A Guinness a day...

Heading for Dublin for 10 days tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with the in-laws, so was delighted to spot this among the most read news items on the BBC website this morning!


Guinness good for you - official

The old advertising slogan "Guinness is Good for You" may be true after all, according to researchers....

Go listen...

Have newly discovered the delights of Sigur Ros and Sufjan Stevens this week, and have really enjoyed having the below to accompany my essay writing this week:

Sigur Ros - Takk

Sufjan Stevens - Come on feel the Illinoise

and on a festive note:

Acquired taste some of it maybe - but I'm enjoying them and definitely recommed!

Have also enjoyed a re-discovering (though not to Lisa's liking unfortunately!) of the delights of Led Zeppelin via their new compilation album Mothership. Treated myself to the bonus edition with a live DVD included. Fantastic!

Go read...

Have really enjoyed reading this over the last few days. Really engagingly written, and extremely moving and thought provoking. Click here for a brief synopsis. Won't say anymore than that, other than to highly recommend if not read already. Also just heard that it has just come out as a movie - will be interested to see how they have done it in film form, so that will be a trip over the Christmas period.

4 goals and a baby!

Came home from my essay writing at college yesterday slightly on edge about Liverpool's match away to Marseilles which they had to win to stay in the tournament. Was not expecting my pre-match tension and build-up to be rudely interrupted by a phonecall to say that my sister's baby was on the way 9 weeks early! Louise had taken herself to the hospital for a quick check as she had not felt quite right during the afternoon, only to find that she was 8cm dilated and the baby was coming! 40 mins later just a short while after the football had kicked off had another phonecall announcing the birth of Joshua Ethan - less than 2 hours after Louise had driven herself to the hospital!! He's now in the special care unit being well cared for and may be there for some time, though he seems to be doing well at this stage and not giving any particular causes for concern. Here's a few photo's:

The proud parents.

And proud grandparents.

So congratulations to Louise, Kev & Nathaniel, and welcome to Joshua - thank you for forcing me to keep my nervousness about silly football matches in proper perspective!

Having said that, despite everything going on it was still a pleasure to see Liverpool win what could have been a very tense and difficult match so comfortably. 4-0 away in Marseilles is a great result! Torres and Gerrard were amazing. So from a position of needing to win all 3 matches to qualify Liverpool have beaten Besiktas 8-0, Porto 4-1 and now Marseilles 4-0. Fantastic! But it makes even more of a mockery of the silly results in the earlier matches that left us in the position of needing those 3 wins, and also mean that we only qualify in 2nd place from a group that we should have won comfortably. Means we're likely to end up with a far harder tie now in the next round against 1 of the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC or Inter Milan etc. Still Liverpool have shown that they can beat anyone on their day in these European knockout stages. Here's hoping we'll do it again!

Ordination Service

Had a letter through on Tuesday confirming that (assuming nothing goes badly wrong in the next 6 months!) my ordination service will take place in Liverpool's stunning Anglican Cathedral at 10.30am on Sunday 29th June 2008. Thinking about it - it's actually not very far off! It's all becoming quite scarily real all of a sudden, and I'm getting the impression that these next 6 months are going to fly by. The letter had details of what I need to wear in terms of robes for the service - I'm so clueless on that sort of stuff, any advice from anyone who happens to know about C of E clerical wear etc. will be gratefully received!

Anyway, if you pray, please pray for Lisa and I over this time as we go through our final months here, begin to get ready to move, and prepare for the next step of our journey along the path that we believe God is leading us along.

2 down 1 to go...

Another pretty good win for the Reds yesterday against Porto at Anfield - even if they did leave if fairly late, scoring 3 goals in the last 15 minutes to give a slightly flattering 4-1 victory. Having left ourselves in the silly position of needing 3 wins from our last 3 matches in the group to qualify for the next round, that's now 2 of them dealt with convincingly and just the 1 to go now. The fact that we're beating these teams 8-0 and 4-1 just goes to show how poorly we played to be in this predicament - these are not particularly good teams and we shouldn't be having this difficulty in qualifying. Going to be a really difficult and tense match against Marseilles at their ground now to see if we can get the 3rd win needed. But if we can do that, and with our league form picking up again, this season might just not be a write off yet. Here's hoping...

