimes think it doesn't feel like i'm amongst the richest people in the world, but from a global perspective, i am. i've just got to think back to my kenyan trip for some perspective....

golding describes the rescue

mike golding describes the rescue of fellow ocean racer, alex thomson, here.

sailing drama

Between the hours of 04.45 and 06.30 GMT this morning a dramatic rescue operation took place in the treacherous icy waters of the Southern Ocean. Devastated solo sailor Alex Thomson (GBR) abandoned his yacht HUGO BOSS, after it suffered severe structural failure to the keel, and dramatically transferred via life raft to Mike Golding's yacht ECOVER. Thomson and Golding (GBR) both highly experienced yachtsmen and fellow competitors in the VELUX 5 Oceans race, carried out the rescue operation with the utmost caution. It took four attempts to get Thomson safely onboard ECOVER and the transfer took one hour and 45 minutes. from the velux5oceans website.

the double reality of sadness and heroics involved in this rescue has not been well reported by radio4. they talk about it as a capsize, which is only partly true, if the velux5oceans website is right. rado4 gives a picture that is open to speculation as to why hugo boss is being abandoned, whereas the cause is clearly gear failure of the swinging keel coming apart. this is not difficult to get right from a reportage perspective, so why not get it right? sailors all over the world will be annoyed at the amateurish attempt by the bbc in its coverage.

below is a very clear and well-presented precis of the situation from one of the competitors, the legendary sir robin knox-johnston, reported on the velux5oceans website: "The news that Alex Thomson has had to abandon his boat Hugo Boss in the Southern Ocean is only relieved by the fact that he is safe. His boat was one of the best prepared for the 2006 Velux 5 Oceans race, and the fact that he has suffered a mechanical failure is a tragedy. This was not a new or experimental boat. It is a well tried one with plenty of miles beneath its keel, so for a major mechanical failure - either something was slowly weakening or there was a sudden abnormal strain - but we may never know the answer to that now.

"It comes at a time when the IMOCA boats had had a very good safety record in recent years since the rules were tightened after the Bullimore keel failure, and members were congratulating themselves that they had not had the sort of problems that were experienced by the Volvo fleet last year. The IMOCA 60 boats are probably the most tested yachts before they can receive their certificate and take part in an event, so a structural failure like this may need some hard thinking about, to avoid such problems in the future.

"This also means that those of us at sea in the race are looking at our own keel arrangements and just wondering how secure they are, but few of us can give an answer. We are seamen and sailors, not engineers and designers, and not qualified to say whether what we have is safe or not. We take to sea what we are given but at the back of our minds is: 'What happens if?'

"This is not the first rescue of this type in the race. In the first event in 1982 Tony Lush was picked up by another American between Africa and Australia, and on the next leg Englishman Richard Broadhead beat back for three days to rescue French Navy Commander Jacques de Roux whose boat had been holed. This was the incident that led to the adoption of compulsory watertight doors for this race. In 1990 Bertie Reed picked up fellow South African John Martin after his boat had hit an iceberg.

"It is an axiom in these races that the nearest assistance will probably come from another competitor, apart from some excellent exceptions by the Royal Australian Navy. The good news is that Alex is safe and it won't be long before he is out racing again."

congrats to mike golding on his skill, courage, and exemplary effort in keeping the code of the sea in going to the aid of a sailor in trouble. i know what its like to be passed by when i've been in trouble (albeit nowhere near the scale of this one!)
and commiserations to alex thomson on having his race end in such a way.

Johnny Cash God's Gonna Cut You Down

fantastic song, fantastic artist, fantastic album

music in america

check this site out.
how cool is that!
this interactive website shows loads of music that's starting to play in different cities right throughout the usa right now. and you can do all kinds of interactive stuff through the site to influence the kind of music being played, along with more stuff that needs a better brain than mine to figure out how to do.
aaahhhh, i'm a simple creature, i know.....

deep comfort

Oh, the comfort,
the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person;
having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words,
but to pour them all out,
just as they are,
chaff and grain together,
knowing that a faithful hand will take and sift them,
keep what is worth keeping,
and then,
with a breath of kindness,
blow the rest away.

George Eliot.

inspiration for this week

so......, what are you going to do this week?

