brushwood thicket

Norway tragedy

2011-07-26T18:21:00.001+01:00

(Radio script, with Adele ‘Set Fire to the Rain’ as music bed)

Something happened the other day - heard it on the radio. A guy had shot some people. Young people, just teenagers. In another country, across the sea.

Yet not so far away. Every Christmas they send us a beautiful tree, a token of friendship. Its lights blaze across a city square and warm people’s hearts.

I don’t know what to say, what to think. A nation weeps: for the loss of innocence; for the darkness that can engulf a man’s heart.

I wish I could help, wish I could bring someone back. I can’t. No running or hiding now. Grief’s shadow is upon you, engulfing, overwhelming.

Is there any hope? I dare to believe. Fragile, but there in the brokenness - the possibility of something unexpected, something new. A quality of love I hadn’t seen before. Could it be?

It’s my prayer.

Senna - a life lived on the edge

2011-07-12T12:11:00.000+01:00

Saw this film last Friday, chronicling the career of the master Brazilian Formula 1 driver. Ayrton Senna. A name whose stylishness sounds specially crafted for a star. An absorbing tale. There are few things I’d be less likely to watch on TV than an F1 race, but I knew from the reviews that this was a film whose themes transcended its subject matter.

Like so many of the Brazilian football team, Senna’s faith in God was no secret. As his genius propelled him to push car and track to the limit, he expressed the sentiment that such driving brought him closer to God. Easy to scoff, but paralleled by the experience of transcendence reported in other domains of extreme sport and performance – not least, as I recall, by the high wire artist Emmanuel Petit in ‘Man on Wire’. And paralleled in life: pushing beyond normal human limits opens up the possibility of experiencing wisdom, strength and resources from beyond.

Senna had been criticised for supposedly allowing a belief in special divine protection to push him to take excessive risks, but in interview he denied this, saying he was as aware as any driver of the dangers – thus expressing a wise humility: faith doesn’t exempt you from life’s trials and misfortunes, as of course his tragic accident demonstrated. The portrayal of his very human emotions facing the pressures of a top flight sportsman – including the intense and sometimes bitter rivalry with McLaren team-mate Alain Prost – is also very engaging.

A life cut tragically short, aged 34, by a seemingly random freak accident. Had the car part which struck his head been just a few inches away, he’d have survived. As it is, he remains the last fatality in Formula 1. A man of faith… Does it make any sense, when you consider the weight given to prayers for protection among Christians? Such incidents can only be responded to by drawing on some of the faith’s deepest resources, such as the assurance in Romans that all things work together for good, to them that love God. The spirit of the man released from the broken body is ultimately safe with God, while seventeen years on the tragedy has produced a work of art that challenges and engages millions.

Solstice

2011-06-21T13:43:00.004+01:00

Irony – there’s a feeling in late June that we’re still only just entering summer… Wimbledon's begun, Glastonbury approaches – and yet the longest day of the year has already arrived. Happily the warming effect of lengthened days trails behind, casting its balm over the coming months (seas won’t properly warm up for a while yet).

At such boundary points and junctures of nature, it's good to stop and ponder these great rhythms - and the relationship between vast macro planetary mathematics and their effects on the natural world that sustain life and growth. The earth’s annual motion through its axis like a vast rocking chair or ferris wheel, imperceptibly edging towards its peak today, then falling, slowly accelerating, till it hurtles through the equinox… then slows to a crawl at winter’s sluggish nadir, before recommencing its long climb back… And accompanying this arc, the kaleidoscope of beauty with which nature’s miracle of design assaults our senses: from yellow burst of daffodil, to skylark in balmy meadow, through fall’s fiery extravaganza, to taut crisp shadow, and ice daggers.

Mammon, 'mother monster' & the marketing machine

2011-06-03T10:00:00.001+01:00

It’s easy to veer towards idealistic thinking about a person or topic from an early superficial viewpoint. Having read a bit more about her and seen a few of the videos, I now feel some comments I made relating Gaga to God need qualifying. No denying she’s fizzing with creativity, nor that human creativity reflects something of the Creator - but there’s a clearly a more complex mix going on here. As with Madonna, videos and lyrics are littered with religious imagery, and sexuality paraded and commented on in dark and disturbing ways. With some cleverness and irony too, of course.

I’m reading ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ by Gunther Bornkamm, pupil of Rudolf Bultmann, written 1960. Exciting to learn more of the historical and political background to Christ‘s ministry. Today read Mark 11: 15-19 about Jesus cleansing the temple. The broad insight it communicates: he was passionate about the holiness - set-apartness - of spiritual space, the presence of God; and was active in defending and protecting it from the encroachment of materialism - the worship of money. Engaged as I am in creative communication in writing and commercial radio, seeking to embed and embody aspects of the gospel message in a pop culture setting, I’m fascinated in finding and expressing connections - as well as more directly with my own life. So here for instance, the report of Christ’s confrontation with the worship of mammon - money - comments implicitly on the presumably often ruthless kind of marketing machine that picks up and exploits the talent of a star like Gaga (also known as 'mother monster'). Where is the sacred space in the whole enterprise, and in a ’star’s life - and how can it possibly be guarded? And in my own life - I need to explore ways that I too can fight for the protection and promotion of sacred space - recognition of the presence of God in our culture - not least in the material world of commercial radio.

A little more on Gaga

2011-06-01T07:58:00.002+01:00

A few more thoughts on little miss Gaga (she is after all only 5 foot 1 I readJ) I heard her main stage performance live at the Radio 1 big weekend 15 May. Last night I watched the first ten minutes or so of the video… I suggested in the last post that her creativity in some measure reflects the creativity of God. Don’t mean to overstate my case - it’s obviously quite easy to end up idolising someone so ‘stand out’. Even just a little reading up on the woman reminds that, of course, in a frail human being, behind such a headlong pursuit of fame and attention is likely to lie a complex web of needs and motivations. She was bullied in school, and says that in her music she is often opening and probing that wound. Is there not often, propelling a quest for fame, a deficit in the experience of love? A misdirected search for unconditional and indeed limitless love - that can be found in God alone? A similar problem conceivably lies behind the wider public’s excessive interest in celebrities - an aspirational dream of beauty and success, which again finds its right fulfilment in the esteem of the One who holds us all in his hand.

Faith, hope & Lady Gaga

2011-05-30T15:56:00.007+01:00

On Saturday I picked up a copy of last week’s Telegraph review supplement with a picture of a ghostly young female face with pouting red lips, framed with straight peroxide hair. The caption, ‘Excess all areas’. The sub heading: ‘Lady Gaga is the world’s biggest, brashest pop star - but… does her music measure up?’ I read the article by Neil McCormick, text framing a medley of shots of the star in a panoply of her outlandish costumes. It’s one of those pieces of writing that stays with you for days after, because it touches on issues that matter to you personally - and, not to get ahead of ourselves, you feel could even in some small way impact on your future.

The 25 year old New York ‘global pop sensation‘, formerly ‘Stefani Germanotta’, garnered her huge following largely through her extraordinary flair for self-promotion via eye-popping visual panache (those costumes), a mastery for marketing and social media - 36 plus million face book fans, pushing 11 million on twitter… underpinned by raw musical talent. I first recall coming across her through using one of her less known early songs ‘Money’ in a Christmas feature about the Bradford-based debt charity CAP (Christians against poverty), made with Whistling Frog Productions end of 2009. Her twitter page image has the appearance of an unearthly statuesque creature from a sci-fi myth. As a role model for supreme ‘girl power’ and exhilarating excess, she is adored by the young and not so young the world over. She went to a Catholic girls’ school - you’ve got to hand it to this church, for all the mess it’s got itself into, it does have a knack, as with Madonna before her, for inspiring or inciting some kick ass boundary-pushing pop creativity. Some of her stunts no doubt generate their share of finger-wagging in some quarters, including some ’Christian’ ones I’m sure; I’d counter that on some level at least she’s actually a fizzing little microcosm of the endlessly varied pulsating creativity which animates the universe. A pop ambassador for God? I’m not saying you have to wave your hands and say EVERYTHING she does is awesome - a meat dress in a world of hunger might make you baulk - but overall it seems churlish and indeed beside the point to censor her excesses.

For me, the whole Gaga phenomenon this article explored, stirred up a host of questions and challenges - about faith, morality, and personal dreams and ambitions.

Self-promotion - or perhaps more fairly, promotion of your act, on this kind of scale highlights questions at the heart of the whole celebrity enterprise - about pride, ego, the place of humility. Is it just massively self-serving? I don’t think it has to be. It can’t be easy to restrain the whispers of vanity on such a vertiginous ascent. But if you keep higher values and goals in mind, such as recognition that your gifts notwithstanding hard work are just that, gifts - and that limelight presents an opportunity to speak for good - surely it’s possible to be a ‘star’ and keep your soul.

On a personal note… I won’t be alone in seeing qualities in someone like Gaga that I aspire to, or at least value. It’s often things you feel you lack isn’t it? The energy, colour, pizzazz, flowering of talent through uncommonly hard graft… there’s a danger it can cast a depressing shadow over those unfulfilled dreams and ambitions, those thwarted achievements of one‘s own past. Those things you allowed to hold you back. But you - I - don’t have to stay there. You can instead rise up and say, today is the day, now is the time, I’ve been shaken from slumber, his compassions are new every morning and there are opportunities ahead. It can breathe NEW life into your dreams. Timothy was told to ‘ stir up the gift’ in him, the church at Sardis to ‘strengthen what remains and is about to die.’

Pop culture, along with sport and a host of other modern preocupations, can seem so BIG, faith and the church so small. I’m embarked on a quest, working in radio and media, to ‘re-embody’ faith and spiritual issues, in a potentially big creative fusion with mainstream popular culture. That’s one way of expressing my dream. It feels like still relatively uncharted territory, which makes it exciting. I’m still searching, the dream is still incubating.

Finally, a verse I chanced to read today put the whole topic of greatness and achievement back into healthy perspective. The path to true greatness, Jesus said, was to serve. In that, Lady Gaga is on a level with the rest of us. She’ll be ‘great’ ultimately through using her talent to serve. And in whatever sphere of life and work we move in, we’re each called to do the same.

Love wins?

2011-05-14T11:34:00.002+01:00

Jason Byrne, whirlwind Irish comedian on his radio 2 late night show last Saturday asked the audience if they were all atheists and there was a general ‘yes’ murmur - good sample of the liberal secular British populace there then! One said ‘I’m an agnostic’ and there was a collective intake of breath. Breaking rank!

Been reading Rob Bell’s latest book ‘Love Wins’. He’s arguing against the ‘believe the wrong things and you’ll end up in a fiery pit’ way of thinking, for a more expansive, generous view of God’s love, that persists whatever it takes, including beyond death, to draw humanity back to Godself (RB doesn‘t like the gender pronouns). The image of a parent who lets the child suffer enough of the consequences of his/her own rebellion to persuade a return to the source of happiness. He cites a Revelation reference that the gates of heaven are not shut but open, allowing people to come and go. This parallels our best human experience here and now - a readiness to forgive as soon as there‘s a sign of contrition in the guilty one. But I’d be interested to explore how such a view fits with the range of other biblical stories, images and teachings about what lies beyond death.

Life force

2011-04-26T16:14:00.000+01:00

As I’ve got older, and reflected on the world as someone raised in the Christian faith, I’m aware of some ways my thinking and feeling about the world has expanded. And I just want to ponder a few things. I started with the fairly black and white view that you need to explicitly ‘accept and follow Jesus’ to ‘have eternal life’, to be ok, assured of heaven not hell. But one of the things that life (and the media) make you aware of is that there are vast forces of power, creativity, ‘life’ outside the Christian or indeed any ‘religious’ confines. And that indeed this great tide and variety of life for a large part seems to outshine what Christ’s explicit followers appear to achieve. If God is the source of all, then ‘he’ (will there one day be a non-gender specific personal pronoun in English?) evidently puts no obvious limit on the capacity of non-Christians’ talents to flower and flourish - be it a great sportsman, media personality, scientist or whoever. And I recall a family member’s relishing of nature’s detail - specifically different kinds of animal tracks - in a way that made me just a little ashamed at my own hitherto relative lack of effort at such deep engagement with nature’s wonders.
I can feel at times, weak, powerless and small in comparison with a lot of the evident surrounding power and prosperity in the world. And there’s something undeniably good about this ‘life force’ that animates people’s lives - I guess it’s from God whether acknowledged or not. At the same time, I hold onto the conviction that spending time communing with Christ empowers and enables - no matter what degree of natural talent possessed – an impact on the world which is in some way ‘distinctive - ‘salt and light’.

Arctic

2011-02-12T16:42:00.000Z

Recent bbc2 series, Arctic with Bruce Parry. High esteem for those with a close connection to nature and who treat it with respect. The fascination of travelling with him into a remote Russian village deep in the heart of the Boreal forest. The man who found the forest to be a friend, which helped him overcome past trauma. Northern lights. How does THIS connect with Christianity? How in the light of this kind of beauty and exploration can the faith be understood and appreciated?

Wallander: 'the secret'

2010-11-07T12:33:00.000Z

I’ve been following the re-broadcast first series of the Swedish version of Wallander on bbc4. I also saw ‘Side-tracked’, the first of the Kenneth Branagh English language versions, last night (do I need to get out more?!)
Both are very good, but there are some uniquely intriguing qualities in the Swedish version, qualities indeed common to all authentic foreign language drama. It feels properly rooted in the local community of Ystad. I like hearing the Swedish language spoken - don’t know it at all, have to follow the subtitles - but it gives you that pleasant feeling of being exposed to and absorbing something unfamiliar and novel, like foreign cuisine. And I love the under-stated-ness of the Swedish actors performances.
Last week was the last of 13 episodes, called ‘the secret’ - tackling the topic of child abuse. It packed a big emotional punch; and I’m interested why.
Stefan, a character we’d got to know over the series, had an aggressive style of policing and a tumultuous, impetuous nature - prone to occasional violence. I recall from earlier episodes being amused sometimes by his take no prisoners style of questioning suspects.
But in this episode, tragedy strikes. Though meant to be on leave to get professional help, he gets embroiled in a case involving child abuse. Aids and abets a friend in killing the man who’d abused the friend’s son. His colleague and friend Linda, daughter of the eponymous Kurt Wallander, tries to offer him some support while he’s on compulsory leave. Stefan has already said if he can’t work he’ll go mad, and she drives this point home by telling her father that Stefan’s job is the only thing that means anything to him. Round at her flat one night, he confides that he’s never felt so lonely. So we know he’s a man on the edge, but don’t quite understand why. And then we see him in a scene with a gun threatening to blow the head off an ex cop under suspicion of implication in the child abuse, who, somehow knowing Stefan’s no murderer, leaves him in a state of clear anguish. And it transpires through flashbacks that Stefan was as a boy himself abused by this man. Stefan loses the struggle against these personal demons that have been uncaged, and one evening Linda comes to his flat and finds that he’s taken his own life. The discovery of the photograph lying next to him, of Stefan as a boy, taken by the abuser, floods Linda with the realisation of the past pain that has made Stefan the troubled man he is, and she breaks down. And when Kurt tells her Stefan was ‘not suitable for police work’, she remonstrates with him for his ignorance, insensitivity and not having listened to Stefan, and exits, leaving Kurt to discover for himself the photo which unveils the tragic truth, and break down in tears himself.
A full exploration of the insights gleaned and questions raised by what one reviewer called ‘this extraordinarily rich and absorbing drama’ would need another whole post or three.

are christian stand-ups too safe?

2010-10-14T10:47:00.003+01:00

Been thinking about comedy. I’m a big fan of mock the week. Especially hugh dennis. He’s a superb and hilarious actor. I especially used to like his double act with Frankie boyle, where boyle would feed the ‘PR’ line from some politician or other public figures’ mouth, and hugh would say what they really meant. The pause before he delivered the line, the razor wit of the actual punchline, the narrowing of the eyes after he said it which self-mockingly seems to say ‘is that what I meant to say?.. is that quite good enough?’… brilliant.

And I’m intrigued by Milton jones, one of the guest panellists. He’s a Christian – was a star turn at greenbelt, where he was a big fish in a small pond. On mock the week he’s a smaller fish in a bigger pond. He’s certainly different from the rest. An absurd, surreal brand of humour, and very pun and word play based. Like tim vine, another Christian one liner merchant. But something bothers me about them both. Does their Christian standpoint, which keeps their humour very clean, also make it too safe? No swearing, no attacks on public figures… and no satire. An intriguing question. The others show a greater freedom to be dark, edgy and let’s face it sometimes a bit dirty. And I find them often hilarious. Whereas with Milton, the need to be clean can sometimes feel like an inhibitor, leaving me wondering when he’s about to say something… will this actually be very funny? To be continued…

Stephen Hawking's Universe

2010-10-03T08:46:00.001+01:00

Last part last night on C4. The ball bearings on college floor perfectly aligned and still, remove a few and see how they re-pattern - illustration of process of formation of universe, the removal of the few ball bearings representing the inherent ‘imperfection’ that gravity could get its teeth into, leading to the clustering of material and formation of galaxies, stars, planets… The revelations of science enthrall the modern mind. The awe I have seen from atheist bloggers like billy jonathan and lee in past comes from here. Hawking’s response to the suggestion ‘surely there must be a higher design at work’ - ‘not necessarily’, and posit’s the notion of multiple universes of which we happen to be inhabiting one conducive to life.