England, England, England...

Nearly tempted to say I'm glad because England have made such an unbelievable hash of what should have been a relatively straightfoward qualification group, and simply have not deserved to go through. But I'm not glad - in reality I am gutted! What I do honestly believe though is that if we had held on for the draw last night and qualified it would have just been a papering over of the cracks, and could have led to a continuation of what has been an extremely mediocre couple of years.

I think McClaren got things horribly wrong with his team line up and tactics and has consistently done so over his whole time in charge. The only area I feel slightly sorry for him in terms of last nights game was the defence where injuries / suspension meant the entire 1st choice back 4 were missing. But to change the whole formation that England are used to and to bring in a new and inexperienced keeper for such a key game was just crazy. Never saw the game, but poor Scott Carson will have nightmares about that 1st goal for the rest of his career and the midfield (from what I've heard) just didn't seem to know what they were meant to be doing, where they were meant to be playing. The players must take some of the blame, but ultimately when the tactics go as horribly wrong as that the manager has to take the ultimate responsibility.

Also think the FA need to have a long hard look at themselves. For 1 thing the pitch at Wembley was in a shocking state which didn't suit the England players at all. Something seems to be wrong throughout the English game as well, we've got supposedly the strongest league in the world and yet our national team is in such a mess. Is it just down to things like the number of foreign imports playing here - does that restrict the progress of English players?

Finally, I know it is easy to say in hindsight, but I did say at the time he was appointed that I thought McClaren was the wrong choice - and I do feel sorry for him, good club coach and nice guy, but not the right man for the England job. When Sven went I wanted someone to come in fresh, wipe the slate clean and bring new ideas and impetus, instead they just appointed Sven's sidekick and though he tried to make a couple of changes to stamp his authority at the start it was pretty much just the same old England. Why they didn't bring in someone like Martin O'Neill is still beyond me! Hopefully this will be rectified with the right appointment of the next manager now, but who will that be? It's like being handed the poisoned chalice, volunteering to be the next back page hate figure! Will be interesting to see what happens. I would still like O'Neill, and as much as I'm not a big fan of the guy to say the least Mourinho could be an interesting choice. Hmmm...

24 - 13 years ago!

Enjoying watching 24 series 4 at the moment, and came across this spoof clip via Ellen's blog. Quality!

(Unfortunately can't get the video itself to appear directly here - so click HERE to watch)

Only in America!

Enjoyed the 2nd 'most read' news item on the BBC webaite this morning. The title and 1st sentance says it all:

Man hurt using gun to change tyre
A US man has injured himself in both legs after attempting to loosen a stiff wheel-nut by blasting it with his gun.

Click here for the full story.

Let him who is without sin...

Asbojesus making me laugh again:

Graduation Day.

Spent most of the day yesterday wandering around Cambridge feeling like a bit of a prat in the get up you'll see in the photo's below. Having worked hard over the last couple of years to get a 2:1 in my BTh degree I thought I might as well attend one of the 'degree conferral congregations' as they call them here to be 'admitted' to my degree and receive the certificate officially. Ridley can't validate its own degrees, so I have also been a member of Wolfson which is one of the University colleges - but not had time too get involved in much there or got round to going to any of their formal / posh dinners etc. They're not really my scene anyway. So this was my 1 last chance to do the 'formal' Cambridge Uni bit while I'm here, and my parents were happy that I was willing to go anyway!

Anyway, talk about pomp and ceremony! The instruction email about the day set the tone for what to expect - here's an extract from it about dress code:-

CLOTHING TO BE WORN WITH ACADEMICAL DRESS : BY MEN
· The overall effect should be formal and tidy.
· When proceeding to Degree, men must wear a plain dark suit or black dinner jacket and trousers. “Dark” means black, or very dark blue, or very dark grey. A plain white shirt with a white dress tie and academical bands must also be worn. Shirts with a pronounced pattern are not permitted. Cummerbunds are also not permitted.
· Men must wear academical bands, except when service uniform (see below) or national dress is permitted to be worn.
· Shoes must be black and of sober style. Sandals or boots are also not permitted. Socks must be black or very dark blue or very dark grey.