Movement and Tension: Mark 4:35-41

There’s a sense of movement throughout this passage; and a tension between the movement and stillness, which is its opposite.

Movement from day to evening – tension between busyness of day and stillness of evening.
Movement from sea to land – tension between stillness of land and movement of sea.
Movement from crowd to a few – tension between noise of crowd and stillness of a few.
Movement from calm to a storm – tension between safety and survival.
Movement from sleep to wakefulness – tension between panic and calm.
Movement from storm to peace and stillness – tension between fear and faith.
Movement from fear to awe – tension between normal and paranormal.

Life is full of movement and tension, and we are always faced with how we will respond to it. Jesus asked the disciples, “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” He obviously sees movement and tension differently to us. Equally obvious is that he understands our fears and lack of faith. But I suspect he wants us to see the movements and tensions of life with his eyes that will cause us to lose our fear because we will be so full of faith – faith in him who has created all that we are, and are part of.

Its so easy to see this stuff from the vantage point of being on retreat. So much more difficult in the midst of the busyness and chaos of everyday life. And there are people in our midst who would love to feel the closeness and calmness that Jesus gives, but whose lives are so demanding that they just can’t give themselves the time to draw close to him.

It would be great to bless the parents of some of our kids in consistently small ways that would enable them to feel God’s closeness and goodness, and help them to really live in the everyday reality of movement and tension.

Beautiful Creation: Psalm 65:9-13

This reading gives such a wonderful sense of God’s care and generosity for the earth, and for us who live on it and with it. Because of his care and generosity, there is a palpable abundance and health of growth along with an uncontainable joy expressed in response – the joy of knowing and feeling and experiencing his care.

“The river of God is full of water; you provide their grain”. There’s nothing stingy about God at all.

I remember watching the sun come up one morning while on retreat. It looked as though it was coming up out of the sea itself. It was a deep reddy/orange colour that illuminated the sky above it, and caused the sea to shimmer in front. A most beautiful sight to watch first thing in the morning.

How many times has it done that? How many times has it been seen? How many times has God been thanked for his Generosity in feeding the world with the sun and the rain? And how many times have people worshipped the creation rather than the Creator?

But still it pleases him to care for us.

Thank you Father…..

new music

enjoying a fabulous album that's been out a little while now. the puppini sisters sound fantastic as they do the great covers of the war and post-war years, along with a couple of more modern songs.
maybe i'm getting old, but when you hear class music it doesn't seem to matter what era it's from, it's just plain good.

you put your right foot in, you take your right foot out

and this is what it looks like.
wound healed beautifully, and skin falling off. mmmmmmmmm.....tasty!
the cast came off on monday - what a relief. fantastic to be able to get my foot wet again in the shower.
i wear the robocop boot when going outside. its pretty comfortable as its got 4 aircells that can each be pumped up for maximum comfort and support. it has no flex at the foot's ball by big toe, so is somewhat difficult to walk in.
naturally, it hurts to put weight on the foot, and the tendons are all very tight so when physio starts next week i can imagine a whole new phase of pain and discomfort to come.
still, progress eh!