I’m intrigued by the questions this raises. The mind of course pushes back further.. So, ok Mr H, you’re saying this universe is like a cosmic roll of the double six (with the odds magnified exponentially methinks). But still, still we ask why, why are we here, and intuitively we ‘know’ there’s something deeper going on. What drove the formation of the universe? - a question posed early in the programme. Answer: gravity.. And you say, yeah, of course that’s the science, but, come on, the mystery and marvel of existence and life, there’s more to it…
Does not biblical truth need ‘unpacking’ with the same love and reverence scientists devote to their science, so the richness of its truth may be seen in place of the cut out cardboard cartoon caricatures some of the Dawkins disciples laugh at?

a jesus to get excited about

2010-10-02T12:30:00.000+01:00

Jesus. What a guy. Look, gonna be honest here. He can often seem pretty remote. You can imagine if you were there in the crowd or one of the disciples back then, being pretty excited.. But I’m probably not alone in finding it often not easy to locate his presence, relevance, activity in my 21st century daily life. Not easy doesn’t mean there’s no point - it could just be especially challenging. There may be ways my eyes need to be opened to ways he’s already ‘doing stuff’ with me. Maybe I partly need to just chill and learn to savour a little more.
But I’ll tell you one thing. Compared to a lot if not most stuff I’ve read about jesus in christian books or songs, I do LOVE the way he’s portrayed in the gospels. I mean compare and contrast. In that popular book the shack which got a fair bit of attention in the christian world, I frankly cringed at many of the passages about the jesus figure. In jeans, smiling broadly, like some glowing all american boy saying corny movie lines, jesus smiled gently, jesus just gave me a big hug etc. sentimental yuk some of it. (ok who knows maybe I got some issues here;) ). But then I read a passage like mark 9 vv 14 to 29 this morning, jc healing a demon-possessed boy. The stripped back raw drama. The crowd enthralled with him. ‘how long must I put up with this faithless generation?’ no mincing there. his cool authority over this nasty, ugly, violent demon, telling it where to go. The boy suddenly looking like a corpse so most think he’s dead, and - imagine it - the thrill of awe as he is raised. THIS is a jesus you can get excited about.

friendship across boundaries (cont'd)

2010-09-30T07:43:00.000+01:00

I appreciate the feedback from both Billy and Lisa, helps bring some of the questions and issues into relief. For starters, belief is not (just) a head thing. Billy you’re tending to view it as ‘mental propositions you assent to’, when of course to a christian it’s so much more. Trust, faith - which are larger, richer words than belief - in God shapes and colours and transforms my entire being and the way I live my life. It also gives my personal sense of purpose and direction. It’s not hard to see how in a close relationship where you are seeking to walk and flourish together, there is potential for conflict and limitation of intimacy if you are at odds at such a profound level.
Also billy it’s you who are using this word struggle. I don’t feel I’m struggling with this, but exploring with a light heart and curiosity.
Actually I feel it’s partly the boldness and sense of adventure I have developed through the life of faith that has propelled me to seek out new friendships in the first place. I think I was in the past sometimes too timid and restricted in my views of how to relate to ‘non-believers’. Jesus himself is my inspiration in this, his mould and barrier breaking approach to relationships.
You are right about treating people as people, not to be pigeon-holed. I feel the faith and love growing in me as a christian - not that Christians monopolise either! - motivate me to truly listen, get to know and respond to the ’hidden country’ of each person’s heart I meet. That’s the goal anyway!

friendship outside the flock 3

2010-09-29T11:19:00.000+01:00

Thanks for the comments. To expand a little further my thinking here… I still need to clarify, but I’m also partly working it out as I go along. I DO believe that ultimately in a close relationship that’s going to last, there needs to be a bonding in heart mind and spirit, there’s no compromise in my mind about this. Really what’s in question for me is wisdom in how - as a christian who enjoys meeting people, including, yes women(!) - I relate to those who don’t share my faith. In the context of seeking new friends as a foundation – I emphasise this - is it wise and appropriate for a christian who is also on the look out long term for a relationship, to include in their forays those who don’t share faith? It’s a question for me as I said before partly due to my interest in ‘localness’ and the limited range of local christian women currently on my radar. I’m being quite candid about this cos I think it opens up interesting perspectives. Dating sites are not the only way to meet people by any means, but yes they are one. They obviously open up a pool of people who it could be interesting and who knows possibly fruitful to meet. It strikes me that if as a Christian your thrust (emphasis) is to meet people and make friends, it’s ok to connect with people on a secular as well as Christian website ie the whole ‘who do you yoke with’ thing only becomes an issue when you get a fair way along in a friendship. Which I’m currently nowhere near!

friendship outside the flock 2

2010-09-26T19:21:00.000+01:00

Aha, thank you people for comments on last post, interesting. And ryan I can’t deny a chuckle at your image of the atheist woman luring me back to her eveil lair, ha ha!
To clarify a little. (have to say I’m assuming not too many people who know me will read this..!) Ok, what prompted me to contact women who are not at least overtly Christians? Two factors combined. A certain sense of a lack of obvious opportunities to meet christian women locally, partly through my current church circumstances (not to say I couldn’t meet more with a spot of effort). And a desire to socialise more locally - cos I’m quite socially adventurous and love to meet new people. So actually contacting a few people on secular sites is a way of widening the pool. But contrary to what’s being perceived I think, it’s not out of an urgent desire to be in ‘a relationship‘. it is simply to expand opportunities for the pleasure of engaging in person with attractive people. It’s also, granted, a bit of an exploration, an experiment (w/o that word’s cold connotations). yes I AM interested to see more how people without God necessarily explicitly in their lives find meaning and deep fulfilment. What are their answers, how deeply do they satisfy? and also what they’d make of someone with religious faith. Might one or both our outlooks be challenged, changed? but none of this means I’ve closed the door to meeting and engaging with christian women too..!
BTW I like do discipline myself to blog for a v limited time each day, that’s why this kind of thread is quite episodic.

friendship outside the flock (cont'd)

2010-09-25T12:47:00.001+01:00

I want to think a bit more about this matter of engaging with people - yes, ok, in particular, women, who aren’t Christians. If I’m not honest and straight about my (evolving) thought about ‘controversial’ issues, as far as I can see what I write will lose interest. By exploring it, I reflect myself and may prompt someone else to.
I’ve got chatting with a woman who lives locally. An atheist. Let’s just think about the standard(?) christian response (it used to be mine). You can’t get too close to her, cos you’re going in different directions. Now hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Why did I get in touch with her in the first place? I want to connect with people locally. I feel it’d be a positive move to gain at least one or two more friends I can just meet up with for a drink. It’s a simple desire for friendship. And yes, being a straight bloke, there is an additional desire for female companionship.
Yes there is a tension here. The key change in my thinking is, why shut off a potential interesting friendship ‘cos she’s an atheist or not a christian’? another key thing is, in any early stages it’s JUST friendship. Heck it may not even get to that stage! It doesn’t mean I’m going to end up with her - I did say before I seek to submit all my relationships to my sense of God and his leading. There’s already though been just a hint of the positive potential of this kind of interaction. Her seeing I’m a thoughtful kind of person has, it wd seem, already softened her likely previous view that belief in God is just for nutters. Who knows what the positive impact on the other person’s life could be - or on mine?
As I say, this thread of thought is evolving so I hope anyone who reads it wd not misread or over-read or jump to conclusions about me! I’m just interested in exploring this kind of stuff and I think it's an interesting one to blog about.

irony at heart of papal parade

2010-09-20T10:46:00.000+01:00

Yesterday watched the beatification service… incredibly ornate clothes, and metal ware for mass… and this is the successor of a guy who got crucified upside down. And the leader of a church who worship someone who was exposed to messy brutal violence. Think of it. We’ve got from a young guy 2000 years ago, first on a donkey, then dragged bloodied and naked though city streets to a execution on a cross… to a frail old man in crisp clean white clothes sitting regal and barricaded in a funny looking white motor behind bullet proof windows, surrounded by a dozen men in dark suits. Quite an irony.
This is not a bare attack on Catholicism, other parts of the church have some similar as well of course as all kinds of other strange features.
I’ll get back to earlier comments later.

paradoxes of papal mass

2010-09-18T14:03:00.001+01:00

Watched the papal mass from Westminster this morning. Intriguing business.
Took some notes so just gonna pretty much reproduce them in somewhat unrefined form here just now. Pope on throne, white hair red robe, reminded me, no disrespect, slightly of santa claus. Opulent cathedral, marble pillars. Red and black robes, white diamond hats (what do you call them?) Paradox: one man, servant of the church but also revered, tight security. Highlights undemocratic church structure? Muslim Glasgow uni professor mona sadiki found this aspect, one man locus of such moral authority intriguing too. A little old man getting such attention, getting out of tinted glass windowed car.
Bible reader sings response - what if he couldn’t sing? (comedy value)
R Dawkins said in newspaper he shd get back to his tin pot castle. 'Trials of the pope' on bbc2 tues, Ratzinger's personal painful history, the lack of empathy - which involves getting to know about someone properly to get a balanced view - deeply unattractive in RD. ‘Catholic voices’ featured on that prog, 2 young girls trained to be on message with media, I learned how they do natural fertility… Shouldn’t the church give its wealth to the poor? Mark Dowd the presenter asked, she wasn’t prepared for that one!
Sung liturgy in latin - why rome, why latin? - in England? Anachronism, indecipherable to an outsider.
Cardinals in black with pink waist bands, magisterial church power.
Appearance of whole show, this locus of wealth and beauty in a world full of poverty ugliness suffering, how justify?
Commentator attitude of neutrality, interest and tolerance. Incense waving, high mass altar. Holy father, putting on his specs - camera homes in, the youth, treating him like a pop star, but he lingered with them, more than protocol required…
Fascinating, much for further reflection.

friendship across the boundaries

2010-09-17T14:29:00.000+01:00

Change of subject. Getting a bit more personal and risky here. But it’s an interesting topic so here goes. Dating. I have quite a ‘local’ approach to friendship and dating, ie not greatly inclined to try and develop a relationship at a distance. I like to be able to meet up with someone for a drink or whatever, fairly easily. Some might call it a green approach too!
But there’s a problem. It’s not been easy to find a suitable match in the immediate locality ie Leeds/Bradford/west Yorkshire. My ‘base’ church is a small local parish one with as far as I’m aware currently not a single eligible female present! And while getting to know a few folk who are a little further afield via christian websites and networks, my sociability and love of meeting new attractive interesting people, has led me to seek out ways of meeting people locally who may not have a christian or indeed any other faith.
There is something liberating about this. For a long time I feel, in retrospect, I often closed doors to potentially good friendships at the very least because I was seeking a relationship with someone who explicitly shared my faith. An at times it felt limiting. On the other hand, I don’t envisage pursuing a friendship/relationship with someone beyond what is comfortable with the simultaneous pursuit of the absorbing quest of relating to God.
We’ll see what happens.

pope ponderings

2010-09-14T11:03:00.000+01:00

Watched ‘the trouble with the pope’ dispatches last night on C4 last night. Gay rights activist Peter Tatchell lambasting the pontiff for rigidly adhering to traditional catholic teaching in ways perceived to harm people round the world. At the heart of this kind of controversy are opposing perceptions of the same doctrine. Faithful and strong, or rigid? Moving with the times or being swayed by the crowd? Timeless truth or backward anachronism?
The bible contains the seeds of some revolutionary values that have bloomed and worked themselves out down history. Jesus’ and indeed Paul’s treatment of women for instance are recognised as being radical and pioneering in their day, setting a course that, dare I say it, ultimately helped fuel some of the modern movements towards equality of the sexes(?)

The LGBT issue is a little more thorny. I remember a talk in St Silas church in Glasgow years ago, from a man with a homosexual background, arguing for the deep theological underpinning of complementarity of the sexes, and their fusion in marriage. Adam and Eve’s union Jesus himself alluded to significantly – and Paul picturing marriage as a symbol of Christ and the church.

This may provoke some disagreement.

the pope and the panel show

2010-09-13T15:15:00.002+01:00

Sunday Live programme 10am bbc1 yesterday. ‘Is the catholic church obsessed with sex?’ was the question poll put out to viewers to vote on during the programme. How simplistic can you get? Is this the level of intelligent response the bbc expects from its audience at this time on a Sunday morning?
You could also make some comedy from the way the cameras were angled to show the reactions of the panellists (three of them) when someone else was speaking, to show agreement or otherwise. Jack Valero of Opus Dei says women shouldn’t be ordained cos Jesus chose 12 men, ensure angled shot to show feminist shaking her head. And of course they’re all savvy to it, make sure they shake or nod head exaggeratedly at appropriate moment to make sure audience sees clearly what they think. Mad.

Saturday, hiked up on Ilkley moor with a friendly group of fellow hikers.
We went to Betty’s, a famous Yorkshire tea shop. Had to join a queue to get seated. I thought, it’s going to have to be really good to make it worth my while standing here so long – in my hiking boots. It was good – but THAT good?

Hawking on God

2010-09-08T11:31:00.000+01:00

This morning on radio 4, Jonathan Sachs the chief rabbi referred to Stephen Hawking’s recent pronouncement that the universe requires no creator. He pointed out a key difference between science and religion, that the first is about explanation, the second, meaning. A pertinent point. I’ve read so often, including from one of my most loyal readers, that such and such shows ‘no god is required’ - aware that somehow the point is being missed. The human heart does yearn for meaning, on a cosmic scale – eternity is ‘written in our hearts’. And is this not where God meets us, through the gift of faith and spiritual practice (understood not as naïve credulity as the atheists insist, but as a route to a kind of knowledge, spiritual knowledge, inaccessible in other ways.

And just to balance things with a question of my own about Christianity… I spotted in third way magazine an ad for a book called something like ‘Did Paul get Jesus right?’ Paul evidently did have a dramatic experience out of which flowered his whole theology about Jesus. But the question does arise, why was so much entrusted to one man? It contrasts with one of the bible’s ‘selling points’, its diversity of authorship. It is quite easy to see how some view Paul’s writings as the ideas of ‘a religious genius’ rather than the thoughts of God. That’s not to say I suddenly think it’s all not true. But it’s one to explore.

wallander

2010-09-06T11:28:00.000+01:00

On Saturday, scaled Kinder Scout in peak district with a group of walkers. Paragliders floated in the distance like gulls above a sea cliff. One walker with sore knees tried walking backwards downhill for a bit. Interesting 

I’m quite a fan of the Swedish version of Wallander. A rich, textured, absorbing drama, overtly a detective story but with personal interactions and relationships at its heart. Each episode addresses a contemporary issue in some way, and the story simply unfolds step by step. Beautifully composed shots of Swedish countryside. The central character, Kurt Wallander… naturally a good detective, is less sure-footed in his emotional life. He combines an evident underlying capacity to care, with a famous surface lack of empathy, especially towards his daughter. Also a certain awkwardness, shyness and naivety that afford a certain vulnerability and elicit sympathy – in this episode being left alone in a town square, by the woman he’s fallen for. In the nicest possible way.

The LGBT question

2010-09-05T18:25:00.000+01:00

Lesbian gay bisexual transsexual. Regarded with sympathy at greenbelt. Even just to write the phrase, it looks creative. Where do you draw the line between valid diversity/creativity, and wrong, against nature? Some things are still taboo, eg paedophilia. So it’s still viewed as ‘just wrong’ to abuse power, prey on the vulnerable. Why in the popular view is that not ok, while homosexuality, say, is? Sexuality has come to be viewed as a valid arena for the display and expression of diversity, in the same way race is. One to ponder.

glastonbury and greenbelt

2010-09-02T13:07:00.000+01:00

A little more on the Cheltenham racecourse. The scale and the power of the beast it’s designed for evokes awe, is humbling, makes you more aware how small we humans are, and of the vast creative force that brought such creatures into being. There could the makings of a poem there…

When I got back from greenbelt on Monday night, I watched the ’40 years of Glastonbury’ programme on bbc4. the Glastonbury phenomenon merits some thought, especially in contrast with gb. Glasto is a much bigger event, more than seven times as many people. I’m struck by the powerful visual display there of human diversity, celebration, creativity, exploration, energy, and a degree of anarchy. The pull to gather in such huge numbers to celebrate and enjoy music together - is there a taste of heaven there?

The most striking and beautiful sight, the crowd at a pyramid stage gig. The vision of beautiful youth, in big sunglasses, colourful and creative clothes, girls on guys’ shoulders, all swaying and smiling. And most of all, those great tall flags on poles, varied nationalities and designs, that sway and furl elegantly amidst the vast sea of people, like a variegated multitude of sails.

The main stage crowd at greenbelt looked nowhere near as glorious. It gets you thinking not least about the beauty that can emerge from unfettered human celebration. And how, and in what ways, and why, Christians can be inhibited, and how that might change.

groovin at greenbelt

2010-09-01T16:19:00.000+01:00

I’m back from greenbelt arts festival at Cheltenham racecourse. Broadly Christian event, but radical, exploratory, political and left wing/field. The racecourse itself is awesome to behold. A vast circuit, immense broad grass corridor, thick grass, its undulations and hilly backdrop enhancing its splendour. Its scale against a human athletics track accentuates what a magnificent beast is the horse, and indeed even more so, a field of them thundering round, tiny jockeys perched, hooves pounding, divets flying.

A musical highlight was undeniably Beverley Knight, R n B soul diva. A pulsating, high octane performance. Ok, and she’s a bit gorgeous to boot. This time round I was drawn to big expansive music and events, though there’s a thriving ecology of smaller scale happenings too.

Challenging thought: Richard Rohr, that the Christ, meaning the Word, the Spirit, can be found in people of many faiths and persuasions who seek goodness and truth. What place then for evangelism? I venture to suggest the explicit message of the Christian faith still brings into sharp focus the truth of who God is and what God is like, in a unique way, so that there is still an unveiling work to be done through word and deed – while learning and listening to the insights of others too.

And the hippy-est sounding event I noticed: ‘Foraging with the earth God’. Get out your trowels and wellies.

musings in lymington

2010-08-25T15:17:00.002+01:00

Radio Times re jazz musician Jamie Callum - he's dating Sophie Dahl, he's friends with Clint Eastwood, and he's about to do his own prom. does life get any better? I’m struck by the daftness of these kind of magazine headlines. It’s like, well actually I can think of a whole host of other ways life could be pretty good. But you might have to step outside your celebrity-idolising bubble to appreciate them. Not bitter or anything!

Was chatting to an old family friend yesterday about the Normans, history etc… William the conqueror wasn’t averse to mutilating enemies, and violent punishments, burnings etc were meted out as national law till a mere few centuries ago, sanctioned by religion. But down history the gospel has also had a transformative dynamic, eg as an engine in the abolition of slavery through the understanding that Christ came to set all free. Comprehensible if the gospel’s considered not as a set of rigid rules, but as a seed or seeds with latent transformative potential that works itself ou over time…

Spent five hours on Monday in London. I love the scale, the beauty and the multitudes. The heave of humanity. In a world with such diversity of view, goals, lives, how do you understand the application of a message with supposedly universal import like Christianity?

christian and cool??