PLEASE CONTACT THE PRAELECTOR IF YOU WISH TO WEAR NATIONAL DRESS (The Praelector must request of the Registry, special dispensation if you wish to wear national dress)

Having been sent this in advance I was then told that I had to arrive at Wolfson in time for a guy called the 'Praelector' to inspect me to make sure I was correctly dressed - they weren't joking, he even asked me to lift my trousers so he could check my socks!! After that we got to go to the President's lodge for a drinks reception and then to the Dining Hall for a very enjoyable 3 course lunch. At the end of the lunch the 'Praelector' gave us a bit of a talk about the history of Cambridge graduation - I didn't realise that no women were awarded Cambridge degrees before 1948! He also talked about the University Police called 'proctors'. Supposedly in the past they used to prowl around Cambridge to catch any students not wearing their gowns etc. and also to spot any students out and about with girls! They had the power to arrest the girls and send them for 30 days to the local 'spinning house' as 'correction'! Nowadays they are there on graduation days to make sure that 'graduands' are dressed correctly and behave correctly at the ceremony, and the reason why the Praelector was checking our attire so carefully was that if the proctors spot anything wrong with our dress or if we 'misbehaved' he gets fined a bottle of port! Only in somewhere like Cambridge! I was slightly bemused and finding the whole thing a bit surreal at this stage!

After that I had to go with the other 'graduands' for a run through of what would happen at the ceremony. Then we had to 'precess' from Wolfson; in the order that we were to go forward at the ceremony mainly in rows of 2 or 3 - but with me as the only person there receiving an undergraduate degree bringing up the rear on my own, the 'dunce' of the group; to the University Church in the centre of town, where the ceremony was held. There, I had to walk up the aisle, take hold of the praelectors hand while he presented me in Latin, then move forward kneel down with my hands held out together while the person doing the award held them and spoke some more Latin, then stand take a step back and bow to her, before walking off and receiving the certificate. And that was it. All a bit formal and surreal, and not the sort of scene or clothing get up that I'm normally comfortable with. But I did kind of enjoy it and am glad I did it. My parents seemed to enjoy it, and think Lisa did generally too. Here's a few photo's:

Long time since my Dad last had to dress me! But I didn't have a clue what I was doing!

With Lisa, Mum and Dad at Ridley.

The University Church of Great St Mary's - where the ceremony took place.

On the University 'Senate House' lawn after the cermony.

Ludicrous laws...

Came across on article on the BBC website yesterday that amused me. It was about some research done by UKTV Gold into ludicrous laws that have supposedly never been repealed in England. Here's a few examples:

* It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament

* It could be regarded an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British king or queen's image upside-down

* Eating mince pies on Christmas Day is banned

* In the UK, a pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants

* The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the King, and the tail of the Queen

* It is illegal not to tell the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing

* It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament wearing a suit of armour

There were some other even funnier ones on there yesterday as well as the above (including 1 about it being illegal to be topless in public places in Liverpool unless you work in a pet shop!), but when you visit the page it now says: "This is an amended version of an earlier story which included several examples of laws from the survey which we have been unable to verify, and these have been removed." Pity!

8-0!!

What a performance and result by Liverpool the other night! Makes a nice change after a very poor few weeks. Sometimes though, football just makes no sense! How can you get beat 2-1 by a team and then just 2 weeks later beat that same team 8-0? Nonsensical! I know it does make a difference playing in your own stadium rather than at the other teams place, nut surely it shouldn't make that much difference? Reminds me of a couple of matches Liverpool played in the same season when I was a teenager against Crystal Palace (early 90's I think). We beat them either 9-0 or 9-1 in the league, but then were beaten 4-3 by them in the FA Cup semi-final. At least they were a few months apart though - not just 2 weeks!

Didn't get to see the match, but it sounds like it was totally one-sided and that we could have scored even more. Wish we'd playe half as well in our previous matches in this group. Have read that it is the best ever winning score in the Champions League. Nice record to have, but it will count for nothing if we don't qualify for the next round. That's still going to be an uphill struggle as we have to win both of our remaining matches against Porto at Anfield and then Marseilles at their ground. Just hope we can keep the momentum from this result going...