billy's values debate and bill(y) of rights

just finished reading billy bragg's book, 'the progressive patriot - a search for belonging'.
i enjoyed it, even though i've had sod-all of a history with billy bragg. i remember hearing him for the first time on the radio in the car in australia, circa 1997. i'd heard of him by reputation through friends, but never bought an album or followed his career.
i saw him for the first time 2 summers ago at greenbelt festival, in cheltenham. i think he was there for pretty much the whole festival, and shared podiums discussing globalisation etc with such luminaries as dame anita roddick. he also was the headlining act for the last night on the mainstage, and played a great night - just him and his guitar. i remember him commenting that he really liked greenbelt, as it was 'a festival that had real soul'.
anyway, his book seems well researched. i say 'seems', because i'm no great shakes on history, but what he writes seems to ring enough bells for me to ring true enough. his own family history is very important to him as he unwinds his thesis on what being british, and english, means today. the history ranges from pre-roman times when his own backyard was an impressive hill fort that was important for international trade, through the purpose and signing of magna carta, the industrial revolution, the early dockers strikes that led to the early unions, the 2 world wars, his own musical journey, right down to today's debates about values, and his own desire to see a formal bill of rights that he wants to see on the back of the (inevitable?) identity card.
and that's where he gets to really: wanting a debate on what he sees as the traditional british values of fairness, tolerance, and decency; along with a debate on this country producing its own bill of rights.
perhaps i'm naive, but as an outsider, born and raised in the one-time 'colony' of australia, yet someone whose own history is directly connected to the mills of yorkshire, and whose family fought at gallipoli, i think billy is onto something. he's wanting to more readily define what britain is 'for', as opposed to having about it a history and air of what it stands against. for newcomers to anything, let alone a new country in which to settle, surely its a helpful, nay, needful thing for the newcomers to have a clear understanding of what the new place stands 'for'.
in my post last month on 'beneath the veil', is a link to a doco in which a muslim woman experiments in wearing a veil, as she doesn't normally do so. at the end of the doco she makes a marked plea to, 'not tell us what you're against, but please, tell us want you want us to be part of.'
we're finding out about this stuff in microcosm in our church in our current process of redefining our purpose, values, and vision.
here's a brief view of how we're going about it:
part 1: your purpose. this is about what you are for.
part 2: your values. this is about what you are like.
part 3: your vision: this is about what you do.
its a bit like a cake really:
the purpose of a cake is to be eaten and enjoyed. there’s nothing outstanding about that, as its probably true for all cakes.
the values of the cake are about its ingredients. the ingredients give the flavour and texture. highly important.
the vision of the cake is what the cake actually turns out like. (remember that metaphors have limited use...)
your purpose and values will determine your vision. what you are for, and what you are like will be worked out in a concrete context.
for example, if your group and my group had exactly the same purpose and values (and its quite possible for that to be true), but we were in different parts of the country with radically different contexts, then the ways in which our purpose and values are expressed in concrete terms would be very different because of the differences in context. but people who encounter us in our different contexts would encounter a deep and noticeable similarity in what we say we're for (purpose) and what that feels like (values) to be part of, even though the way that's worked out in concrete life will necessarily be different because of the different contexts.
it seems to me, that a real problem with the idea of debating 'values', is that for a country like this with such a long-established history, the inhabitants with a long historical connection with the country think that the established values are 'obvious'. but the problem is, that for newcomers, those values are not obvious because they're not actually written down and its very hard to get a consensus on exactly what they are.
you could say something similar about the way churches operate too.
anyway, there's another review of billy's book here by john davies, someone more erudite and intelligent than me.
but whatever you think of what i've written here, i reckon billy bragg's book is well worth a read, and offers something of substance, and a realistic suggestion for taking the current public debate on being british and english, forward.

humphrys in search of god 3 - judaism

john humphrys interviewed dr jonathan sacks, chief rabbi, yesterday in the conclusion of his 3 part series in his search for god.

yet another really good interview that pulled no punches but where 2 men engaged one another with the big issues that so much of humanity grapples with. a big part of the interview was around the question of theodicy (the problem of evil), and, as you would expect with a jewish context, how god has allowed so much suffering with his own chosen people.

i think dr sacks tried to encourage mr humphrys, who seems genuine in his real desire and questioning to find faith, that he's not that far from it. dr sacks said that faith lies in the question - as the refusal of god to give easy answers means humans learning to wrestle with the reality of life, and so become more fully human in the process.

you can listen to it again here.

Text the Cheerleaders

Fundraising is always a difficult and never-ending task in youthwork. But here's a way you can help the Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders in a really easy way.
People can text "CHEER" to 84424, and they will receive a message which says, "Thank you for donating £1.50 to the Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders. Please visit us at www.ascensioneagles.com AEC are grateful for your support!
£1 will go directly to Ascension Eagles, while 5p goes to Charity Technology Trust and 45p goes to the mobile organisers.
The phone numbers of all the people who donate will be entered in a prize draw that could take place in early January. London City Airport is donating £1000 towards the Worlds bid, and for the prizes is donating two round trip flights and accommodation to Edinburgh. Take That are donating signed copies of their Worlds Tour on DVD.