2010-08-02T10:24:00.000+01:00

Mark ronson & Business Intl ‘bang bang bang‘. I’m a sucker for a spot of style and syncopated rhythm. It makes me think, is it possible for christian faith to be expressed, incarnated, in ways that are cool?? Singing some church choruses of a Sunday is frankly the antithesis, but I’m quite sure it’s possible. What enables cool creativity? I guess you first need to ‘free your mind’, be open to many possibilities, like a painter’s palette. And to have a sense of poise and proportion, for what ‘works’, which I guess is part natural, part developed…

Q of the day: How can you justify spending money on luxuries like cinema when there are is gross poverty in the world?

a goal to inspire

2010-04-14T18:27:00.000+01:00

How define what excites and inspires me most? Questions about God and the meaning of life are the biggest that can be asked. But the busyness of the normal run of life can hinder a full exploration and expression of them. Of course life itself can give insight into profounder truths, for instance I recall someone close saying at the birth of their first child, that it gave him a new appreciation of the wonder of the fatherhood of God. But the sense of a gulf to be crossed, a problem to be solved, can give a mission in life, and for me that gulf is this: on the one hand, the gospel contains purportedly the most radical and potentially life-changing truth anywhere to be found, and on the other, explicitly at least, our society is largely indifferent to it. That sense of gulf compels me to explore and seek to understand, and to communicate what I discover in creative ways. It feels like a worthy goal, a big enough ambition.

isle of wight adventure

2010-04-12T18:16:00.003+01:00

I’ve been on holiday in Lymington, south coast of England. Thurs I took the ferry to the isle of Wight. A glorious sunny day. Cycled… an anti-clockwise trip, first to the needles at the westernmost tip, sheer white cliffs, three sisters jutting from the foaming sea. At the top, the rabbit-clipped rolling grass plain swept off eastwards. Passed a sign to a farmhouse offering cream teas, and was reminded of a jaunt along the south downs way with an old uni friend, when, passing through quaint thatched villages, we joked about the possibility of Joanna Trollope style scandalous goings-on behind privet hedges, and getting ‘hopelessly waylaid by tea and scones’. I had bought an explorer map, which unfolded like a vast origami deck chair. I constantly had to renegotiate it to keep up with my position, each time stuffing it back into a small square plastic map wallet. By the time I finally folded it back the way it was to begin with, it was like a paper accordion.
On the ferry back, a shimmering tapering gold-flecked path drew the eye across restless waves to the sinking sun.

The day Jesus died

2010-04-02T13:51:00.000+01:00

This morning I watched ‘The day Jesus died’ on bbc1 - Bettany Hughes exploring the developing interpretations of Christ’s death down the centuries. Fascinating and profound. Especially moving were two examples of people who were touched by the recognition of God himself identifying with human suffering in the cross. German theologian Jurgen Moltmann, who, having witnessed some of the horrors of world war two, was depressed to the point of despair until he read Jesus’ words from the cross ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’. And the Archbishop of York John Sentamu… being with a fellow prisoner in Uganda who was beaten and close to death, he was able to tell the man how, in Christ on the cross, Jesus identified with him - and heard theman say, just before he died, ‘thank you’.
I’m intrigued by the richness of meaning in the Christian story. I’m not saying it is the only religious story with rich meaning - exploring how it is distinctive is also an ongoing topic of interest - but I am again struck by the paucity and limitedness of the response that regards the ‘christian god’ as a little petty god among many. Even with my own questions and sometimes doubts, a little meditation on even a single aspect of the gospel is like savouring rich wine, percolating through mind and spirit (billy may disagree!)

unlocking the wonders

2010-03-20T13:55:00.001Z

I’m thinking about the series ‘wonders of the solar system’ running on bbc2 Sunday evenings 9pm just now. The awesome realities it opens our eyes to. Number 2 on iplayer most watched when I looked the other day.
The rocking motion of the earth on its axis as it hurtles round the sun, producing the seasons’ sensual and visual spectrum of delight - the charm of spring flowers, the beauty of autumn colours. Directly linked. Or the ‘beautiful coincidence’ of the moon’s size and the sun’s distance from the earth, allowing the ‘perfect fit‘ that reveals the sun’s ghostly corona and the spectacular light show of a solar eclipse.
Massive physical laws at one end of the scale, producing the most delicate effects that enrich our lives. A moment’s reflection makes it hard not to be awed by the connection, and have a sense of ‘gift‘.
Because scientifically we understand nature better, does it have to rob that sense of awe the ancients had of a power and intelligence behind it? Like nature, isn’t the spiritual world a treasure house to be explored and unlocked to yield its delights? In the secular western mindset ‘religion’ including christianity has come to be seen as static, archaic and irrelevant. How may its potential as a world of wonder again be glimpsed, to kindle once more the kind of childlike amazement currently excited by ‘wonders of the solar system’ and its ilk?

engaging with radio 1

2010-03-07T13:53:00.000Z

I’m listening to radio 1 more. Pulses with energy. Cutting edge, new music at the fore. And reading ‘the gospel according to chris moyles‘. A big ego but talented, successful, 'powerful'. We believe in the resurrection, awesome power. The greatest radio station in the world. Gospels: who is the greatest? The least. How should the faith be lived out in a high-powered, competitive environment? ‘In new music we trust‘. Why not in God we trust? Why is God sidelined by popular culture? Or is he? Is it just the christian sub-culture, its sound and image, that parts of ‘the world’ including radio 1 reject? (they never played christian band delerious…) I’ve had a couple of mildly funny lines read out on jo whiley’s show. It feels like part of the way forward for engaging with popular culture: meeting the show where it’s at, joining the conversation, riding the wave.

how the earth made us

2010-03-06T09:18:00.000Z

Recently watched the bbc series ‘how the earth made us‘ with Dr Iain Stewart. One of those national geographic type perspective-expanding programmes. Struck by the mix of bounty, opportunity and risk in nature. For instance, the cyclical patterns of the trade winds, circling round the atlantic, and how the early explorers learned to exploit them to travel to the Americas and back again. Or continental plate boundaries’ resources of oil and water. But the same natural marvels, coupled with human folly or mistake, of course carry risk and danger too, and can cause great pain: earthquakes, volcanoes, shipwreck, disease and death on the slave ships. But we’re also given the capacity to improve things. I don’t really get the fixation some atheists have with the misconceptions of perfection and absolutes in God and in creation. Theology has developed a far more rugged and robust view of God and his relation to creation and his creatures. Akin to parent and child in ‘macrocosm’. Full of risk, pain, mess, but with a steady heartbeat of love and joy - strong, heady - pulsing through.

radio spot: hollywood

2010-02-28T12:14:00.001Z

radio spot idea, with marina and the diamonds 'hollywood' music bed

'Oh oh, I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America
I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America...'

What are you obsessed with? Speaking personally I’d say face book, football, and um, this song at the moment. And while we're about it, where are you looking for happiness? Job? Kids? Second life? Tescos?

'Oh my god, you look just like Shakira
No no, you’re Catherine Zeta
Actually, my name’s Marina...'

And do YOU ever feel people don’t know who you really are, or are just not interested? What if someone did know? Everything about you - and still loved you? Now who was it I was hearing me about who sounded just like that? Oh yeah, Jesus! AND he said he was the way to true and lasting happiness. Crikey. Scuse me while I sit down and let it all sink in.

'Hollywood infected your brain
You wanna kissing in the rain
Oh oh, I’m living in a movie scene
Puking American dreams...' to fade

a happiness of atheists

2010-02-22T11:37:00.000Z

That's the collective term coined on yesterday's ‘the big questions’ on bbc1, which featured the poser, ‘should religion be more fun?’ Alongside a friendly track suited vicar who meets up with a group of blokes for a pint, go-karting or paintballing, and a loquacious muslim cleric, there was a row of hand-picked atheists who countered the idea that faith should be more partnered with joy. They pointed to examples of child abuse, mistreatment of women etc. Fair enough, but it doesn’t take a phD in dialectics to note that they’re attacking a distortion of religious values and practice, not core truths, of Christianity at least. The 14 feb episode of ‘the bible: a history’ on c4, about women in the bible, was another interesting counterpoint. It highlighted the portayal of strong women in the bible of different kinds of strength, from the guerilla warrior leader Deborah to the quieter, inner fortitude of Mary. Gerry adams’ piece last night is a whole other discussion…

radio spot: empire state of mind

2010-02-20T13:28:00.003Z

idea for a radio spot, with alicia keys' empire state of mind as music bed:

I love this song. Who wouldn’t want to go to a place where you can feel so inspired? Ok, occasionally I feel like that in the morning, but it takes a strong coffee, and a couple of rounds of ready brek. Sounds amazing doesn’t it? A little taste of heaven on earth. But do I really have to fly across the atlantic to fulfil my wildest dreams? Can‘t I just stay here in Bagshot? You know, I’m sure I’ve heard words like this somewhere before. It’s that apostle bloke Paul in, wait for it, the Bible. Takes a bit of getting your head round, but he says that in Jesus you can be a new creation, and do all things. Blimey, no-one told me that in Sunday school. So I think I might hold off on those tickets to the big apple. Till Christmas at any rate…
www.bigfoto.com/sites/galery/newyork2/newyork22.jpg

ground of confidence?

2010-02-15T13:37:00.000Z

Be bold, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you. A psychological crutch? A delusion? ‘The power of positive thinking‘. But the irony is, it can only work if you really do believe God is there, if you have confidence in this, and in his promises. If you just think ‘think positive’, your spirit as a reflective being cries out to know why you should be positive. You long for something, someone to anchor your confidence too. The moment you seriously doubt the reality of that solid ground, confidence evaporates. And I believe reality, especially for instance beauty in nature, points us towards the ultimate Ground of confidence.
Will I act as if I truly believe that a being of supreme wisdom and power undergirds me?
I read from mark about the soldiers’ treatment of Jesus. The irony of human power turning against one who was the locus of God’s power. God hidden, in disguise, treated like scum.

easter ads... 4

2010-01-23T15:08:00.001Z

In thinking about what I want to say about Easter, I’m first asking, what does it mean to me? If Jesus, this character whose words and deeds on earth are remote in time and recorded in an ancient book - is present and with me today, how does that affect how I live my life? I kind of feel I’ve only got something meaningful to say to others to the extent the message is somehow embodied in my own life. Then again, this is thinking quite a way along the spiritual road. Need to get a feel for a non-believer’s starting point; what effect do I want this ad to have on the listener, and how best achieve that? How far along the road can I expect to try and move someone? And by the way billy, I’m not expecting your average punter to be born again at the end of 30 seconds.
Think Easter, and a lot of people think ’easter eggs’. Now how have we got from a bloke rising from the dead 2000 years ago, to a Cadbury’s creme? Or how might we get back again? Uncovering the true meaning of easter. A journey, detective investigation? Easter – get behind the eggs… I’ll think on it.

easter ads... 3

2010-01-20T11:22:00.002Z

Easter suggests there is a power at work in the universe that can transform situations of death and decay, on all kinds of levels. The risen Jesus wasn’t merely a resuscitated corpse, he had a new kind of body, a transformed one, and we believe now inhabits a different plane of reality. Like the heavenly beings in cs lewis’ ‘the great divorce’, more solid and real, not less, than the earthly bodies… I want to identify core human aspirations, desires, interests to which Easter offers a response – or just one – and then perhaps shape an idea around that.

easter radio ads... 2

2010-01-19T18:42:00.000Z

In thinking about this, I want to address questions and problems too. People find jesus attractive. But the ‘resurrection’ happened a long long time ago – a remarkable event, someone coming back from the dead, but for two thousand years since, history has rolled on, the long mundane march of reality has continued… what I need to connect with is how the power at work in the resurrection is at work, can be at work, today, in my life, in people’s lives. The shift from ‘not seeing’ to recognition can be subtle, swift and seamless; her name spoken by ‘the gardener’ transformed mary’s outlook from gloom to joy in an instant; the disciples on the road to Emmaus suddenly recognised the stranger’s identity when he broke bread. Like the sudden wave-like ‘small stimulus to big effect’ phenomena in chaos theory mentioned below....

radio ads for easter

2010-01-18T09:08:00.000Z

I’m producing a couple of radio ads, probably one for good Friday and one for easter Sunday, for a big commercial station in Manchester, so need to start dreaming up ideas. I’ve heard it said that postmodern people are not so much asking ‘is it true?’ but ‘does it work?’. so how might the easter message, or some aspect of it, be made fresh and relevant?
Resurrection, coming back to life, made new, surprise, revelation… mary’s first encounter with risen jesus, she thought she was seeing a stranger, but then he spoke her name, personal touch, recognition…hopelessness to hope.
I hope to continue to develop ideas on blog, so if you want to contribute, fee free (that includes you billy:))

secret life of chaos

2010-01-17T18:59:00.000Z

Watched this programme on bbc4 last night, exploring the spontaneous, self-organising patterns in nature. Order and chaos found to be closely linked. We’re constantly learning more of nature’s beauty and surprises, and are curious, fascinated. And in some ways nature does appear to be conducting a slightly messy experiment. The presenter insisted the picture emerging suggests random process, not ‘an active interfering being‘ - but an alternative response would be a more enlightened exploration into the nature of the kind of God who could be behind such phenomena. Intellectual interest in this developing knowledge doesn’t stop my heart being warmed when I read scripture or pray; underlines for me that these are distinct arenas of enquiry and experience: the scientific, and the spiritual.

haiti: God in the dark?

2010-01-16T12:27:00.001Z

We say ‘God is in control’, but how do you square that with a disaster like the Haiti earthquake? A tide of human lives, not only taken quickly and mercifully, but ebbing away, water from a burst skin seeping wasted into parched ground, because there is not enough help to stem the flow…fifty thousand, a hundred thousand… where is God in this cruel, desolate place on the margins? Perhaps his Spirit is at work in the surrounding surge of human compassion that propels help on its way; but that is so slow and limited, and cannot halt the relentless clocking of lives being snuffed out. What of the victim buried but still conscious beneath the rubble, alone and in pain?
A passage from ‘the shack’ hints at the possibility of light in such darkness. Comforting the father of a young girl kidnapped then murdered, the Spirit tells him that while she was alone in the back of that dark van not knowing where she was being taken, and even in the depth of her ordeal, she found strength and comfort: ‘she and I know each other well’. Could not the Spirit similarly minister to the forsaken earthquake victim buried in the rubble - where there is, and maybe even where there is not, the flicker of an inner cry for help?

magnetic

2010-01-13T18:59:00.002Z

mark 2:13-17 I’m thinking about the attraction jesus held for tax collectors and sinners. They felt comfortable in his presence - he exuded acceptance and love. Painfully aware of their ‘badness’ - seen in the mirror of others’ disapproval - they felt acutely their need for cleansing and wholeness, and were drawn to the warmth of divine welcoming presence in jesus. An inner recognition… in contrast to the Pharisees and scribes, whose external righteousness blinded them to their need, kept them fixated on keeping up appearances, and aroused their contempt for this man who allowed his image to be so soiled.
Am I sufficiently aware of my need to draw closer to God? Do I see past appearances and reflect the love of God to people with a less than shiny image?
What one ’lowly’ person in my life shall I seek to love more, and how will I do it?

I’ve got hooked on the tynchy stryder with amelle berrabah 2009 hit ’never leave you’. I’m intrigued by the creative synergy between this poster boy of black urban street cool, and poster girl of modern western ethnic chic, a beautiful young woman, of muslim Moroccan descent, utterly conscious of and relishing her sexual magnetism.

notting hill moment

2010-01-10T13:52:00.001Z

Watched Notting Hill last night. Key moment: she - ‘famous actress’ Anna Scott aka Julia Roberts - says to bumbling bookshop owner Will Thacker - aka Hugh Grant: “fame, it means nothing really. Don’t forget that underneath it all, I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her”. interesting. Fame can give the illusion a person is on a pedestal, rich, has all they could want.. But she’s saying, it’s external show and façade, I have the same human vulnerability everyone else has, the same desire to be loved, facing the same risk of rejection. She’s even dressed in a simple skirt and cardy that makes her look like a little girl
I’m intrigued by correspondences between human reality and relationships, and the heavenly/earthly. We could explore how the human soul before God is like that little girl, seeking to be loved. How the layers of earthly paraphernalia, like the trappings of fame, keep the soul from awareness of its vulnerability and desire for that surpassing love, and how they might be stripped away.
I don’t mean to be a complete big softie. The other classic scene is of course the rhys ifans buttock clenching one.

does 'king jesus' need deconstructing?

2010-01-07T19:45:00.000Z

Bradford at its more picturesque early this morning, its rooftops mantled in snow, clear and crsip, the sun a molten burst of yellow peeping shyly over the horizon. I like this cold snap; I’ve never liked the idea the world is probably warming up with the concomitant threat of more monochrome weather, a flattening of the seasons, slow death of cold white winter.
Back to ‘king Jesus’. Just started reading though Mark’s gospel. ‘immediately’ pops up a lot. A narrative of swift action - Jesus healing, casting out demons, ‘doing stuff’. power evidently was at work in this man. And it’s all very concrete - it doesn’t look made up. This is why partly why the idea Jesus never existed doesn’t look credible - as cs lewis said, the gospels have the character of journalistic reporting, vivid and real. When I read about Christ and his actions, especially in the morning, fresh in body mind and spirit, I am inspired and motivated. But ‘king jesus‘… I feel uncomfortable and doubtful sometimes in church, with people in a state of adoration, eyes shut, hands in the air, jesus I love you, you’re beautiful.. I’m just not making the link between the man of wisdom and action who inspires and this ’invisible love object’. I’ll come back to this…
To answer billy’s question, what Wayne meant by the word ‘christian’ having become compromised was that it has become tainted in popular consciousness by various bad associations where it’s been negatively expressed and lived out.

liquid gospel

2010-01-06T19:48:00.001Z

In our HCJB team prayer meeting, we listened on DVD to president Wayne Pederson talking about the vision of the mission. He suggested that the word ‘christian’ has become compromised, and that what we should be seeking is to lead people to love and follow Jesus. There’s an impetus to use technology and current popular communication methods like twitter and face book more effectively as channels. The image popped into mind of the liquid metal T-1000 in Terminator 2, able to morph shape as circumstances required - as an image of what this nimble, adaptable communication aspiration is like.
I try to be honest about my own questions and doubts too. So here’s one: We sing about ‘king Jesus’ in church, celebrating the idea that this man who lived two millenia ago somehow rules and infuses the universe. So how is it that in the daily grind he can seem so peripheral: so far off the radar of my own consciousness in the rough and tumble of life, let alone in the mind of the secular masses? The notion that the church ‘made’ this man into Deity can at times appear a persuasive one. To be continued…

musings

2009-12-22T11:59:00.001Z

I’m down in lymington, hants, at parents’ new house and near brother’s family. Cousin Ian’s wedding in dorset on Saturday.
Was at Carl and Gail’s church yesterday, Lymington Baptist. A very creative audiovisual presentation of the Christmas message of the incarnation. Apparently there are seventy ‘sextillion’ stars in the known universe (who said science couldn‘t be racy!). The point being made that God the creator must be pretty big. Now hold fire, atheists. I myself sometimes feel the connection between ‘awesome universe’ and ‘big God’ can be made a bit too easily and sound a tad trite. What followed was the point that at Christmas, the lord of the universe was humbled to a baby in a manger. Contemporary christian apologetic and communication has for some time treated such ‘radical paradox’ or ‘extreme dramatic irony’ as a one of its hottest playing cards, unique selling points. Another favourite is the concept of grace, that you begin with acceptance by God as a platform for joyful service and pursuit of holiness - reversing the widespread idea of ritual and discipline as a route to or condition for acceptance. No question that these counter-intuitive reversals and paradoxes are at the heart of Christianity’s attractiveness - what help make it a ‘big idea’. Perhaps their emphasis is a key way to break down prejudice and barriers?