Preaching as confessional?

On the note of preaching this morning (see below entry), I was reading a book about preaching recently where the author made a comment that interested me in a list of 'do nots' for preachers. The author said that preachers should not use the pulpit as a confessional - that his confessional is done in private between him and God. I'd be interested in quizzing him further about what exactly he meant by this. I agree that it is right for a preacher to be wise and careful about what they say - and especially if they are in a leadership role of some kind in the situation in which they are preaching. I wouldn't want a preacher to spend a whole sermon sharing their own faults or dark secrets or whatever. A sermon shouldn't be self-centred. But at the same time I'm not convinced that there is anything wrong with a preacher admitting that what they are preaching about is difficult to accept / understand sometimes and that they themselves often find whatever it is hard; to admit that they do often find it a struggle to practice what they preach. I think that it is often easier for people to relate to, and accept what they hear from, preachers who can be honest about their own struggles and difficulties - their need for God and the strength of His Holy Spirit. Like I say I know that a preacher should be wise about this, and the appropriateness of saying certain things has to be judged according to each context / situation - but surely not to the point of not being real at all and running the risk as coming over to people as aloof??

Epitaphs...

Preached this morning on a passage from 2 Timothy 4. Not feeling brave enough to share my sermon text on here. But when I was preparing and 1st read the passage it made me think that Paul could have been writing his own epitaph:

'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day...' (2 Tim 4:7-8)

When my earthly end comes (hopefully not for many a year yet!!) I'd be happy to have such words as these on my gravestone!

With these thoughts going through my mind I went google searching for some of examples of real epitaphs which I used in my introduction:

Winston Churchill – I am ready to meet my Maker. Whether my Maker is prepared for the great ordeal of meeting me is another matter.

Unknown dentist – Stranger! Approach this spot with gravity! John Brown is filling his last cavity.

Mary Weary, Housewife –
Dere Friends I am going
Where washing ain't done
Or cooking or sewing:
Don't mourn for me now
Or weep for me never:
For I go to do nothing
Forever and ever!

and one that I didn't use but one of the congregation told me about after the service:

Spike Milligan - I told you I was ill!

Lord of the Rings the Show

Treated ourselves on Monday just gone as it was Lisa's 1/2 term with a trip down to London to go and see the new stage version of Lord of the Rings, having managed to come across some very reasonably priced tickets which included a pre-show meal as well on lastminute.com. Had a very enjoyable evening!

Having said that my views on the show are slightly mixed. As a big fan of the book, I did wonder how they could hope to do the story justice in a 3 hour stage show - and to be blunt I don't think it did the job storyline wise. I found myself wondering whether someone who didn't know the story at all would be able to work out what the heck was going on - or would they actually enjoy it more because they didn't know all the ins and outs of the story? Also none of the songs struck me in the often annoying but memorable way that musical songs have a tendency to strike me.

There were some real highlights though - the accompanying / background music was at times fantastic, the actor who played Gollum carried the role off brilliantly and visually the whole show was absolutely stunning! The way the stage worked - different bits of it moving in all kinds of directions including up and down throughout the show (so much work to get that right in terms of sequencing and timing etc.); the different scenes and backdrops; the way 'awkward' characters like the orcs, the ents, the balrog, and especially Shelob the spider worked; was all just incredible! Couldn't find a picture of Shelob unfortuantely, but here's one of the ents and one of the orcs (also showing something of the amazing stage mechanics):

For more amazing photo's and info about the show click here.

Verdict: A must see simply for being so visually amazing! LOTR purists just put your knowledge to 1 side for 3 hours and enjoy this show as the visual spectacular that it is!!

Robbed...

Following on from my brief mention of last weekend's Liverpool derby match a couple of posts below this - just been sent this by my future boss. Couldn't resist sharing it on here!