AEC Director, Shara Brice, needs to get some more prizes donated. If you can help her in this outstanding cause that is helping to transform young lives in one of London's most difficult boroughs, then please contact her through the Ascension Eagles Cheerleaders website. AEC has got to be one of the most effective youthwork programmes in this country, and would greatly value your support.

So whatever you do, at least send her a text to keep the CHEER coming, on 84424.

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)

its monday again, and this video gives a warm feeling to the beginning of the week.
this is the kind of behaviour that we need to see more of in our public domain.
sure, you can be cynical about it, but why would you want to be? much nicer to be hugged than punched. must nicer to be hugged than ignored. and hugs, like smiles, are free and express kindness and goodness, don't you think?
to me, this video of free hugs speaks of the grace of god - a gift of love that is undeserved, unmerited, yet totally concrete in the life of the receiver.
what about trying to hug people instead of killing them....?
let's glorify goodness instead of badness.

Anger and Peace: Psalm 4

The cry of an angry man; a desperate man; a man who has been some time without hearing from God. He seems to think of himself as a godly man whom God has set apart for himself and whom God will listen to when he calls out.

Is this arrogance? Or is it perhaps, someone who knows who he is in God’s sight? Someone who knows that he is known by God; loved, valued, and treasured by God.

I know that these thoughts are true for me, too. Is that perhaps why I feel a little frustrated, angry at the thought of having to prove myself and my call to the priesthood to those who don’t even know me? Verse 4 says, “Be angry, but sin not; commune with your own hearts on your beds, and be silent”.

It’s OK to feel the way I do, but keep it to myself and don’t let it distract me to sin.

Father, you know me, and you know what you’re doing with me, far more than I do. Give me your peace as I trust in you, please.

white and red poppies - lessons from war

the red colour of the ubiquitous poppy at this time of year is a powerful symbol used to remember the dreadful cost of war, particularly in human terms. but this year, the colour has been brought into the wider public debate more than i've noticed in the past. there is a move, here and abroad (notably canada) to promote a white poppy to give people the opportunity to think and debate more critically the lessons to be learned from war. it must be emphasised that the white poppy is in no way trying to demean the red one or its symbolism. nor does it seek to detract from the valuable fundraising done for those who need financial support because of the ramifications of their loved ones being involved in war. rather, it seeks to engage in prophetic dialogue with the 'obvious' idea that war and violence is really the only final option available in dispute.
you can read an excellent article on the myth of redemptive violence, by walter wink, here.
you can also listen to a brief interview on the today programme on radio4 here, with jonathan bartley, director of ekklesia thinktank.
i've never been anywhere near war. i can't possibly know what it's like. i can only imagine it. last weekend included guy fawkes night that witnessed an incessant barrage of noise and fireworks lighting up the sky. it always makes me think about war and remembrance day more than the historical plot to blow up parliament, though both have their roots in the myth of redemptive violence. the bangs of fireworks bring to mind images from sebastian foulkes story of the british trenches of the first world war in his harrowing book, 'birdsong'. his vivid descriptions of the horrors of trenchlife, of the continual scream of metal in the sky along with the continual scream of men dying, being maimed, and going mad. and the fireworks bring to mind the classic book, 'all quiet on the western front' that tells the story from the german side. again, vivid descriptions of men being blasted out of their clothes and hanging naked in trees; of the mental dislocation of returning home to so-called 'normality' on leave; and of feeling the pain of killing complete strangers as they lay beside you in a shell hole.
strangely, on guy fawkes night, i remember things i haven't experienced through stories told by others, and hope i will never have to experience them. and on remembrance day, we remember those who died in the hope that we who came after them would never have to experience those horrors.
and that's the truth about remembrance day - that the hope of those who gave their lives in war was for a better future than the one they were experiencing.
as a christian, i have a hope for a better future too. my hope is based on jesus who, on the cross, took all the pain, hatred, and violence the world could throw at him and said that 'it ends here'. the cross, ultimate roman symbol of torture, pain, violence, insult, and death was transformed by jesus to become the ultimate symbol of peace and hope. the resurrection of jesus from the dead proves that goodness is stronger than evil, love is stronger than hate, truth is stronger than lies, and light is stronger than darkness.
this is echoed by an anonymous prisoner who scratched this prayer on his cell wall in world war 2:
“I believe in the sun,
even when it does not shine.
I believe in love,
Even when I cannot feel it.
I believe in God,
Even when he is silent.”
on remembrance day, we remember things we didn't experience through stories told by other people in the hope that we never will have to experience them.
in jesus, we remember things we didn't experience through stories told by other people in the hope that we will experience the strange reality of life beyond the grave - a resurrection life of a re-made world that knows no pain, suffering, or death - and which is translated into life NOW, and proved by how we live NOW.
we all long for peace. peace now. not just in eternity.
on remembrance day, we WILL REMEMBER THEM, and i trust, honour their memory by how we live.
the powerful symbols of the two poppies, one red, one white, and the transformed symbol of the cross call us to lives of peace and hope, through peaceful and hopeful means.