I’m thinking about the nature of Cn witness, trying to grasp more of the big picture. I’m engaged in a constant process of integration, endeavouring to see how the message of the gospel intersects with vast and inevitable human processes, eg the reality that people get set in their thought patterns and views, as adults, and become increasingly closed to change, and are daily swept away in their thousands by the grim reaper. Cheery eh? The human heart gets wrapped up in material comfort, and as my minister uncle put it, it takes ‘hard times’ to recreate an openness to spiritual reality.
I’m reading Richard Holloway’s ‘doubts and loves’. he advocates a theology of praxis instead of a theology of positivism, by which he means it’s more important to follow the way of Jesus than to believe the right things about him. He’s inclined to regard much of what the bible says, including the resurrection, as metaphor. A problem here is that the gospel narratives themselves contain earthy, flesh and blood detail. And he is suspicious of doctrine about Jesus, wary of folk who insist on regarding him in a particular way, or as ‘Lord of all’. Behind this is a suspicion of totalising systems. Paul though - his imagination was clearly captured by the idea of Christ as all-encompassing, and it‘s difficult to see how you can be passionate about believing in and following Jesus if you limit him as holloway appears to do…

freewheeling

2009-12-06T19:45:00.001Z

What has been going through my head lately? Have been watching ‘the history of Christianity’ on bbc4. The final part will look at the future of the faith in western Europe, where it was acknowledged there is currently widespread indifference. ‘should God be worried?’ I’m interested in rob’s comments under previous post considering how the life of faith is best understood in process and action. I agree that truth is often seen most plainly when it is embodied and lived out.
I’m intrigued by how all sorts of things that engage the public imagination relate to what life is ultimately about. Take strictly come dancing. Why is it so popular? (I watched it last night with a friend for the first time - won’t be making a habit of it, but…) so what are the elements? Well it’s obviously beautiful and spectacular to watch - well, some of it. I’m looking for the synthesis here, what are the core human desires, motivations, and how do they fit in the big picture? (obviously the x factor mines a similar well). The celebrity factor. What is the draw of celebrity? I’m a celebrity get me out of here? What is the magnetic attraction? Why am I not so drawn to it? People you see in the public arena, you get to know them, my life is ordinary, this person has an extraordinary life, a larger than life persona, and so I want to follow the person, their journey..
The endeavour. There’s a pursuit of excellence, a competition, a striving to overcome hurdles, to be the best.. We enjoy witnessing the human effort to excel. The judges. These are the authorities, the experts.. What did they think? Their view is the one that matters. My friend commented on the fairy tale quality, the escape. Escapism - what’s that about? The desire to see a world of beauty and drama. These are just freewheeling thoughts, but I’m intrigued by how they relate to larger but perhaps dormant human aspirations - for heaven..?

I read an article in Christianity magazine October suggesting that ways of doing church there may not work here since the spiritual climates are so different. It suggested the US is in nt terms like Jerusalem at the time of revival, Britain more like sceptical Athens.

And finally, also been watching ‘life’ on the beeb. The beauty of a jellyfish, pulsating lace of infinite delicacy. Ethiopian wolf stalking a mountain rat, it’s low slung body a taut spring, ears pricked, a model of focus and precision in nature’s no safety net struggle to win and survive. Nature’s spectrum, elements that entrance and captivate, elements that disgust…

a hell of a dilemma

2009-11-21T11:03:00.001Z

A recent post of Jonathan’s, ’babies in hell’ on his musings blog, has prompted me to offer an initial salvo of response. being in the missions business, in the arena of commercial radio, I guess it’s important to have a grasp, even if it’s a developing one, on what I think about such big picture concepts as hell.
At the root of the problem is the question of how we square the apparent bold simplicity and clarity of nt teaching that salvation is found in turning to Christ in repentance, and the complexity of the real human situation. For me intellectually to accept such a concept as hell, it helps to at least have some sense of how it relates to people‘s actual lived experience.
What is hell about? The bible does talk in places, in the nt especially, in apparently quite aggressive terms about eternal punishment and being thrown into a lake of fire‘ - this language is there. But who will go? The thrust of the nt is that this teaching is directed at those who reject the love of God, and eg in revelation 20, 21 it lists those who are hardened in an array of sins… Now this resonates with reality. Thinking, speaking, doing wrong does have a progressive, cumulative hardening effect on the heart, you lose sensitivity and joy. Eg I recall hearing teaching on the effect of habitual porn - it deadens and isolates cos it cuts you off from relationship, you become a shell of a person, as jesus warned about the path begun by a lustful look if not checked… so in real experience hell begins to be comprehensible.
God is not always and in every way obvious. It’s easy to caricature him as an evil sadist if you want to. But I can at times have a sense of the numinous, that I’m not alone, and of ‘eternity in the heart’, I feel drawn into a spiritual relationship, and yes I believe JC clarifies Who it is I’m relating to. But I have to follow that beckoning of awe and allow my whole being to unfold in response, not make an idol of science or rationality and so dull and close my sense of the spiritual. Parts of the bible are not easy to grasp, and without a willingness properly to engage with it, I can take an intellectual scalpel to it and set up my own horrible caricatures of a God as a baby torturer and so on. But with an open heart it is a vast house of light and treasure. And I don’t think you need me to tell you it actually says nothing about babies and hell.

remembrance day thoughts

2009-11-08T18:44:00.001Z

In his remembrance day message this morning, our minister Robin Gamble at holy trinity idle described a visit to the Somme and referred to the inscription to all the men who had died unidentified, simply ‘known unto God’. a powerful moving thought. It also brings to mind a reason john piper in ‘desiring God’ gives for believing in heaven and eternity, that he finds it inconceivable that something as beautiful, complex and mysterious as the human personality, should at death simply cease to exist. Like the suggestion that there can be no ultimate or purpose or meaning in life because no God, the idea that death is the end, kaput, that’s it, is the kind of assertion made by atheists that stretches credulity because it flies in the face of what our deepest intuition suggests to us. The atheist of course can and does respond that this is a mere comfort blanket, that the believer is taking refuge in a delusion. But this is where the broad picture needs to be surveyed: the evidence that God has communicated, and the experiential testimony that he does prove faithful and meet need.

Robin also delineated three broad stages in the bible’s portrayal of and thinking about war: the accounts of apparently pretty blood thirsty behaviour in the early OT, around 3 and a half thousand years ago when the Israelites were carving out a place for themselves, and when cultural norms were very different. But then the later OT, the prophets, when a consciousness emerged in the jewish nation that they were called to model a radical peace - ‘swords into ploughshares’… culminating in the high point of Christ’s ethical teaching of forgiveness and love even for enemies. The question is, does this model of an evolving ethical consciousness have to conflict with the idea of a God who is eternally the same? Progressive revelation?

Saw some of the secret life of berlin on beeb 2 last night, about the years leading up to the fall of the wall. Struck by the prominent role of the churches in stimulating a peaceful revolution.

a spot of lit crit

2009-10-31T09:49:00.003Z

I’m reading a book that has been talked and raved a lot about by Christians in the past year or so: ‘the shack’ by William P Young. It’s very readable and offers fresh revelatory perspectives on God, especially the persons of the trinity and the relationship between them, and on some of the riches of the life of faith; but as fiction and writing I’d say it’s not great. There’s too much tell and not enough show, so that many of the depictions, especially of Jesus relating to Mack, are saccharine, a bit cringey, cheesy, and leave me cold.
I’m struck by the contrast with the powerful emotional effect of the last half hour especially of the recent bbc ’emma’. now jane austen cd be considered a bit girly, but getting past the frocks, bonnets and other period frippery, I have to say, I was impressed, and I’m interested how the story achieved its effect. The crunch comes when emma learns that her less sharp-witted friend harriet has feelings for the gallant and principled mr knightley - life long friend of emma - and when she’s given reason to believe the feeling may be mutual. The threat reveals to her her own love of knightly, and she laments that she’s been so busy looking after other people’s hearts that she’s neglected her own. The girl who has up to now been rather snobbish and feels immune to the currents of love ordinary flesh is heir to, is suddenly vulnerable, her heart exposed. She had taken a significant step toward humility in her penitent response to knightley’s rebuke over her treatment of miss bates, and now her journey is completed. So we as the audience has moved from dislike to sympathy - our heart goes out to her, and the stage is set for the happy resolution.
Anyway that’s my lit crit over for one day. I studied this one at uni, that’s my excuse.

the big move

2009-10-29T19:38:00.003Z

Like buses: no post for two months, and then suddenly two on one day. I’ve just been up at my parents’ old house in bridge of weir, near Glasgow. They finally moved south to lymington near Southampton today, after nearly 27 years at The Laurels in BOW. A father and son team swept through the house like a force of nature, driving us on to clear stuff as fast as possible from shelves and cupboards. Mother was somewhat flabbergasted how much stuff there was in all kinds of nooks and crannies.
I wonder what they made of us? In churning through all the stuff, they quite possibly picked up that we’re a ‘religious’ family. I’m struck by the contrast, between their ruthless practicality and efficiency, and the sheer impracticality, inefficiency, apparent intangibility of the ‘religious way’ as it CAN so easily be lived. Strikes me it’s so easy to make religion a fantasy land, a comfort blanket. To some extent I feel I lived it like this a lot in the past. You don’t feel any kind of ‘practical pressure’ from God - that comes from other people and the circumstances of life. But Christianity could lay claim to being a very practical faith, and Jesus was a man of sweat and blood and tears. How do I work out my faith so it engages, is relevant to, has purchase with people who are by nature ruthlessly practical?

alone in the wild

2009-10-29T19:10:00.001Z

i wrote this a month ago but then my laptop broke down, so here it finally is...

I recently watched the channel 4 three parter, ‘alone in the wild’, following the experiences of a scot called ed wardle who was (of his own volition) deposited in the Yukon wilderness in Canada and left to fend for, and film, himself. Have to admit I was hooked from the start. Apart from anything else, he sounded intriguingly like a friend from Helens burgh who’s currently in New Zealand. I’d seen another solo tv explorer Benedict Allen wandering around Mongolia with a camera attached to his body with a similarly intriguing contraption, in ‘edge of blue heaven’ a few years ago. Now my sister and her partner who’s a mountain leader were of the opinion that this guy ed might have enjoyed the experience rather more if he’d had a companion, and they of course have a point; as it was he spent a lot of time feeling hungry, afraid (of bears), lonely and generally miserable. But on the other hand, his condition of aloneness, the vulnerability that engendered and the sense of watching a human being in an extraordinary situation being pushed to his psychological limits, for me made a very compelling programme. In the end, he gave the impression of being subject to an experiment into profound aspects of the human condition (not to put it too grandly!). One friend has commented that he cried too much, and he was indeed pretty distraught by the last episode. All I would say is, how would any of us be feeling after forty plus days on our own in the wilderness! (sorry racheJ). it’s funny how different things move us or leave us cold (or irritated). There’s plenty of emotional stuff in tv and films that I find pretty saccharine, but I’m not ashamed to say I actually really felt for this bloke in his distress! Witnessing a person undergoing perhaps the worst kind of emotional/psychological trial - prolonged solitude - for real, no acting. Solitary confinement is after all used as a form of torture.
But of course it’s hardly news that we need people. What left me pondering more was his comment about the wild itself, how he came to feel it was indifferent to his needs and suffering, it was just there. Interesting how his perception of it was affected starkly by whether he was well-fed or hungry (the latter most of the time). With food in his belly, he could see its utter beauty; famished and deteriorating, he saw it as ugly and hostile. This gave me a fresh perspective on nature, its relationship to God and man. In its lone raw ferocity and grandeur, it can feel like an enemy, yet in the religious view it is considered to be the creation of a being who cares deeply and tenderly for humanity. It’s not easy to reconcile these perspectives on God.. and yet could not a proper pondering of them lead to a richer, synthesised and ultimately more satisfying view of God? Quite possibly methinks…

halloween party

2009-10-17T17:56:00.003+01:00

radio script- revised

FX: halloween party atmosphere

A: What is it about Halloween that brings out the strange human urge to look like a complete freak?

B: What ya talking about?

A: Well just look at her – big nose, wart - I take it she’s a witch. I mean, if you're gonna turn up as a woman with supernatural powers, why not go for the hot pants and the bullet deflecting bracelets? She just looks like an extra from the Addams family.

C: D’you mind? That’s my girlfriend.

B: Lighten up mate. It's just a bit of fun.

A: And what’s THAT? Looks like it's come back from the dead – and what’s it eating?

C: That’s my girlfriend!

B: It's a zombie y’thicko.

A: Ooh, scary. But they’re not real though are they.

B: No. Hang on though. Supernatural power? Coming back from the dead? Sounds a bit like that Jesus bloke dun’it?

A: Yeah. An’ he WHA real.

Something for the summer

2009-08-10T17:37:00.002+01:00

A couple of radio thoughts in the pipeline for august...

BARBEQUE SUMMER
Now last time I checked, we were supposed to be in for a barbeque summer. I had the flowery shorts, the sausages ready, everything. So what happened? Looks like it got rained off. Can you rely on anything these days? Well hang on, I just read something about a steadfast love that lasts forever. Wasn’t talking about the missus. Or the dog. Or my relationship with Facebook. It was about the love of God. Solid. Strong. Reliable. Like my new barbeque set. I think. I haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.

music bed: always take the weather with you- crowded house

CONNECTED
While we’re all a bit strapped for cash, we’re happy to do without some things, like nights out, and the trip to Barbados. But we don’t want to miss out on stuff that helps us stay in touch, like the mobile phone and black berry. We like to be connected. Some people are looking for a spiritual connection as well. Exciting to think the feeling could be mutual – that God might just be looking for us. King of the universe, just a prayer away. 24/7, waiting to hear from you, and from me. For free. (pause). You won’t get that from your average network provider.

music bed: valerie- steve winwood, or connected- stereo mc's

cruel nature, percolating spirit

2009-07-22T20:22:00.004+01:00

Watched south pacific on bbc4 last night. some brutal instances of nature red in tooth and claw: man o' war birds with hooked bills plucking isolated tern chicks from cliff edge, then waving and snapping them in mid-air, helpless rag dolls. tiger sharks ambushing ungainly albatross chicks from below; nightmare from the deep, a ton or so of raw sinuous power thrusting torpedo-like to the surface and seizing the frail bird in its vice jaws, engulfing the doomed creature that flounders like a broken kite. but then the other, glorious side of nature, a super-pod of dolphins frolicking in the surf against backdrop of lord of the rings new zealand peaks, looping and jumping with the joy of being alive.

been pondering the stumbling block that can be posed by considering the bible to be the 'word of God' in a neat, boxed-in way. so conceived, it is all too easily blown aside for many by the stormy complexity of life, like a house of cards. it's only as i enter it with the expectant questing spirit of a child exploring a broad enchanted country, that i can submit to its wisdom, allow my spirit to percolate and revive in its truth, and then go out to be an agent of change in the world, broken bread and poured out wine. it's something to aim for anyway.

High days in Haworth

2009-06-27T13:42:00.004+01:00

Last Sunday afternoon, solstice, visited the Bronte mecca of Haworth. Bizarrely, a sixties weekend was in full swing; the home of the world's most famous literary family, was taken over by Bee Gees impressions, pink flares and bad Elvis wigs. Brilliant.
Hiked up to Top Withens, remote farmhouse ruin and supposed inspiration for gothic masterpiece Wuthering Heights. The stone plaque, placed there by the Bronte society in 1964, assures 'in reponse to many enquiries' that the farmhouse could only have been an incidental inspiration, as even when intact it bore no resemblance to WH. ('wuthering' apparently describes the kind of turbulent weather found on the yorkshire moors. Fortunately when I went, it was sunny).
On the way up I passed two friendly young women out to get trim. And then I passed them on the way down. Took a detour, and passed them again. And again. At one point I even back-tracked, thinking I hadn't come the best way, so passed them in reverse before revising my decision and overtaking them again. Frankly, it all got a bit silly. But we laughed about it.
Back in Haworth, stopped at the Old Hall Inn for a slap-up bangers and mash. As the outdoor table I sat down at was on a bit of a slope, the gravy flowed inexorably to one end of the plate and had to be marshalled with some dexterity.

On a (recently rare) spiritual note, I'm reading through Oswald Chambers 'My Utmost for his highest'. Let's be honest, for both atheists and Christians/people with a faith - we have some common ground here - God's reality and presence is far from 'obvious' all the time. It's quite possible to get through a day giving Jesus or the divine barely a thought. But OC constantly challenges me with the message that the spiritual is real. And that by 'doing the duty that lies nearest', taking a step with the little light you have and thus living in dynamic relationship with God, life can become a scene of constant unexpected delight, wonder and surprise. Rock and roll.

Wimbledon church

2009-06-24T15:59:00.002+01:00

Radio script (with tennis and crowd sound effects). Go to www.audiopot.org to listen to a sample...

Commentator:
And welcome to church. Break point. Ethel to serve. First act of service. Oh and it’s big, WARM hug at the door, picked up well by Stacy, returns nicely. Arfur, drop shot compliment, nice touch, placed beautifully, back hander but that’s ok, well received. Excellent conversation over there, deep, wide. Ooh and that’s a savage attack on Nigel but he blocks well, gentle reply, all smoothed over. Stacy almost slips through the net but picked up, great recovery. Oh and look at Ethel, great speed across the court, full stretch, going the extra mile. And a parting shot from Nigel, ‘I forgive you’, struck sweetly, absolute winner, Arfur left rooted to the spot, quite speechless.