Jason Robinson

To follow on from my below entry, I felt this guy was worthy of a brief post in his own right. He's been a bit of a hero of mine since moving from Rugby League to Union however many years ago it was. He literally lit up matches when he was at his best - I hadn't seen anyone like him when I first saw him play for England. Pity his career has had to end with going off injured in a world cup final defeat, but I don't think there would be too many arguments about him being classed as the most succesful and best league to union convert! His autobiography is a very worthwhile and enjoyable read as well. All the best for your retirement Jason!

Not this time...

...unfortunately for England in the Rugby World Cup. Don't think we can have any complaints though. Partly shot ourselves in the foot in the 1st half gifting SA 6 points from easy penalties that came from Tait's slip and Moody's stupid and pointless tripping of an opponent, but other than that I think England put in a massive and admirable effort but were just not quite good enough! Kept the dangerous Habana at bay (stopping him from breaking Jonah Lomu's record for number of tries in a world cup), but just couldn't break through to get the points we needed. Obviously the key moment was Cueto's disallowed 'try' - at 1st I was pretty incensed at what I thought was a clear injustice, but having seen it a few times I do think we have to say fairplay to the video ref for getting a very tight and crucial call right. Cueto's foot did just touch the line before he lifted it off the ground and grounded the ball - unfortunately! In terms of hope for the future I think it has got to bode well that we have got so much further than anyone imagined - there are definite signs of improvement and hopefully it will give a much needed kick start after 4 disastrous years, also it was good to see Tait (apart from his slip) playing so well - and hopefully a good blend between youth and experience can be found to take things forward now as players like Dallaglio, Catt, Robinson etc. drop out of the scene. The 1 worrying thing is the lack of commitment at this stage to Ashton's role as coach from the RFU etc. - I think it would be criminal to lose him at this stage, he's made mistakes but given the state he inherited things in and the injury problems he's had to deal with that was inevitable. I don't think there is anyone better at this stage to take the job on.


...also, unfortunately, for Lewis Hamilton. Not a F1 fan particularly, but I still appreciated the magnitude of what it would have meant to be the 1st driver ever to win a world championship in his 1st season. Incredible achievements this season though, and I hope that is not forgotten because he fell at the last!


Can't leave a post about the weekend's sport without mentioning very briefly Liverpool's rather controversial derby win over Everton at the weekend. Having felt very aggrieved at Liverpool's suffering at the hands of a ref against Chelsea earlier in the season - I have to say I have every sympathy for the Everton fans for a change! Don't believe that there can be much argument about the 2 pens given to Liverpool or the red cards that went with them - but do think that Kuyt was very fortunate to stay on the pitch, and that Everton should have had at least one penalty. Glad that Liverpool got 3 points though - and really hoping that it will kick start us a bit, our form has been atrocious! Big match against Besiktas in Turkey on Weds that we really need to win to stay in the Champions league after the disaster against Marseilles 2 wks ago. Just read that Torres still isn't fit to play, which worries me. Come on Reds!

Preaching...

Another asbojesus offering that's given me a bit of a reality check. I'm preaching next Sunday for the 1st time since I finished at my previous placement church last Easter, and as well as the regular congregation some fellow students from Ridley and a member of staff are going to be there. We'll then get together at some point for them to give me feedback on my sermon. Hope I provoke a better reaction than those above!

The cartoon has set me thinking though - as preachers are we called to constantly reinvent the wheel so to speak? Do we need to constantly find new things to speak about? In fact can we? Or is it more about getting the same messages and challenges across but at the same time being innovative, inventive, situationally relevant etc. in the way we do it, finding ways of speaking to people who've been sitting in the pews for many years as well as those sitting there for the 1st time? Do we have to accept that we can't please / speak relevantly to everyone, or is that being too defeatist and not trusting God and his work in and through us enough? This is tough and challenging stuff! Time to stop before I scare myself too much...

Empty worship?

Have been provoked to think a fair bit about what worship means over my time at Ridley. In particular sung worship and the extent to which I really understand a lot of what I find myself singing (well trying to sing in my case!), or even think about it, let alone whether or not it affects my actions and life generally. So many words just trip off my tongue out of habit and familiarity. Came across this on the asbojesus site - I find it rather apt and challenging!

Final here we come!