more new links

in the side bar, you'll see some more new links.

al hirsch, on missional development and projects.
onmovements, on building spiritual movements.
caffeist, on the sheer delight of that most wonderful substance, coffee.

al hirsch is the co-author of the shaping of things to come, a very solid book on the church rediscovering its missional dna. his new book, the forgotten ways, will be out in the next couple of months. i've had the heads up that it will be a very significant book on missional development. have put my order in at amazon.

happy reading.

And there was light! Genesis 1:1-5

I was imagining a real sense of drama as I read this. The drama of the darkness and moody feeling of nothingness as the earth was without form and void – with the Spirit of God moving around as though, perhaps, he’s searching for something.

And then, “Bang”, God says, “Let there be light!”, And there was !!

What that must have looked like when he did that, and there was light for the first time….

I have this dramatic image of an enormous lightning strike that pierced the darkness with forks spreading across the sky until it was all lit up. Or was it just like turning on a light switch and the darkness was instantly replaced by light?

We naturally associate the light with the sun, but he didn’t create the sun until the fourth day (verses 14-19), so was the initial burst of light simply an incredible burst of pure energy?

It’s interesting how questions raise themselves when you give yourself time to read and ponder. Usually, when preparing a sermon, there is the pressure of time to get it done by. That pressure can have the detrimental effect of causing me to skim lightly over the text and look only for the obvious things. On the other hand, time pressures can also have the positive effects of focussing the mind and being kept from distraction.

But is seems to me that there needs to be the spiritual discipline of producing the space to allow ourselves to consume God’s word, and like his Spirit, be ‘moving over the waters’ (of our souls).

If I give myself, and God, the space to move over my soul, then perhaps he will be searching me. And then, who knows? Bang! He may even create something new in me! Some light may be born in my soul where before, there was only darkness. And the light will be good, and a new day will dawn in my life…the first day of the rest of my life (so to speak).

humphrys in search of god 2 - islam

the second installment of john h's search for god was an excellent interview with prof tariq ramadan, a leading islamic scholar. you can listen to it again here.
i was struck by prof ramadan's reasonableness and how critically aware he is of himself and of islam. of islam, he is willing to take a critical examination of the qur'an by looking at the text from an historical and contextual perspective, and ask what that text is saying in today's 21st century context. of himself, he is aware that he is a muslim living in a western liberal democracy and who wants to engage fully in that democracy as a fully committed muslim.
he seems like the kind of voice we need to hear more of - that the media needs to invest giving prime air time to. one of the great failings of our media, in my opinion, is that it gives too much time to extreme views (of anything really) as extremists create sensation, and sensation sells copy.
i think it would be helpful for our society to hear more debate between people like prof ramadan, who claims to speak for the silent majority of the muslim population of britain, and people like abu izzadeen, who claims to speak for a more extremist view of what islam is about.
see my other posts about this kind of stuff here and here.
perhaps mr humphrys and his colleagues might start to fill their agenda with better quality debate than the current crop of sensationalist trivia that fuels fear, isolationism, and bigotry.
this will not go away by itself.

daily contemplation

check out this website for a proverb to contemplate each day. the proverbs, all 2866 of them, come from a wide variety of global cultures.

proverbs are wisdom.

wisdom is different from knowledge.

knowledge is about accumulating information.

wisdom is knowing what to do with the knowledge.

and wisdom comes from giving time to contemplation of life's accumulated knowledge.

so, take some time today.....

cheer up

it may be monday, but take a look at this kid and let him/her brighten up your day.
'...for to such as these belong the kingdom of god'.
if that's true, then i reckon eternity will be a hoot!

i count a success

from the icount website:

More than 25,000 people packed Trafalgar Square and closed surrounding roads to make their voices count, each one calling for urgent action on climate change.