Umpire: Advantage church

Commentator: Well that was a joy to watch, absolutely glorious. This game certainly isn’t over yet.

Mela

2009-06-20T14:15:00.005+01:00

Much of last weekend was spent in the capacious Peel Park, soaking up the atmosphere and contributing to a good cause at the world famous (well, sounds as if it should be) Bradford Mela, 21 this year. I joined a group of young christians, some with mild hippy leanings, who go to a groovy-sounding church called 'soulspace'. They were representing a campaigning and networking charity called 'Speak'. The event title: 'Little Big Dress' - a spin-off of a fair trade campaign years ago called Big Dress, which involved the production of thousands of tiles of fabric stitched together into a giant lady's garment. They'd assembled a Mongolian style yurt (large round tent structure presumably designed to withstand the ferocious conditions of the mongolian steppe) and covered it with this colorful patchwork quilt. Now why didn't I take a picture of that?
All of which served to remind me - except the dress - of a heady trip 11 years ago across vast expanses of nothingness on board the Trans-Mongolian Express. With a travel agency which charged the earth called, suitably enough, 'Monkey Business'. Sharing a cabin with two English lads who'd been teaching English in Hiroshima and were now heading to the Paris World Cup. Of a large male American passenger who, upon realising somewhere several hundred miles from anywhere that the train was running a day late due to striking Russian workers, declared that he was being 'held against his will' and insisted on leaving the train and being escorted to the nearest airport. I wonder whatever happened to him.
But I digress. Amongst the attractions of the Speak venue was a drumming workshop, where an enthusiastic African in trad dress sat in a circle of bongo drums and diligently tried to instil a sense of rhythm into an optimistic cross section of the general public. Also a very popular face painting corner which drew kids and their parents like bees to a honey pot. And a short drama about fair trade, in which I played the personification of an evil multinational corporation bent on squeezing as much out of poor exploited developing world workers as I possibly could. And cackling diabolically at appropriate moments. What can I say. Typecast as usual.

Vulture networking

2009-06-11T19:45:00.003+01:00

Weekend before last, when high pressure was melting the country, did a couple of nice walks. One with a group taking in Kirkburton village, Castle Hill and Emley Moor TV tower near 'uddersfield', tallest free standing structure in the UK. Fine aerial view of a cricket match from the hill as well.
And then Sunday afternoon, a solo tramp across Ilkley Moor, which sports what's called Yorkshire's unofficial anthem, Ilkley Moor bar 'tat (i know i've spelt that wrong..) Well, I went with a hat - a very fetching sun one. The moor ends abruptly at a road and Dick Hudson's pub, where I stopped for a shandy. A shimmering of black manes in distant field as a posse of horses cantered off.
Mon to Weds just gone, churches' media conference in Swanick, Derbyshire, examining the impact of the media, and potentially of people of faith within it. Some pretty high-powered not to say esoteric discussion. And an array of high-powered media types to boot. One of the trickiest christian events I've been at to just go up and talk to people over coffee. At one point I sat down and said hello to someone who also seemed to feel a bit outside the goldfish bowl. She turned out to be one of the fringe event speakers and a 'Dr' no less from the Faraday institute of science and religion in Cambridge. She introduced me to the term 'vulture networking' which, as it suggests, means to circle round particular individuals with a view to getting what you can out of the encounter. Apparently the key is to network in a spirit of generosity, trust and respect, and so be a 'star networker'! Rock on.

Bala weekend

2009-05-29T20:37:00.003+01:00

Seem to have been struggling to fit the old blog in of late. So just a few lines today, catching up on one or two recent activities. A couple of weeks ago was at Lake Bala in North Wales for a weekend. Beautiful spot, mixed weather. Took part with a group in a high wires course, run by some rugged outdoor types in a company called 'Get Wet'. Discovered I'm perhaps not quite as terrified of heights as I'd though, skipping from rung to rung like a monkey (and probably looking like one). The whole escapade ended with a rope slide.
Then there was a cycle round the lake, past a picturesque Welsh railway station. And that evening, after some worship, watching Jade do her thing and get poked in the face by the violinist, and a drink or two, a few of us found ourselves in an welsh pub under the quaint delusion that a shot or two of the local brew somehow qualified us to be rock stars. I belted out Daydream Believer followed up by I'm still standing (happily I was), rounding off with Englishman in New York, which the karaoke master insisted I adjust to Englishman in Wales. One or two of us also tried to help some more intoxicated punters make it through a couple of fast moving and by no means straightforward Queen songs, namely Don't stop me now and Killer Queen. They really needed help.

Voices

2009-05-21T12:55:00.002+01:00

Another radio piece based on Britain's got talent, which will have Britney Spears Toxic running underneath it...

So, another year, and another run of Britain’s favourite talent contest is drawing to a close. Well that’s a relief; I’m not sure how many more singing dogs and dancing hamsters I can take. Of course, it’s had its moments. A certain feisty Scottish lady’s showed us you don’t have to look like Leona Lewis to carry a tune. And, no surprises, we’ve had a string of new show-stopper put downs from Britain’s favourite talent scout. So what can we take away from it all, besides the memory of a bloke farting his way through a Strauss waltz? Well, I’ve been thinking about those poor deluded souls who wind up on stage doing something they can’t do very well – and getting panned for it. About the words of the judges they listen to. Crikey, if I had to put up with the barbed comments of big Mr C, I think I’d be cowering in a corner. So it’s a good job there’s one voice out there that’s got something a bit more positive to say about me - and about YOU. God says you’re the apple of his eye, and that you’re written on the palm of his hand. Not bad eh? Hmm. Maybe I should think about entering that talent show next year after all…

Everyone's got talent

2009-05-07T11:28:00.002+01:00

Radio script idea based on 'Britain's got talent'.

Simon Cowell:

Hello sweetheart, and what do you do?

Contestant A: I remember people’s birthdays.

SC: Ok, and how long have you been doing this for?

A: Since I was about twelve.

SC: Right, and is it just family birthdays, friends?

A: Everyone’s really, neighbours, pets, lolly pop lady.

SC: Well, it’s certainly unusual. So how did it all start?

A: I gave a birthday card to my teacher once, she was chuffed to bits. That was it, I was hooked.

SC: And do you have any special methods?

A: Not really. Just the colour coded diary. And a fluffy pom pom page marker.

SC: You're certainly taking this seriously. Ok, you’ve got two minutes to remember as many birthdays as you can. Bonus points if you remember mine.

Tag line: In God’s eyes, everyone’s got talent. What’s yours?

SC: (under breath) Just don’t remember the year.

Ruby milestone, Mission net

2009-04-20T19:22:00.003+01:00

Ensconced in the summer house, at home In Scotland on a fine April morning.. Brother’s family also up for the week from sunny Lymington. Iona, now four, has recruited me to bedtime story duty; and first time to see young Rose at six months. So a family affair.
The pretext: parents’ ruby (40th) wedding anniversary yesterday. A certain Kaiser Chiefs song has been running through my head. Also struck by the variety of high class cards designed specifically for this occasion, and that somehow all the senders had managed to select a different one. Well done everybody.

Mission Net, Germany: the once every three years or so European youth missions conference, held this time in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony. I was recruited from the HCJB UK office, along with one of our missionaries in Ecuador, to join German brothers Marco and Stefan to staff an exhibition stand for HCJB, in an exhibition jungle. HCJB’s slick new banner design features a yellow sofa with big black arrow pointing up from it, to the slogan ‘Be the voice and hands of Jesus’. A fellow exhibitor’s first impression was of an Ikea advert; not quite the clarion call to save the perishing we were after then. Back to the drawing board? Or maybe just a bit of tweaking.

Marco and Stefan, a priceless double act, relentlessly cheerful, both tech wizards, great fun.
A closer reflection of the spiritual impact of this event will have to wait, for now it’s just broad impressions: world mission dynamo George Verwer with his ‘world atlas jacket’ and giant inflatable globe. Spanish mime supremo Carlos Martinez, speaking an international language. Brilliant translators. Crowds. Worship. Buzz. Sourkraut. (actually, not that one). More to follow…

Barden Fell

2009-03-16T12:50:00.000Z

Saturday, a group of us went for a hike on Barden Fell, near Skipton. Mix of sun and cloud produced some beautiful light effects. High stone bridge over broad shallow river, the kind where you could imagine a fly fisher’s line creating calligraphy in the air. Great noble ridges bathed in milky light. Dry slender leafless trees caught by rays through cloud. A landscape of wild rugged romance; ‘God’s own country’, the land of Wuthering Heights. That said, it was also baltically cold at the top.
Its hills and views are also a key part of Bradford’s charm, especially the descent from Wrose. A city full of panoramas of stone terraces and blackened wool mill chimneys.
Saturday night at HTI (Holy Trinity Idle), the ‘100 days’ celebration of the arrival of new vicar Robin Gamble. Bradford born and bred, a natural evangelist who set aside 100 days to listen - to God, the church, and the community. Seeking to strike a balance between cherishing the church’s history and each member of the congregation, and moving forward into a bold new future. The vision for the coming year, to be a beautiful community of people, free of power politics, who truly love each other. How does that sound?

Final answer?

2009-03-09T13:31:00.004Z

Draft radio script based on 'Who wants to be a millionaire?', for a Yorkshire FM station, hopefully for Good Friday... 'Millionaire?' type tense music bed to go underneath.

CT (Chris Tarrant): Welcome back to the show, where Derek is already sitting on a big prize… Del, you know what’s at stake here. You ready for the final question?

D: Ready Chris.

CT: Let’s take a look.

CT: What’s going to be the NUMBER ONE goal in your life? Will it be: A – a fabulous body? B – a happy family? C - to get stinking rich ? Or D - friendship with God?

Del: Crikey.

CT: That’s one way of putting it. (audience titters).

D: Well, let’s go through them.

CT: Take your time.

D: The body‘s certainly tempting. Envy of my friends. Women falling at my feet.

CT: Now Derek, I’m sure that’s happening already. (audience titter)

Del: I wish.. But then, I’d give a lot for my family to be really happy.

CT: Wouldn’t we all.

D: ‘Get stinking rich‘... Lot to be said for that too. Not having to worry about the future. Keeping up with the Jones’s .

CT: Not to be sniffed at. Specially in these times.

D: Yeah.

CT: So I take it you’re ruling out friendship with God?

Del: Tricky one isn’t it? I suppose considering He’s the one running the show, it couldn’t be a bad thing.

CT: Can’t see him though can you? Money, good body, those are things you can see and touch.

D: Yeah… But a great body’s not going to stay that way is it? And money can buy you stuff, but can it make you happy?

CT: This is getting a bit deep for a quiz show (titter). Ok Del, but happy family, your nearest and dearest. Surely that’s gotta be number one.

D: I dunno. I’m just thinking about, you know, Jesus on the cross, how much he put on the line for me. I’ve just got a feeling that if you’re friends with God, that might take care of the other things too.

CT: Sounds like a gamble to me. It’s your decision Del.

D: Think I’m gonna go for it Chris. Yep. D Friendship with God.

CT: Final answer?

D: Final answer.

CT: We’re gonna take a break, be back shortly. (audience groans)

(Out music)

The turning world

2009-02-01T18:33:00.003Z

Foothills of the French Pyrenees, late December. Early morning, sun’s radiant ball peeks shyly over world’s horizon to kiss the earth hello. Gentle curve of cornfield, chill, dun-coloured, dormant, imperceptibly transfigured to golden hue by breath of warm life. My shadow forms from thin air, tall field sentinel.

Midday. Southern European latitude. Sun higher in the sky. Noon light heavy, flat, oppressive... Then towards day’s farewell, shadows lengthen, colours deepen, landscape is reclothed with intrigue, enticement. Distant rose-tipped peaks kiss the eye and awaken longing. Lilac cut-out mountain chain: outline of peak against sky, stark and jagged, a fairytale battlement, a playground for the children of giants.

Tea time, and a scene change, imperceptible and huge, on nature’s stage. Garish loud sun has sunk to slumber. Night: sleight of hand, thick, black, felt. Safe, daytime rhythms and murmurings cease… a vast hush. Chill cavern of darkness pricks nocturnal denizens to twitchy, saucer-eyed alertness. A fox‘s screechy bark. Owl‘s ghost call, warm, wise. From another world, preternatural, comforting: an echoing tunnel of ‘o’s, smoke rings of sound.

Stars. Beauty unimpeded by urban glare. Churning, boiling, nuclear engines hurtling through space; but to the human eye, winking, beckoning friends. Their array familiar and unchanging, across aeons. Mythic constellations, vast epistles delicately suspended. Eye rests, mind expands and contemplates. Earth, this sapphire gem, this wilting greenhouse: a speck of cosmic dust spinning in vast immensities. What ineffable power, what deep wisdom, holds together these two universes, starry vault and human mind, in this communion of awe?

Off the naughty step

2009-01-27T14:33:00.006Z

I'm on a bit of a roll with these radio thoughts, so may as well make the most of it.
(And I have still been reading those comments, including today one from Rob about 'allowing yourself to be drawn limitlessly into a fuller and more wholesome approach to yourself and others' through 'the ethics of Jesus'. Nice.)
So, to that radio thought, with Jackson Five's 'Want you back' as music bed:

Someone showed up recently who’d been missing for months... Think floppy hair, flash ties, endless line of celebrity guests...? That’s right: Mr Jonathan Woss. Like him or loathe him, he creates a buzz doesn’t he? And let’s be honest, Friday night telly WAS starting to get a bit dull.

And then out of the blue, he actually said sorry. Three months earlier he’d made a prank phone call that offended half the country. Now here he was, welcomed back with cheers and applause, just by eating a bit of humble pie. I nearly dropped my horlicks. (And my pie.)

Now let’s face it, Mr Ross isn’t the first person ever to mess up. (I nearly strangled the cat yesterday, before I’d even got out of bed). It made me think though, what ELSE do I do that upsets people? And more to the point, GOD? Quite a lot actually. Which makes me rather glad there’s some good news too. That if I say sorry and mean it, then I get a warm welcome back. From the Lord God Almighty no less. Wow. It’s enough to make me want to go on TV and tell everyone about it.

Your neighbour needs you

2009-01-25T16:24:00.007Z

Still catching up with comments, but meanwhile, another radio thought that hopefully taps into what's being bantered about over the water cooler. Music bed: 'Gonna make you a star', David Essex.:

Now there’s one question that’s been keeping us all awake at night the past few weeks. Well, me and my flatmates anyway. That’s right: who’s going to win ‘Your country needs you’ and take Britain to Eurovision? And if you‘ve been watching the show you’ll know there’ve been a few other pressing questions too. Like, how many teenage girls will swoon over Mark this week? And have Jade’s legs actually stopped growing?

It’s been edge of your seat stuff watching them all face the public vote as well. You can see it written on their faces: ‘Will I make it? Does my country need me?’ The funny thing is, this is the kind of question we ALL ask ourselves from time to time. Does anyone need or want me? And you might be surprised to hear that the answer is, yeah. You see, in God’s scheme of things you don’t have to be able to sing like a nightingale to have a job to do, a role to fill - and probably one that no-one else could do half as well as you. Even if it’s simply cooking a nice dish or helping someone who needs it. So go on, be the star you were always meant to be. I can’t speak for your country. But God wants you, and your neighbour needs you. So what are you waiting for?

And this marks, finally, my 100th post. Do you get a telegram from the Queen?

Obama Superhero

2009-01-21T16:55:00.006Z

A radio thought (with crowd noise and star spangled banner added) for The Full Breakfast show on Pulse 2 in Bradford this Sunday morning, a few times between 730 and 10am. Also available for member download on Audiopot, the UK's online library of Christian audio.

Now unless you’ve been living under a stone or practising to be a hermit, you’ll know that something rather momentous has happened across the pond (and I don’t mean the one in your garden with carp in it). I’m talking of course about Barack Obama becoming head honcho of the United States. It’s all created a bit of a stir hasn’t it? (more than when we got a new president for the local darts club anyway). In fact, the last time I saw this amount of expectation surrounding one man, he was running out of a phone box in a red cape wearing his pants on the outside. Leader of the free world, for goodness sake. Imagine waking up on a Monday morning and suddenly remembering THAT was your day job.
Obama’s got a lot going for him. He’s also got problems waiting in his in tray that would make most of us reach for the valium. It's encouraging that he’s a man of faith, and that he sets such store on that little word HOPE. Hope is bigger than optimism, carrying on despite setbacks. It’s got a stronger foundation. But actually, there’s only one man who’s ever lived who CAN carry the hopes of the whole world. Jesus didn’t have laser vision or the keys to the White House. He showed that powerlessness, and a cross, were what’s needed to REALLY get things sorted.

Parris revisited

2009-01-18T20:25:00.006Z

I should clarify why the Matthew Parris article impressed me. Jonathan mentioned DR had 'crowed' about this article and I didn't mean to give that impression myself. I don't think, oh here's the promise of a scalp for the Christians! I find this you/us, your gang/our gang thinking that is sometimes conveyed - and I'm not referring to J there - fairly fruitless. It doesn't take a degree in human nature to know that any kind of 'who's winning the argument?' approach tends just to make people defensive and hardened in their own stance.

What impressed me was this: a person being ready to acknowledge and humble enough to express a reality - not mere argument - that posed a challenge to his world view. And one of the most powerful realities there is: the profound observable - note, those of you keen on observable evidence - change that sincere personal Christian faith has wrought in the life and character of the Africans MP witnessed. The open-ness, the boldness, the freedom from former bonds - including that of abject fear of men in a tribal culture.

It's evidence of the raw spiritual power of the faith at work, in a continent riven by brutal conflict and dark forces. The reality and presence of the living Christ bringing peace, wholeness, sanity and love to people 'with all kinds of hang-ups'. A world away from the intellectual chess playing of constructing arguments against the existence of God in comfortable western sitting rooms (my apologies if you're an atheist reading this in your bedroom). Isn't it slightly odd that these should be the effects of a 'delusion'? If you're not grappling with the awesome weight of the power of religion in people's lives across the globe, including in cultures very different from our own such as MP observes here, then it strikes me you're missing a trick somewhere along the way.