That man does it again - though only after a few misses this time! Another unexpected victory for England, beating the hosts in the semi-final in Paris itself. Impossible to even think of this happening as England were being trounced 36-0 by South Africa just a month or so ago - it's not been pretty rugby, but its proving effective. Can they really win the trophy again? COME ON ENGLAND!

Homeward bound...

Great to be in a postion to say for definite that we will be heading back to Liverpool in June when I finish at Ridley. It was what we had hoped for all along, but it's good to have it finalised - see it here in black and white! It was agreed at the church's PCC meeting on Weds evening, but I've waited until now to mention it on here as it was announced in the church services this morning. Really pleased as well that it is Crosby we are going to. I feel like I'm heading back to my roots in some ways - it's just a few miles from where I grew up in north Liverpool, and I had plenty of visits to the marina and beach there as a child / teenager. The funny thing about it is that it is St Luke's church where my Dad was a curate in the early 70's - he left there in 1974 2 years before I was born; and also my brother was the news editor, until about 2 years ago, of the Crosby Herald - the local weekly newspaper. There is lots going on at the church (checkout the website: http://www.stlukecrosby.org.uk/), and we've really enjoyed the welcome we've received on our visits there. It's going to be a really exciting place for Lisa and I to be based, and it will provide great training opportunities for me. The trick now will be to keep some focus on / motivation for (and enjoy!) my studies and the rest of our time at Ridley!

Tale of the unexpected...

...seems to be an appropriate way to describe the goings on in the 1st 2 quarter finals of the Rugby Union World Cup today. If you'd told me this morning that England and France would go through to the semi-finals at the expense of the Aussies and the All Blacks I'd have laughed at you, and I don't think I would have been alone! 2 incredible matches both decided by only 2 points, and both upsetting the form books. All part of the excitement of tournaments like this - especially when they get to the knockout stages, previous form counts for nothing.

It goes without saying that I was especially pleased with the England game. Our forwards were immense and the Aussies just had no answer to them. To think it was just a few weeks ago that we were beaten 36-0 by South Africa! Since then there has been a steady improvement by England that I think has had a lot to do with Gomersall and Wilkinson playing together again at scrum half and fly half. But it was the likes of Sheridan, Moody and Shaw who were the stars today - even meaning the normally dependable Wilkinson got away with a few uncharacteristic misses.

Enjoyed the post-match celebrations and interviews, especially the comment of the day from Nick Easter the No 8 who sarcastically thanked the British press "from the heart of my bottom for their support through the tournament so far!"

Strange minds...

This is weird, but interesting!

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it

Liverpool 0 Marseille 1

It's not been a particularly good few weeks for Liverpool, but this result at Anfield this evening was especially disappointing and worrying. Never got to see the game, but from what I have just been reading about it I'm quite glad! Was my rather cautious early season optimism (see here and here) misplaced??

Defending champions?!!

Not posted anything about the Rugby Union World Cup so far, because as an England fan who also has a soft spot for the Irish team it has all been far too depressing to think about! Really is hard to believe that just 4 years ago England were the team that the others were scared to play against and ending up winning the tournament. So much has changed since then and we have seen nothing from England that is worthy of the defending champions tag. The win today against Samoa was a bit more promising apart from the 1st 2o mins of the 2nd half when some sloppy mistakes nearly brought Samoa level, but I'm not sure that the likes of the All Blacks / Aussies will be quaking in their boots at the prospect of playing the 'defending champions'! And the less said about Ireland the better. Supposedly after France the Northern hemisphere's best chance of challenging the Southern hemisphere teams for the trophy, but 3 awful games have left them on the verge of going out in the 1st round. It'll take an unlikely beating of Argentina by a margin of at least 7 points with a minimum 4 tries scored to gain a bonus point in the process to keep them in the tournament. At this stage I've got to say the All Blacks are standing head and shoulders above all the rest and it's hard to see past them for the trophy.