The carnival-like event was the first of its sort for ‘I Count’. It brought together a huge range of supporters from the Women’s Institute members to Miranda Richardson.

Johnny Borrell, lead singer of Razorlight, who performed live on stage said:
“Today is all about showing that together we make a difference, together we can send a message, together we can stop climate chaos and together we count.”

wish i coulda been there, but my current state of brokenness forbade it.

did anyone go?

more pictures here.

new online world

excellent post from jonny baker about the whole new web 2.0 phenomenon. he points to a hefty and well-written article in the guardian today about it.
i resonate a lot with the sentiment of the article, and as a boomer am only just hanging on to the coat-tails of the internet-based network world that is becoming more of the norm for the current crop of teenagers.
its little wonder that people born in the late 1950s and earlier have trouble engaging with the networked generation born after 1980 (or even 1990).
the reimagination questions jonny asks are both uncomfortable and necessary if the church is to engage with its theology of incarnation and mission. i have a hunch that most people in most denominational churches have little idea of how to engage with this web-based world.
but their kids will....

blah and new monasticsm

New Monasticism with Roy Searle, Gareth Powell & Sue Wallace.
25th November, 10am-4.30pm. The day includes lunch and drinks and is being hosted by moot, at St Matthew's Westminster.

There has been a resurgence of interest in the monastic way of life recently and many groups have been considering developing their own 'way of life'. So should we all swear to 'poverty, chastity and obedience'? Or is there another way or rhythm that would suit our context?

So come and hear from Roy a founder of the Northumbria community; Sue who is the UK's original abbess and Gareth who is helping moot to think in urban monastic ways.

Book a place here. Places for each of these days are limited and if you book online you get a 20% discount so get in there quick.

Maybe we should get a group together to go. Let me know if you're interested.

life - a journey through time

just discovered this stunningly good site, through stumblupon.

its a great slideshow of images that give frans lanting's idea of the evolution of our world. the photos are fantastic, and there's a gentle blend of music tracks running behind the slideshow. it also has a written commentary of lanting's evolutionary thoughts, and the option to stop the show, click on an image and learn more about where he got it.

the philosophy is purely evolutionary, and the christian will want to bring some critique to it, but nevertheless, you can't help but admire the sheer beauty of our planet home, its diversity, complexity, power and fragility. and the skill of the photographer/artist in bringing the beauty to our attention.

this kind of thing always brings to my mind the psalmist's wonder when he says in psalm 24:1, 'the earth is the lord's, and everything in it.' i wish we would take better care of the generous gift of god to us, and this website helps us to appreciate what we've been given.

following the release of the stern report this week on the economic affects of global warming, and the new level of debate that is happening world-wide about the future of our planet home, why not take 20 mins to sit and contemplate with this slideshow about how you may or may not value god's great gift to us, and what your lifestyle means to our common future?

humphrys in search of god 1 - christianity

from the beeb's website:

John Humphrys as you've never heard him before - talking with religious leaders about his unfulfilled desire to believe in God.

How is faith possible in a world of suffering, much of it arguably caused by religion or religious extremism and to which God seems to turn a blind eye? Is there a place for religion in an age dominated by science?

the first in the series of 3 was john h speaking with the archbishop of canterbury, dr rowan williams. i thought the interview started off well, with the arch looking like he was going to get some of that lovely, 'under-your-skin' questioning of john going; trying to get john to articulate what was going on for him about his search for god. but then it seemed to get fuzzy, and i felt like the arch didn't do as well as he could have. who knows, he may have had a bad day....

you can listen to the half-hour interview again, here.

there are 2 other shows to come on bbc radio4. they are with Professor Tariq Ramadan, Tuesday 7th November, 09:02, repeated Tuesday 7th November, 21:30; and Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi, Tuesday 14th November, 09:02,repeated Tuesday 14th November, 21:30.