And before I close, who's been watching Christianity: a History, C4 Sun nights 7pm, and Around the world in 80 faiths, BBC2 Fri nights 9pm? Both pretty interesting and informative.

An atheist reflects

2009-01-15T15:34:00.004Z

This is superb: an intelligent atheist writer honestly expressing the unsettling effect on his worldview from witnessing real Christianity at work in people's lives in a context where it can be really seen to make a difference. I've read quite a lot of Matthew Parris before. An example of honest profound reflection that I can really respect. See what you think.

From The Times, December 27, 2008:

'As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God'
Missionaries, not aid money, are the solution to Africa's biggest problem - the crushing passivity of the people's mindset.

A radical goodness

2009-01-08T18:59:00.004Z

A couple of points from comments made on the last post have got me thinking. First, Rob saying that there are good and bad people in both the atheist and Christian/religious camps. There is of course a bridge-building value to this point: it's always good to critically reflect on your own viewpoint and those in your own camp, and look for the good in 'the other'. But the thought opens up a huge issue, which Jimmy touched on in acknowledging himself a sinner in the sight of God. What is the path to true goodness? Here the radical, searching 'joints and marrow, soul and spirit' nature of the Christian message kicks in. If you can handle the concept of seraphim, Isaiah 6:1-7 is worth a look on this score: the record of an experience of holiness and power that forced a man to exclaim 'Woe is me, for I am lost'.

Let's not be coy here, if Christianity doesn't have something distinctive to say about what it means to be good, and a source of power to produce deep radical goodness, then what's the point of being a Christian? But we (that's not meant to be royal by the way) believe it does - that an encounter with the divine can make a person aware of how oriented they are towards self. This challenges me; eg a good definition of true gentleness is 'power under control', but 'gentleness' may also be self-protection in disguise. In how many other ways can 'virtue' be a cloak for self-seeking?

This is one of the things that draws me about Cnity: that it searches and lays bare, strips away the illusions we can entertain about ourselves. We talk about being decent and moral, but scripture uncovers our state in light of the divine majesty, : 'All your righteous acts are as filthy rags'. Not a moral code, but a path through self-recognition to transformation.

God on a cross, weak to be strong, the first shall be last: the Christian ethic is counter-intuitive, turns things on their head, constantly surprises. This is part of its magnetism 'for those who have ears to hear'.

I'll get to the latter comments... think I've seen the muslim programme before Rob, I'll check it out. Heading south for the winter; well, weekend. To Devon.

A hidden power

2009-01-02T17:28:00.003Z

Hunkered down and holed up in Bridge of Weir till the 5th. Just watched Ryan's Daughter cos it's five stars and described as a bleak romantic epic; directed by David Lean. Good in its depiction of a young girl's yearning for passion, and the mob cruelty and cowardice, but lonngg... Yesterday, embarked on The Spy who loved me but simply stopped caring with half an hour or so to go, though Jaws's grin and the corny lines hooked me in at the start.

Interacting at close quarters with folk who don't share my faith can be unsettling. I've recently spent time with some people close to me who are not 'in the Christian fold'. But they espouse and practise worthy values of unselfishness, caring, good relationships and communication. Sometimes, particularly in the realm of practical, helping tasks, I have felt put in the shade by unbelieving peers whose character and actions appear to outshine mine. It prompts me to reflect on the complex web of influences that shape an individual's personality and the fruit of their life. Believing in God, I guess I regard all such influences as having their ultimate source in... Him? the Godhead? (I wonder if English will any time soon acquire a non gender specific personal pronoun...) But I don't mean that to sound glib. It's striking how far off the radar any sustained thought about God is in the minds of many decent, moral folk in western society. We watched 'The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe' on Boxing Day. It was followed by Eastenders. A family member commented on the incongruity of this Christmassy magical fantasy and the gritty realism of 'the square'. Narnia, sandwiched between soaps. Did anyone, I thought, recognise or entertain the possibility of a link between Lewis's fantasy land, and reality? That Narnia might symbolise an unseen but accessible and extraordinary spiritual world that could impinge on our ordinary workaday world? For how many did the magic of the story crumble to dust as the credits rolled?

I'm reminded again of what former thinkers have noted of God's 'hiddenness'. The story of Christ's resurrection, if real, must have the power to transfigure a life, and ultimately the world. And perhaps in cultures more open to spiritual reality than ours its power impacts more readily. Here the seed in large part lies dormant. When I read a word of scripture in the morning, when fresh, eg the other day, 'Your hearts must not be troubled, bleieve in God, believe also in me...' John 14:1, I sense its radical power... all those things I need to learn not to worry about... So if I allow it to change me, maybe it can at least start to change my world.

Happy new year.

Joyeux noel

2008-12-24T20:03:00.003Z

...from Montignac in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. What a place to spend Christmas. Superb weather. Extended restaurant lunch today lasting three and three quarter hours. Nice nosh though, tres francais. Boeuf bourgignon - I'll check spelling later (beef casserole).
The mountains are sublime, especially at sunset; rose-touched distant peaks one afternoon, purple cut-out silhouette against pastel pink sky another.
Yesterday, out for a sunrise walk, I had a slight mishap retracing my steps between the rural farming villages and for a few minutes thought I was quite lost. But then I noticed a familiar lie of land ahead and realised I'd just walked past our 'gite'. There's a parable in there somewhere.
Homemade dogwood tree up, Christmas lights fixed, baby niece Maia, 7 months, not falling asleep - teething?
And will we get to see Calendar Girls? Questions to be answered.
Have a blessed one.

The power of not defending yourself

2008-12-14T13:44:00.005Z

I've been thinking I need to get a digital camera sometime soon so I can start adding some images to this blog; it's a bit dull with just text. Meanwhile I'll just have to try and come up with snappy titles...

We have a new vicar at Holy Trinity Idle, Robin Gamble, bit of a Bradford legend, and he took his first service today having been licensed on Monday. An engaging fellow, broad Yorkshire, sounds a little like Alan Bennett the playwright, funny because, though I don't know much about him personally, he's an unashamed evangelist and will probably help make the comfortable in the congregation uncomfortable, in contrast to AB's cosy cocoa and slippers image.

I just watched 'An Arabic Christmas Carol (Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity)', recommended by Rob. Haunting music and images, expressing the awesome Christian truth that the Power and Presence underpinning the cosmos humbled himself - or 'Godself' as I've seen it expressed sometimes as a way of addressing the gender problem... It leads me to ponder one point I've briefly expressed before but want to expand on a little: a feature of Christ's manner and behaviour that has tremendous attractive and persuasive power, contrasting sharply with ordinary human methods and approaches. It's the willingness to forgo answering back, defending himself against accusers. Able to do this because he felt utterly and ultimately secure in the love of his Father God - freeing him from any sense of needing to defend himself. His sense of perspective allowed him to do this: the knowledge that though he might look weak and foolish for the time being, in the long run it was the path of wisdom. It strikes me as part of what Rob expressed in his image of living fully as a fish in water - freedom to be... This ethic is one of the things which enthralls and persuades me of God's reality. Without God you have to defend yourself and what you say - now.

I do read and absorb comments from readers who disagree. Don't think I'm putting my fingers in my ears. But we're coming from very different places and I have to keep writing about what interests me - hopefully some of it will interest you...

On a lighter note, in the event last night of not being able to tune an old telly I was taking over to a friend's to watch the finale of The X Factor (I'm not going to try and defend THAT now either!), we ended up watching 'Charlie's Angels'. Lucy Liu flicking her hair in slo mo as in a shampoo ad near the start was just one of the memorable tongue in cheek moments.

But this post is going from the sublime to the ridiculous...

Christmas Stats

2008-12-04T23:10:00.010Z

Sadly 'The Xmas Factor' idea - see 24 Nov post - had to be shelved; X Factor marketing not happy. So an alternative set of radio scripts for local Harrogate station Stray FM. Smith & Jones style, but using male and female voices. Revised 11/12 - as recorded.

1. Wrapping paper

A: Here, listen to this.

B: What's that then?

A: Guess how much wrapping paper we use in this country at Christmas?

B: No idea.

A: Eighty three SQUARE KILOMETRES. Apparently that’s enough to cover Scunthorpe four and a half times.

B: Blimey, I wonder if someone’s tried it.

A: Dunno. So why do people buy so much of the stuff?

B: Well it makes things look nicer don’t it, covers up the bad bits. Like Noel Edmonds' face on the cover of that new book of his.

A: S’ppose. But do you ever think under all this wrapping paper, we’re losing the true meaning of Christmas?

B: You mean the plot of the Doctor Who special?

A: No.

B: Birth of Santa?

A: Birth of JESUS silly.

B: Oh. Is that what it’s all about then?

2. Turkey

A: Here, listen to this.

B: What's that then?

A: Have you any idea how many turkeys this country eats at Christmas?

B: Not a clue. The missus gets through about five.

A: Well I’ll tell you. THIRTY MILLION.

B: Blimey, that’s enough to fill a small country. Gotta be a name for it.

A: Whatever - it’s a lot of birds.

B: Even more than your brother’s been out with.

A: Button it. Tell me though, what’s turkey got to do with the real meaning of Christmas?

B: You mean snow and Santa and that?

A: No, I mean the baby Jesus. There was shepherds, camels, maybe a donkey or two, but nothing about turkey - let alone Christmas pud.

B: Blimey, I hadn't thought of that. (pause) Mind you, I'm not sure Christmas has any meaning without Christmas pud.

3. Christmas cards

A: Here, listen to this.

B: What's that then?

A: How many Christmas cards do you think get sent in this country each year?

B: No idea. I never get any.

A: Well I’ll tell you: One point seven BILLION.

B: That’s an awful lot of penguins on skis. Oh well, plenty to go round at least. That, or someone's got a ruddy big mantelpiece.

A: Add to that all the e-cards and you’re talking silly numbers.

B: Yeah. Though I never thought of one point seven billion as a SENSIBLE number.

A: What I want to know is, with all these cards flying about, does anyone remember what it’s supposed to be all about?

B: You mean mince pies?

A: No.

B: Kittens in santa hats?

A: No, I mean the baby Jesus. And, you know, shepherds, angels, wise men and all that.

B: Oh. Wouldn't they look a bit funny in Santa hats?

4. Christmas trees

A: Here, listen to this.

B: What's that then?

A: D’you know how many Christmas trees we’ll put up this year?

B: Go on. Amaze me.

A: EIGHT MILLION.

B: Blimey, that’s a heck of a lot of paper going to waste.

A: And guess how much rubbish all those trees’ll make. TWELVE THOUSAND tons.

B: That's even more than you've got hidden under the bed. Mind you, it's the needles on the carpet’s what bothers me. Dreadful mess.

A: Yeah. D’you wanna know why we put Christmas trees up though?

B: No idea.

A: Well cos it’s evergreen, it's a reminder of the coming spring. Also, says here, it’s a sign of everlasting life with God.

B: Oh right. I’ll tell you what I wish had everlasting life. My vacuum cleaner.

5. Santa

A: Here, listen to this.

B: What's that then?

A: I’ve been reading some statistics about Santa getting round to see all those kids at Christmas.

B: Oh yeah?

A: Yeah. To give a medium sized lego set to every kid, he’d have to travel – wait for it – seventy five and a half million miles, going at six hundred and fifty miles a second, and pulling a sleigh of three hundred and fifty three thousand, four hundred and thirty tons. That’s four times as heavy as the Queen Elizabeth the Second.

B: She's put on some weight then.

A: The ship stupid.

B: Oh right. Anyway, sounds a liability. He must have ruddy good travel insurance.

A: Yeah.

B: But what’s this got to do with the real meaning of Christmas? You know, the baby Jesus and that.

A: Well, didn’t he come down to earth from heaven or something? That sounds like an awful long way.

B: Yeah. Mind you, I bet he didn’t have to bother about reindeer.

6. Cost

A: Here, listen to this.

B: What's that then?

A: D’you know how much the average household spends for Christmas Day? Nine hundred and twenty quid.

B: That’d buy you a few mince pies eh?

A: Yeah. Works out at one pound twenty eight p a minute.

B: That‘s almost as much as Jonathan Ross makes. When he’s employed.

A: Isn’t it a bit odd though that people spend so much money, when you think what Christmas is supposed to be all about?

B: What, you mean a new ipod?

A: No.

B: New boyfriend?

A: The baby Jesus stupid. God’s free gift to mankind.

B: Free gift to mankind? Blimey.

A: Amazing eh?

B: Yeah. (pause) I just hope it didn't take up too much wrapping paper.

What kind of G(g)od?

2008-11-28T17:04:00.003Z

I just caught a bit of 'Cataclysm' there, the C4 series about the genesis of earth and life on it, interestingly presented by Tony Robinson, who last time I checked was a man who besides a talent for playing Baldrick had a religious, dare I say it Cn faith. But that's an aside. A couple of Bob's images that have stuck in my mind of late, to capture a sense of the fulfilment and 'living life in its fulness' that the Christian way offers (not wishing to sound exclusive), are of the fish made to swim in the river and the 'upswelling desire' for 'God'... I'm acutely aware of a key difference in the way I think of God and how atheist fellow passengers view God, god, yahweh,... It's to do with the size and texture of the conception we entertain. About who or what we worship. You see, I have every sympathy with the atheist's exultation of a developed morality, high regard for the power of reason etc. And I'm curious why I as a 'believer' I don't stop there but choose to have faith in 'The LORD'. As I see it, the atheist's view of God is commonly a very small one, a conception which I myself couldn't possibly hold to with any sanity or dignity. 'A cruel local storm god', 'a petty deity', these are some of the kind of phrases I've come across. Like a little statue on a mantelpiece. Who indeed wd want to be devoted to such a being? But the God I commit to, not without my own doubts and questions, is both as big and as small as can be conceived: the ground of the universe or multiverse, yet embodied in the delicacy and vulnerability of a new born babe - to offer a momentary reflection on the import of my last post's sketches in amidst the cartoon humour. So one task in 'bridging the gap' here is how to convey this view of the Godhead as awesome, beautiful, tender etc as the heart of Cn theology holds he is, rather than this contemptible tinpot deity that atheist friends hold up for ridicule.
I wish I cd go on, I wish I cd go back and answer some qs, but I have buses to book, bills to sort, recycling to take out, tidying to do... but if a discussion is sparked, all well and good, and I'll be back next time.

The Xmas Factor

2008-11-24T18:16:00.005Z

Latest scripts for a set of radio thoughts to be hopefully played on a Yorkshire FM station shortly before Christmas - for a popular audience remember. We've even found a good Simon Cowell voice over...

1. SHEPHERDS
Dermot O’Leary (DO): Welcome to The Xmas Factor, where this week we're in Bethlehem.

SC: Whoa, whoa, hang on. Guys, what are you WEARING? Dressing gowns, tea towels on your heads? It's just RIDICULOUS. I mean CRAZY bad.

Shepherd: But we’re shepherds.

SC: So what on earth makes you think you're gonna make it here? I'm sorry guys, the image is ALL WRONG. I just don’t think you’re right for the show. You need to go away and think about what you really wanna do.

S: We wanna find the baby Jesus.

SC: Good luck to you guys. (to judges) What is it about Bethlehem just now that’s attracting all the nutters?

FX: sheep baa sound

2. WISE MEN:
Dermot O’Leary (DO): Welcome back to The Xmas Factor, where this week we're in Bethlehem.

SC: Guys, I thought those shepherds were bad, but what's going on HERE? Turbans, camels, it's just SO over the top. You're like something out of the Arabian Nights.

LW: He’s just jealous guys, don’t listen to him.

SC: (sarcastic) Thank you Louis. Anyway I hear there’s a rising star among you. What do you call yourselves?

3 KINGS (who are girls): The Three Kings

SC: Three kings? Right, er, guys. Ok, let’s see what you’ve got.

KING 1: Gold.
KING 2: Frankincense,
KING 3: Myrrh.

SC: Hold on, hold on. Gold, frankincense and myrrh? Guys, girls, whatever you are, it's a singing competition. That's SING, not BLING.

(aside to judges) What is it about Bethlehem just now that’s attracting all these weird people?

FX camel sound?

3. MARY & JOSEPH
Dermot O’Leary (DO): Welcome back to The Xmas Factor, where this week we're in Bethlehem. It’s been a disappointing day, and the mood among the punters is gloomy. One couple feeling the strain more than most is hubbie and wife team Mary and Joseph. All her life Mary’s harboured a dream, and she really believes this could be her moment. It hasn't been easy though, and with rumours of an angelic visitation, a baby on the way and no clear indication who the dad is, she's had her fair share of stick - not to mention a few doors slammed in her face. But Jo's stuck by her, and with so much at stake we're all hoping and praying they can produce something really special tonight.

SC: The thing about this show is, we really have NO IDEA who's gonna step through those doors next.

4. JESUS
Dermot O’Leary (DO): Welcome back to The Xmas Factor, where this week we're in Bethlehem.

SC: Ok guys, before he comes in, I’ve gotta be honest with you, on paper this Jesus doesn’t look very promising. Don’t even know who his dad is - turned down by every major inn in Bethlehem - and born in a STABLE for goodness sake. I mean it’s just a FIASCO. In fact I think we need to decide now. Yes or no?

LW: I dunno. I think we should give him a chance. You might be missing something here.

SC: Oh come on, don’t be ridiculous.

FX baby cries

SC: Um, how old is this Jesus by the way?

5. JUDGES DISCUSS JESUS
Dermot O’Leary (DO): Welcome back to The Xmas Factor. And with proceedings in Bethlehem drawing to a close, there’s one person the judges can’t stop talking about.

SC: What is it with this Jesus kid? It’s just unprecedented. This show's supposed to be about turning nobodies into stars, but here we've got someone going from being a STAR to a NOBODY. From King of the universe to a baby in a manger. I mean it's just CRAZY.

LW: I know. It could really jeopardise the brand. Whatdaya think's gonna happen?

SC: God alone knows. All I can say is, all bets are off for the Christmas number one.

6. HEROD & JESUS
Dermot O’Leary (DO): Welcome back to The Xmas Factor - the grand final in Bethlehem. And with King Herod and baby Jesus going head to head, it’s very hard to call. Let’s hear from the judges.

SC: Well Herod, I’ve gotta say, you pulled out all the stops there and that was just FANTASTIC. (cheers and whoops). You’ve got the fan base, the will to win, the killer instinct - I really think you’ve got what it takes to go all the way.

Baby Jesus on the other hand, I just think at this stage of the competition you're looking very vulnerable. It's a cut throat business and I'm really not sure you're gonna make it.

L: I disagree, I think the kid’s got something. Anyway, it’s out of our hands. It's gonna go to a public vote.

SC: OK. We’ll just have to see what THEY make of this Jesus then.

What scope the grace of God?

2008-11-17T17:48:00.002Z

Some of the thoughts that have been 'running in my head' (a catchy number one hit from 2003 as I recall)... I've been thinking quite a lot lately about how Christian truth - assuming here you believe in it - can be thought through and applied to real life and people in a way that fully expresses the highest, most expansive and generous view of God's grace, and takes full account of the richness and sheer complicatedness of human experience. The simple evangelical line recites that you need to believe in Jesus and that he died for your sins to be saved. Say the sinner's prayer. This may suit a particular person at a particular moment in life in a cosy church environment, but how can the idea that this man Jesus died for the sins of the world be meaningfully communicated and made relevant to the vast tide of humanity living out the brief candle of their lives without meaningful absorption of the message. JC described the kingdom of God as like a mustard seed or drop of yeast that gradually grows, or permeates the world. So in secular Britain say, what of the tens of thousands of ordinary decent secular folk who pay their taxes and watch Coronation Street but don't give God much thought and are felled yearly by the grim reaper, without having 'signed on the dotted line of a 'clear commitment to Christ'? (cheery one today!). I believe the grace and kingdom of God are more expansive and embracing than such a model implies... but how? In what way(s)? I'm just bit by bit flagging up some questions I'm interested to explore...

Prayer as the communion of friends

2008-11-09T17:58:00.003Z

Some recent reflections. Today in church the interim vicar - standing in while we await the arrival of Bradford-famous Robin Gamble in December - was speaking on the John passage where Jesus disinguishes his friends, as opposed to servants, as those who were 'in the know' - those with whom he shared what he had learned from his Father in heaven. He also referred to a Genesis story whose drama and pathos make it one of the rugged mountain peaks of Old Testament narrative: Abraham, who was called a friend of God, pleading with the Almighty for the salvation of Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of the possibility of just a few righteous people: fifty, then forty, right down to ten. The key message was that prayer - which can in God's goodness mean conversation between friends - has power to shape the future through as God, while remaining sovereign, chooses to allow His decisions and actions to be affected by the prayers of those with whom He is intimate.
An interesting contrast was drawn between this dynamic, fluid model of God's engagement with human beings, and the Muslim view presented more as prayer being about bringing one's life under the sway of the immutable will of Allah, above and beyond. To be continued...

The Big Jig

2008-09-24T22:19:00.005+01:00

Greetings. In a bit of a break from deep musings, Glasgow friend Greg has asked me if I can publicise an exciting event coming up in October, a ceilidh featuring his legendary band The Jiggers. Friday 10th October, 7.30pm, Destiny Centre, Shawlands, Glasgow. No problem Greg.
The Big Jig and A promo by the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppets. (it wasn't my idea)

Scripture - and students

2008-09-18T19:03:00.000+01:00

One of the challenges I find is to retain what I have read, learned and perhaps meditated on in my devotional reading in the morning, so that it influences the rest of the day. For example, just now I’m reading through Psalm 19, especially vv 7-11 about the merits of the ‘law of the Lord’. I’m often most impacted most by scripture early morning, a little reflection helping me see the explosive impact of ‘familiar’ verses afresh eg v 8b ‘the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes’. A surprise; we tend to think of a command as burdensome, but it - presumably not just hearing but doing it - is actually described as enhancing your earthly and spiritual vision…
This afternoon I visited Bradford University ‘Freshers Fayre’ to chat with folk at the Christian Union stall with a view to attracting new folk into the soon to be re-launched ‘Whistling Frog Radio Group’. Struck - though of course hardly surprised - by the numbers of Asian and Muslim students. And by the range of religious stalls in the fair. It’s something my arrival in Bradford has made me think about more, particularly regarding the Muslim community. The religious and cultural fabric of the community is so strong, so entrenched. How does this make me feel as a Western Christian? What does it mean to be a Christian in relation to the Muslim community?
A few questions to begin to pursue. Hope to write this ol’ blog a bit more ‘little and often‘, it’s been a tad too occasional of late…

Olympic spot

2008-08-12T16:05:00.005+01:00

Back after a bit of a break with a new radio script to get you talking (if anyone's still reading :))...

Commentator:

'And welcome to the blue riband event of these games: the race of life. It's Topbloke in lane 3, Smallfry in lane 5.

(starter gun) And Topbloke’s off to a blistering start in lane 3 with everything going for him, looks, talent, charisma. Picks up speed round the bend with the plush job and nice house. Smallfry meanwhile slow out of the blocks with self esteem issues, has a lot of catching up to do.

And Topbloke’s cleared the first hurdle superbly, conflict at work but his natural charm has carried him through. Smallfry struggling to keep up and really smacking those hurdles, problems on all fronts and looks to be right out of this.

Out of the bend and Topbloke is flying - promotion, bonuses, company car, and he accelerates down the back strait with the beautiful wife and four lovely kids. Smallfry still trailing badly.

Oh, but Topbloke’s slowing a bit as they enter the final bend, a spot of complacency creeping in - and he hasn't taken that hurdle well, bad row with the wife has knocked him for six.

And late in the day Smallfry is coming through as he starts to look for spiritual meaning in life, well what about this?

So it’s neck and neck down the home strait oh and Topbloke's clattered that last hurdle, lost his job, confidence, and nowhere to turn. And Smallfry has just discovered an incredible overwhelming love and is storming through and looks like he's gonna win this and it’s absolutely astonishing!...

Oh my goodness me, and with a rumour coming over the wires that he’s… found God, well, I just can’t wait for the interview.'

One Lord of Time?

2008-06-25T12:49:00.002+01:00

Well this ol' blog has been a bit quiet of late, so here are my latest radio script offerings exploring some of the spiritual ideas suggested by Doctor Who, to be bedded in the famous music and hopefully playing soon. I voice them, having worked on my David Tennant...

1. Now one of the things about being the Doctor is that people are sometimes amazed how cocky I can be around some frankly very scary creatures. To be honest a lot of this is just bravado and down to the fact that I can tell better jokes than your average dalek (but don't tell them I said that). But you know what, these creatures I meet are frankly nothing compared to some of the things you humans have to put up with: rising house prices, threat of recession… Anne Robinson. Scarier than anything you could dress up in a green suit if you ask me. Still, from what I've heard you've also got the greatest being in the universe rooting for you. And you can actually get his help - just by. praying to him. Wouldn't mind a bit of that myself sometimes - even if I am a Timelord.

2. Now you might think that being a Timelord must get a bit lonely at times - you know, 902 years old, last of my kind and all that, keep having to get new companions. And I can't deny sometimes I feel it'd be nice to settle down, have a family, bit of stability, you know… instead of constantly flying across galaxies and circumnavigating the 42nd radial asteroid parabular (that was a nightmare). I have to say though, even I feel a bit put in the shade by the One you call the Son of God. I mean, to leave somewhere called HEAVEN – to come and live among you humans - no disrespect, but that makes time and space travel look like, well, flower arranging. The thing that’s a mystery - even to me – is frankly why he doesn’t get a bit more attention.

3. Now being the Doctor, I’m not going to pretend that one of the perks of the job isn’t the Tardis. I don’t care what kind of motor you’ve got, if you can say you get around in something called ‘Time and relative dimensions in space’, I know who the girls will want to talk to. Obviously what gets people is how something which looks so small and ordinary on the outside can be so big and, well, extraordinary on the inside. It does have its downsides – maintaining the thing’s a nightmare… but you know what, it’s not unlike some things you humans talk about – like ‘faith’, for instance. Looks very ordinary and unassuming on the outside – some people wonder if it’s even real, but when you actually try it for yourself, get inside it, start to live it - that’s a whole different ball game.

The Apprentice

2008-05-13T11:44:00.031+01:00

Updated 21 May...

A radio script idea based on the popular reality show.

Overview: Sir Alan assesses 3 apparently successful characters and finds them wanting, and a 4th who's less 'successful' but wins out on the character stakes.

(Intro music).

Receptionist: Sir Alan is ready for you now.

Clara (under her breath): Sir Alan is, like, God.

(ticking clock)

Alan Sugar (AS): Morning all of you.

All contestants: Morning Sir Alan.

AS: Clara, how did you feel the task went today?

C: I were really pleased Sir Alan. People call me ‘the Rottweiler’, and today, I literally – I think that’s the right word – I literally bit the heads off three of me team mates.

AS: I bet they loved you for that. Michael, what have you got to say for yourself?

Michael: Sir Alan, I would do absolutely anything to get this job. I would walk over hot coals backwards. In a nightie.

AS: Note that down Margaret. How about you Lucy?

Lucy: To be honest Sir Alan, I thought it was really difficult. In fact I think I fluffed it.

(scornful sounds from the others)

AS: Not very promising. However, today I’m gonna give you a slightly different take on things. (music up) Clara. You make Attila the Hun look like Little Bo Peep. Do you ever stop to think about people’s feelings?

C: Sir Alan, it’s dog eat dog out there.

AS: Oh is that right? Michael, what would you do to help someone else get a foot on the ladder?

M: Well Sir Alan, I can’t say I’ve really thought about it…

AS: (cuts in) Not very convincing. Lucy, you at least looked out for people; I like that. Clara, Michael. You’re very good at making a shed load of money. But what good’s a six figure salary if you’ve got to screw someone over to get it? I hate to disappoint you Clara: I’m not God. But maybe the man upstairs knows a thing or two when it comes to what really matters…. Lucy?

L: Sir Alan?

AS: The task was a bit of a shambles. But you took the flak. You cheered up your team mate when she was in pieces. Bottom line: you cared about someone else more than yourself. Lucy… you’re hired.

(Music fades out).

Bradford in the mix

2008-05-03T13:40:00.005+01:00

We all have perceptions, however vague, about places we know of but are on the fringes of our geographical awareness. Before moving to Bradford, what did my mental map read? Slightly edgy: 'Brad' has a brash, cocky ring, like Mr Pitt in his Stetson and boots in Thelma and Louise. Bradford City Football Club, Leeds-Bradford Airport... 2001 race riots brought awareness of its Asian population, and recent TV dramas have highlighted its associations with Islam and possible terrorist plots.

Living here, I've also tasted its distinctive Yorkshire flavour: York stone terraces and factories, earthy accent that remains at the attractive end of the regional scale. I've been moving between two distinct zones: Idle village, centuries old, hilly, quaint, barely a non-white face to be seen; and the city centre, slightly shambolic, bustling with multi-ethnic mix. The regal Midland Hotel overlooks a large cratered space that, having lain derelict for years, is now busily grazed by piston dinosaurs watched over by men in hard hats.

In the cluster of shopping streets, a scattering of black clad fully veiled figures move furtively, but most Asian girls wear happier attire, commonly loose bright-coloured trousers tight at the ankles, silver or gold heels and long silken scarves. A posse of three strolled down the street yesterday in almost identical blue white and black. And the stores where I hunted out a running top sported a noticeable contingent of Asian staff: red-T-shirted assistants, hefty crew-cut security guard.

Religious and ethnic plurality lends an exciting buzz to a place like Bradford. But it's taken me a while to learn to relax and enjoy such pulsating diversity. Partly through being quite introverted in my younger years, my Christianity used to be too attached to a limited range of experience 'markers'. Big changes in environment and circumstances, like going to university, or to Korea to teach English, produced crises of faith. I've had to develop a broader conception and experience of the love and wisdom of God to weather such storms; a common experience I'm sure. And it's an ongoing process. Bradford's multi-ethnic, cultural mix reflects the world at large: plural, complex, diverse. It's a constant challenge to ponder how a faith like Christianity is not time and culture bound, a fragile ornament in an easily shattered box; but liquid and dynamic with the potential for life and influence in all times and circumstances.

But it's about time I had lunch :)

Religion on the box

2008-04-29T09:58:00.008+01:00

Last night I watched a fascinating programme on BBC2 about religion, psychology and mental health, 'Am I normal?' presented by psychologist Dr Tanya Byron. Atheist readers would have found a friend here; I hope no-one would mind me saying she's quite a looker as well. Early on she spoke to a street evangelist who'd received an ASBO; and a nun. She suggested, quite plausibly I thought, that the reason for the public's broadly contrasting responses to the two - suspicion and uncomfortableness towards the one, acceptance towards the other - had a lot to do with context; the street preacher was operating outside a recognised religious context, the nun within one (this bears on my own line of work, seeking to place spiritually oriented radio programming in the secular arena of commercial radio - but more on that another time).

Dr Byron seemed intrigued by the self-denying lifestyle of the nun of her own age she spoke to; a reminder to me of the power of testimony and experience, which has the potential to transcend intellectual barriers. 'Your willingness to put your life on the line like this communicates more eloquently than words or argument the possibility that 'there's something in this'' may have been a thought that at least flickered across her mind.

The faith healer Benny Hinn was also featured, and I have to say, the rally shown in India with vast enraptured audience, a wheelchair being carried off and one poor fellow's head being rocked up and down back and forth like a rag doll... created the decided impression of a showman, to put it cautiously. Right down to the white suit (and presumably, shoes). Less diplomatic terms, such as one beginning with 'char' and ending in 'tan' proffer themselves, but I'd be the la-st one to jump to conclusions. And I don't know the man and his ministry well enough to speak with any authority - so I'd be interested to hear from anyone with a different perspective.

But on the other hand... a thought to challenge atheists too. One of my biggest objections to viewpoints such as Dr Byron's is the insistence on reduction and seeing things through either just one or a very limited range of lenses. 'No scientific evidence for God or the power of prayer'. Prayer is not and was never meant to be a slot machine to convince atheists. If it's not considered - and in the last resort experienced - in a context of trust, relationship and personal transformation then it's always going to look odd from the sidelines.

Scripture and the message of Christ through a lens of faith can be compared, to posit two images in my mind of late, to a mountain range or a treasure chest - inviting exploration and enjoyment. I was struck the other day by the power of Christ's character to elicit fascination and faith; to cite just one example that's especially relevant in relation to atheist debate: his ability when questioned and attacked, simply to be silent. That self-control and composure frankly evinces a greatness of character more persuasive and compelling than any mere intellectual debate. But without a spark of trust releasing this kind of truth in its full flush of colour - acknowledging there's an elusiveness to 'faith' in atheist eyes that bears further reflection - I guess it's always going to look strange and nonsensical at best. And dare I say it, slightly monochrome?

But enough for today.

Pubs, banners and a sermon illustration

2008-04-22T10:55:00.010+01:00

A few more ruminations from Sunday... The reader - a Yorkshire woman, her accent gave it away - spoke on the NT passage containing 'once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God' (once I've unpacked my concordance - along with all my other books - I might be able to give you a reference for that). Her most memorable illustration in a good sermon was this: just as celebrity memorabilia acquires great value simply through having belonged to someone famous, so also we as children of God have immense value simply through belonging to Him. As so easily happens to me even in a good sermon, the next paragraph or two was unfortunately obscured by a reverie triggered by this one thought: recalling a Radio 1 DJ explaining how being a fan of the late Kenneth Williams had inspired him to acquire almost all of the great man's possessions from his godson, as they were yet to be auctioned. He admitted that having KW's old clothes stashed away in his attic was a little creepy. I'll say. But you get my point (hopefully).

The closing worship brought another surprise. Out of the corner of my eye I'd noticed him unfurling a very large lilac banner; the next thing I knew, a man, probably in his early forties, came dancing down the aisle, rotating this banner helicopter fashion, round his head in a rippling silken figure of eight, then at the front of the church round his body in a whirling fluttering column... concluding the dance with other worshipful body gestures.

Now back at St Silas in Glasgow, I've seen several younger members of the congregation use banners, and I think its undoubted visual grace makes it a valuable contribution to worship. But what impressed me particularly here was, frankly, the bloke's age. I mean how many men in their forties can you imagine doing this? Kind of breaks a few basic markers of the traditional 'masculine image' if you ask me. I guess it could easily have been uncomfortable and 'cringey' to watch, but it wasn't; it was powerful and moving. It could only be so, of course, because the guy was actually pretty good at it - and, I learned, he only did it occasionally, when he felt led by the Spirit. In other words, don't necessarily 'try this at home':). Still, for my first church service in Bradford, quite an experience to be part of. Well done sir.

I also didn't mention having chatted with some friendly folk over coffee, including one Mavis, married to one Errol (they don't make names how they used to). I'll be exploring some other churches Sunday evenings (I went with my house-mate to St Peter's in Shipley this one just gone). But those bells of Holy Trinity pealing within a stone's throw have a come hither beckoning embrace that may be hard to resist on a Sunday morning (could be a different story if I wasn't a church-goer!).

I noticed the Lord Clyde pub is named after 'possibly the most famous British soldier of the mid-nineteenth century'. There you go. Since then I've also noticed The Wrose Bull, The Swing Gate and The Balloon and Basket. At the top of the road, corner of High Street/Town Lane junction, also sits the 'Towngate Fisheries', proudly displaying it's banner 'Winner Best Fish and Chip Shop Yorkshire area 2007'. This is quite a place.

In due course I'll share more of what I'm actually doing with Whistling Frog Productions. For the moment, putting finishing touches to my first newsletter. Also pondering a possible first programme idea, based around BBC1's 'The Apprentice'. 'You're hired'? (not my line, I admit).

Idle ways

2008-04-20T12:41:00.008+01:00

I notice how moving to a new place has given me a new interest in Facebook, basically because I hardly know anyone down here. I do have a lovely cousin, Joy, who lives with her husband in nearby Guiseley (pronounced, most definitely I am assured, like disguise (at first I got it wrong, doh)), an aunt, Ann, in Leeds, and my venerable godfather Arthur, who teaches at Bradford University and lives in the village of Addingham. And a friend of my house-mate Neil has been up since Wednesday night, doing some paintwork on the house, kipping in the living room and joining us for communal feeds in the evening; including, fittingly enough, on Friday night my 'legendary' lentil curry.

In short, I'm not utterly friendless and alone :)

But this morning, Sunday, I made my first serious foray into the local community, walking round the corner to Holy Trinity Parish Church, Idle, whose gothic flank is clearly visible through the trees from my bedroom window, and whose bell I hear softly tolling on the hour.

I'd heard the Thursday evening bell-ringing practice, and at ten o'clock this morning the fruit of this labour tumbled and cascaded in joyous melody across the village. Such an exuberant call to worship, such a resonant symbol of English religious heritage; but also, I couldn't help imagining, for the New Inn Saturday night revelers and other godless Idle hordes:), possibly a right nuisance.

The service itself was a pleasure. Within this ancient frame of buttresses and bells - not so long ago the church celebrated its 175th birthday - the life of the Spirit evidently bubbles. While my initial impression was of a bit of a congregational split, with an exuberant youthful band of arm-raisers at the front and more venerable members sitting in scattered reserve further back, a feeling of collective warmth grew. Warm purple carpet and chairs replaced pews (I learned) a few years back, and the reader's long rich blue scarf - someone tell me the proper word - echoed the ornate blues and reds of the arching stained glass window at the front, depicting the ascending Christ with worshipful disciples and angelic hosts...

What an intriguing little place Idle village is. On Wednesday afternoon, after a monthly prayer morning with the HCJB team, I took a short wander. I'd already noticed at the junction at the top of the high street, across the road from my bus stop, the 'Idle National Spiritualist Church'. Gold lettered 'Stage 84' marks out a blackened converted church hall in the middle of this crossroads, and moseying a little further, I discovered a plaque reading 'Stage 84 Yorkshire Performing Arts School', of which this building was evidently the original venue.

Just behind is the Idle and Thackley Conservative Club, with patron only parking. Further on is the 'Cambing Cricket' ground, a green field which, while smooth enough, has a gradient and general lumpiness affording the impression it is unlikely to have seen a game for some years. But summer could prove me wrong.

Idle also boasts a collection of olde English pubs, the general character of which has been sketched to me by colleague Nick who's local to the area: the 1840 one's called 'The Oddfellows Hall', then there's 'The Coniston', 'The New Inn' - fronted by garish boards advertising its disco, karaoke and sports nights, and 'The White Bear' and 'The White Swan'. Apparently Bear good, Swan bad (drugs). We'll see. Nearer central Bradford I've also spotted the 'Horse and Farrier', 'The Lord Clyde' (I thought I'd left Glasgow); and my favourite so far, 'The Corn Dolly'. Cute.

Hello Bradford

2008-04-15T10:59:00.005+01:00

I'd intended to make my getaway on Saturday after lunch, but an underestimate of the packing project combined with the siren call of Doctor Who persuaded me late afternoon that it might be best to hold off till the next morning. So just before midday Sunday, I finally eased the hire transit van with my life in the back, out of the gates of The Laurels, Bridge of Weir, and headed south to the North. Annie Mac on Radio One kept me amused most of the way down the M74/M6, especially 'Sunday Squabbles', one of those bizarre confessional features where people call in under the odd impression that broadcasting their problems to the nation and awaiting solutions phoned in by the public beats sitting down for a private chat, any day.

Stopping at Annandale Water services, Johnstonebridge for a spot of light refreshment, a quiet stroll round the pond was broken by the alarming sound of my name being barked from behind: 'Bruce! Bruce, stop it! Don't you dare...' I was relieved to discover on turning round that it wasn't some scary individual from my past who couldn't believe I'd had the audacity to leave without saying goodbye, or repaying some long forgotten loan - but the owner of a black lab that was finding the idea of a dip all too tempting.

Soon after turning off the M6 onto the A65 cross country, I began to feel like I was in Yorkshire. And nearing my destination, I was conscious of entering a distinctly northern town; the hills laced with Coronation Street style terraces, the factory chimneys, the local stone, the peaked caps... (ok, not that last one). Once in Bradford, the AA directions broke down and I had to stop and ask a couple of times to reach my destination of Garth Fold in the village of Idle. It's a name I'm going to have to fight against, but all the same, a lovely wee spot, if you'll excuse the Scottish twang (heavens, I'm actually moving closer to my roots coming here - Guisborough on the north edge of Yorkshire - so there's really no excuse)... quiet stone courtyard type layout, rural aspect, trees, nice view, small Anglican church nearby with a bell tolling on the hour (so far hasn't disturbed my sleep too much)... and across the road from the famous 'Idle Working Men's Club' - you couldn't make this up - circa 1928, and just up the road from a pub whose name I'll need to go and check, dating from 1840.

Sunday night I had my first carry-out curry from the Idle Balti - a smooth creamy chicken 'makhani', beautiful. I think I could get used to this place.

Fool's gold?

2008-04-01T10:29:00.006+01:00

Sadly I haven't yet been able to catch up with all the comments on the last post yet, but with a new month dawning and at the risk of looking a fool (for Christ:)), I just want to articulate a little more - particularly for the benefit of atheist readers - how I see the life of faith. I want to widen the camera angle again for a moment.

Atheists have - quite rightly - a high degree of interest in reason and evidence, and how truth claims match up to these. And from what I've read, they often seem to have a pretty low opinion of how religion squares up on these fronts. Let me just clarify, in case there is any doubt, that as I understand it from my reading and investigation about faith and Christianity in particular: defences of the faith also put a very high premium on these criteria, of reasonableness and evidence. So there's plainly a sharp disagreement here.

There's a big discussion to be had about the nature and status of 'evidence'. But just to sketch one of the most obvious broad brush contrasts between the sceptical view, and the faith one. Sceptics are looking for 'evidence' that is tangible and unmistakable to any neutral observer, but within a framework of quite narrowly defined criteria, similar to criteria for observing physical phenomena in a scientific experiment. The common cry is 'Prove it', 'Give me evidence'. By contrast, my impression is that the lens employed in Christian apologetics to discuss the validity of faith from a perspective of reason and evidence, is generally wider. A broader exploration is attempted of how reason and faith operate in real life, in a variety of areas. And a broad criticism that would be levelled at the sceptical viewpoint from this perspective is that it doesn't consistently apply the same principles it uses to attack faith, in other broad areas of thought and life. It strains gnats but swallows camels, to quote, if you don't mind me doing so, er, Jesus.

But here is where the heart comes in. A good defence of Christianity will show the value but also the limitations of reason in attaining truth in its broadest senses. It will show how reason and the evidence that is there leads, invites, beckons, not by proof but with intellectual integrity intact, to the threshold of faith. The heart matters here; there has to be an open-ness. But if that threshold is crossed, like Lucy stepping into the wardrobe, then a whole new world is unveiled. Life and perspective can be changed, perhaps slowly, perhaps suddenly; like the life blood in a butterfly's wings transforming it from grey chrysalis to a vision of light and beauty, or the wind in a surfer's sail lifting the board and sending it coursing across the waves. A step is taken; power, energy, life and motion are released.

Last week my three year old niece and her parents were up to stay. At one point, when we were swinging her or something, her mum said, 'They're so trusting'. A child's instinct to trust becomes in an adult so easily stifled and withered, instead of growing and developing alongside the - no denying it, crucial - capacities to reason, question and critique. Trust opens up experience, and indeed knowledge and revelation that are unattainable without it. It's quite possible to think people with faith are deluded if you want to. But I'd say that sceptics need to consider carefully, with a wide angle lens, if the phenomenon of religious faith in the world, which embraces many sane, thinking people, really falls into the same kind of category as belief in unicorns, fairies and the like. The more dare I say it 'scientific' approach in dealing with a large phenomena of this kind is to explore and examine it first from as many angles, and in as much depth, as possible.

Who knows where that might lead?

Breaking open the vessel

2008-03-13T16:58:00.004Z

As I haven't posted for a fortnight, here's a comment I wrote in response to Jonathan's post on 'Musings' top right, 'Science and its limits: Chapter Seven', March 8th. It expresses some of my recent thoughts about faith.

'...I don't think God will be found in the detached testable way you want. We're looking at reality in very different ways, like through a different lens or set of specs. I'm thinking about how people move from atheism to belief in God, and it strikes me that the idea of paradigm shift is helpful here: a different way of looking at reality. And while discussion has a part to play in tackling intellectual problems, you'd likely find from testimony that things like time and experience - or a particular very striking experience - have a part to play. CS Lewis in 'Surprised by joy' is a case in point (he like A McGrath was an atheist first).

If you see reality through this radically different paradigm, then it - the same reality we all see - can positively throb with a sense of the presence of God, at least some of the time; eg ask an African Christian, I'm sure from the perspective of a culture steeped in a sense of the spiritual character of the world and nature, he/she would give a very different account of what reality looks like from a western secularist.
I'm just trying to challenge the secular science view a bit here.

For me, evidence of God is primarily relational - though this has taken time to develop. Not through detached observation of data. A good starting point is a simple step like the prayer, 'God, if you are real, please reveal yourself to me', with even a 'mustard seed' of at least openness. It could be mixed with a load of scepticism and questions to be answered - it'd just be a start. Who knows what might happen given time. Another principle of 'evidence' from the Christian perspective is, act on the little that is revealed, even just a small step like a question to read up on, and more truth and presence (of God) are revealed.

REVELATION is a key concept; that we don't have to work it all out for ourselves, but that God reveals Himself. In various ways, nature, the bible, and primarily through a Person, Jesus. It is through dynamic interacting personal relationship with Christ as revealed in scripture that I experience God's reality in a growing way from day to day. It's a whole being interaction, head, heart, will, not just head. Yes, some intellectual obstacles may need to be removed first, and go on being removed. But then it's like a process of surrender - not of your brain, but of your whole being, to the reality of God as personal dynamic presence that breaks and crashes upon you like waves.

I'm just trying here to give a clearer picture of what having faith in God looks and feels like for a Christian - spurred by the 'evidence' question J.

I've been meditating recently over several days on John 9 in the bible, about a man born blind who was healed by Jesus - had an experience no-one could take from him, even in the teeth of strong opposition and questioning from the religious elite of the day. It seems relevant. Again, this is a way I think God is revealed, through narrative and drama, not just philosophical or scientific speculation.

Think about what's going on when you fall in love, or read an epic like Lord of the Rings - examples of something like the kind of suspension of intellectual scepticism, and openness and vulnerability of heart and imagination that are involved in faith in God.

No, I haven't been on acid. I'm just a bit more lucid in the morning.'

Insight from a volcano

2008-02-29T18:18:00.007Z

Recently I've watched a couple of BBC series on large scale natural and geological phenomenon: 'Earth: the power of the planet' and 'Ten things you didn't know about...(tsunamis, earthquakes, avalanches). I love learning about the natural world and science; I'm a sucker for 'Life in Cold Blood', occasionally 'Horizon', and another excellent recent one, 'Atom'. And not surprisingly in the context of recent blog discussion, I find myself constantly reflecting on how religious faith, including my own, meshes with the captivating fields of knowledge these kinds of programmes open up.

It was a scene from the volcano episode of 'Power of the planet' the other day that crystallised an insight that had been simmering for some time. The presenter, Dr Iain Stuart - a congenial Scotsman - was discussing the volcanic activity that sustained and gave birth to Iceland. A scene of him contentedly soaking with locals in a warm geyser pool gave way to a computer-generated model of the extraordinary structure which lies beneath the island. Shooting up from the earth's core is a colossal funnel of lava, like a giant molten tree trunk; and it is of course the point where this plume hits the surface of the ocean that has produced - well, Iceland.

Now this is of course basic geology which anyone with a background in the subject would probably be quite familiar with. But for someone without such prior learning, the image was spell-binding - as indeed have been many images, facts and figures in the whole series. I've always had a hunger for knowledge about the natural world, and contrary to one popular stereotype, have never found my religious faith instilling any kind of fear or reluctance to glean more. In fact, the growing inner freedom of spirit faith nurtures seems if anything to sharpen this hunger. While it is pleasant enough to view pretty pictures of Iceland's landscape, I am intrigued by the bigger picture, the inner workings, what lies under the surface.

And I try to bring the same exploratory approach to faith. I'm struck by the parallels between religious and scientific knowledge. In both cases, full-blooded appreciation is only gained through a questing spirit that is prepared to 'get under the skin' of what is apparent, to dig deep for understanding. No great progress in science would have been possible without this drive to think outside the box, push past preconceptions and conceive physical reality in fresh ways. And no progress can be made in grasping and savouring spiritual realities without a similar attitude and approach. And it seems that one of the starting points, as Rob pointed out, is being prepared to take seriously the fact that there are different ways of gleaning knowledge, of which the scientific method is only one. A grade one class in epistemology would I reckon tell you that. 'Oranges are not the only fruit' as Jeanettte Winterson observed in a very different context. To quote from the opening of Chapter 6 of 'Science and its limits', (The Limitations of Science: What Can It Not Tell Us): '... if knowledge is restricted to scientific knowledge, we will thus be sheltering ourselves and our beliefs from the relevant portions of reality' p97. Sobering stuff - and I can't deny being curious to know what my atheist friends make of it.

Finally: it's been one heck of a weather day. Scotland's been through the washing machine. 'Heather the weather' must have been waxing lyrical.

Making airwaves

2008-02-20T15:59:00.002Z

Last Wednesday I was interviewed and accepted for a radio producer post with Whistling Frog Productions in Bradford, a UK-based ministry of HCJB Global, which has media and healthcare ministries around the world. Exciting news, so I look forward to moving to Bradford (yes, I know that sounds odd to some!), hopefully in a few weeks' time.
Meanwhile, I need to start building up a prayer and financial support base - in common with a number of Christian ministries, the post itself is not salaried - as well as start investigating part-time work opportunities down there, and in other practical ways get ready to go.
More soon...

The atheists' take on science: a problem

2008-02-11T11:18:00.000Z

There's nothing like a good book to expand knowledge, awareness and ways of looking at things. I've started reading 'Philosophy of Science', the original 1986 title of the book 'Science and its limits' by Del Ratzch. I'd recommended it to Jonathan on the Musings blog, see top right, and he posted a rather different take on it. It's an overview, 165pp long, and one of a series called 'Contours of Christian Philosophy'. That might turn off some readers before even opening it, which would be a shame, because core sections present a clear informative account of ways of understanding the nature, role and scope of science as they have developed over the centuries.
Chapter 1, Science: What is it?, outlines its basic aspects and presuppositions. The italicised words give a flavour: natural science, discipline, theoretical, natural explanations, empirical, objectivity, rational...
Chapter 2, The Traditional Conception of Science, outlines first the 'Baconian conception'. Next, rationality, sub-divided into prediction, covering-law model of explanation, hypothetico-deductive testing (in which concepts including proof, experiment, hypotheses, deduction and logic are summarised). Then the empirical element, and objectivity, where the role of the scientific community is briefly addressed. Followed by some initial implications.

It proceeds to examine 'Positivism: a Major School in the Traditional View', and its position on the empirical, rationality and objectivity. This is where, in light of the current debate with atheists, things start to get interesting. On the empirical, DR notes that British philosopher John Locke, was so impressed by the accomplishments of Newton, which he perceived as:

'having banned the nonempirical from science... that he thought that if restricting science to the purely empirical had proved to be the ultimate key to scientific knowledge (and who could doubt that?) then that restriction must be the key to other knowledge as well... the genesis of modern empiricism, the doctrine (note) that all concepts, ideas and substantive knowledge available to human beings must ultimately rest solely on experience - in particular, on sensory experience and observation. The implication of that doctrine (forcefully advocated by David Hume) was that any alleged idea or belief which did not have that empirical grounding was really empty and quite literally meaningless', p33.

When I read that, I thought heavens, this is starting to sound familiar.

I won't be spending much more blog time outlining and quoting another author's thoughts so extensively, but I've done so here in the hope of engaging my atheist readers in a level of reading and discussion we can all take seriously. Hopefully around a book like this, or of similar quality. DR goes on to outline the implications and decline of positivism, delineating the flaws that made it 'increasingly clear that the positivist outlook was bankrupt as a philosophy of science, and ultimately incoherent as well', p36. A brief look at the decline of the traditional view of science closes chapter 2. There are seven more chapters to go.

This isn't half as entertaining as reading in 'The God Delusion' about belief in God being comparable to belief in fairies, unicorns, an orbiting chocolate teapot and an imaginary friend called Binker. But golly, the science looks more serious.

The charm and the flaw of Richard Dawkins

2008-02-07T10:33:00.000Z

I've finished 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins. I like to give credit where credit's due: although I stalled at a couple of points (started reading it in September), I readily acknowledge the guy is a clever, lucid and witty writer, so large parts were actually quite enjoyable, and I learned some fascinating science stuff, especially in the last few pp. But in RD's handling of religion, I utterly concur with Alister McGrath in 'The Dawkins Delusion' that:
'Dawkins simply offers the atheist equivalent of slick hellfire preaching, substituting turbocharged rhetoric and highly selective manipulation of facts for careful, evidence-based thinking... surprisingly little scientific analysis... a lot of pseudo-scientific speculation, linked with wider cultural criticisms of religion, mostly borrowed from older atheist writings', p10.
He goes on to note that Prospect magazine, whose reader survey as noted in the TGD fly leaf voted RD one of the world's three top intellectuals in Nov 2005, went on to carry a review of the book. Describing it as 'incurious, dogmatic, rambling and self-contradictory', the review was called 'Dawkins the dogmatist', p11.
A look at some specifics will await another post - the argument about probability in Chapter 4 'Why there almost certainly is no God' - to which AM responds - is the part that intrigued me most and that I'd most want to go back to. A broad brush observation for now: RD is clearly and admirably passionate about science, and ponders the wonders of the world that are in its scope to reveal, with all the goggle-eyed delight of a child in a cathedral. But for some reason, he is unwilling seriously to explore even the possibility of another, dare I say it, yet more marvellous cathedral: the cathedral of the spirit, unlocked with the key of faith, where God in relationship might just be found. Not held at arm's length, ostracised, distorted and pilloried through misrepresentation (particularly of the OT) as a 'monster'; but, even modestly and hesitatingly, approached and explored as the majestic reality He might just be. God is by no means always obvious, I can as a lifelong searcher and explorer myself concur; but the mistreatment of the mystery by one who shows so little evidence of actually having seriously investigated it, in the final analysis feels oddly weightless.
I also recently began reading 'The Miracle of Theism' by late Oxford Fellow and Reader of Philosophy, and atheist, JL Mackie. As a careful, fair and deeply thought through examination of the topic - within confines admittedly more philosophical than scientific - I can regard it seriously and with respect. Unfortunately TGD, for all RD's wit and flair, has not earned the same. I don't suppose my atheist readers will like any of this, but it leaves me wondering what it was that pulled down the blinkers for Mr Dawkins. Or at least prevented him from having a proper look.