Football isn't much to shout about at the moment either. Having been so positive about the 'new look' Liverpool a few weeks ago, they seem to have gone into a slump that has led to 3 pretty unimpressive draws against Portsmouth, Porto and worst of all Birmingham. I'm not one to jump onto managers backs too quickly - I like Benitez and hope he is at Liverpool for a long time to come, but I do wonder sometimes about his rotation policy that has seen Torres (our best striker) left on the bench for 2 of those games. It's all well saying they need to be still able to perform come the end of the season next April / May - but what is the point of that if we are not still in contention to win the league at that point due to dropping too many points earlier on?! Sort it out Reds!

Phoning God

Was made to laugh by a friend's story of a recent conversation with his 3 year old son:

Son: Can we play football?
Dad: It's going too dark.
Son: Why is it going too dark?
Dad: God's turned the lights out!
Son: Can we ask him to turn them on again? What's his number? I'll give him a call.

Worship funny

Christianity Rediscovered

This is 1 of those books that I've heard mentioned time and time again over the last couple of years as a 'must read', and kept intending to but had never quite got round to getting hold of a copy. Anyway, finally have and got to say I have not been disappointed. An amazingly challenging and thought provoking read.

The author Vincent J Donovan is an American Roman Catholic priest who went out as a missionary to the Masailand of Tanzania in the mid-60's to a mission compound that included schools, a chapel, a hospital etc. After a year there he writes a letter to his Bishop talking about how well run the mission is, the fact that there are good relationships between many of the priests and the Masai etc., but that even though the mission by then was into its 7th year there were no practising adult Masai Christians, that no Masai child on leaving the mission school had continued to practice Christianity and no indication that any would do so. He writes:

The relationship with the Masai, in my opinion, is dismal, time consuming, wearying, expensive, and materialistic. There is no probability that one can speak with the Masai, even with those who are our friends, about God. And there is no likelihood that one could actually interest them to the point of their wanting to discuss or accept Christianity....I have heard one missionary say that it may take one hundred years before the Masai are willing and ready to talk with us about God, but we must stay here so that we will be present when that day comes.

He then goes on to ask for permission to: simply go to these people and do the work among them for which I came to Africa. He proposes that he would cut himself off from the schools and the hospital and just go to the people, to their 'kraals' and talk with them about God and the Christian message:

I know what most people say. It is impossible to preach the gospel directly to the Masai. They are the hardest of all the pagans, the toughest of the tough. In all their hundreds of years of existence, they have never accepted anything from the outside. You cannot bring them the gospel without going through several preparatory, preliminary stages.

But I would like to try. I want to go to the Masai on daily safaris - unencumbered with the burden of selling them our school system, or begging for their children for our schools, or carrying their sick, or giving them medicine.

Outside of this, I have no theory, no plan, no strategy, no gimmick - no idea of what will come. I feel rather naked...

What follows is an amazing account of what happened when Father Donovan did just that. He went to these kraals approached their leaders to ask to share his message with them, he would visit a particular community once a week and tell them as a whole community (individualism was alien to these Masai) about Christianity - but stripped right back to its bare essentials and using examples from their life and culture to explain things. This led to whole communities of Masai accepting the Christian gospel and being baptised, and he'd then move on to other communities. I can't do justice to the amazingness of what God did through him here!

In the book he's critical of the way mission has been done in East Africa by the western church over the years. He's critical of how the word mission came to be used to refer to a group of static buildings (i.e. the 'mission compound'). He argues that by trying to build churches and staying their to run them, putting leadership and diocesan structures in place the western church is trying to import a 'westernised' church and Christianity into a culture that is completely alien to, completely at odds with, the western way of doing things. This doesn't fit with his understanding of what mission is, and he argues that it is not the understanding or practice of mission seen in the early days of the Christian faith. He talks of mission as being dynamic, as being about actively taking the gospel out and meeting the people where they are at with it - not about bringing people in to something that is static and at odds with their culture, somewhere that they are uncomfortable with and unable to relate to. He completely deconstructs what he sees as the western understanding of church, and takes it right back to what he sees as actually the basic, bare essentials of what church really is.

Like I say - it is an amzingly challenging and thought provoking read and I highly recommend it! As I've thought about what he writes one line of thought that has struck me is that he is writing about mission to the Masai in the mid-60's, but I'd love to know what he would make of the mission and work of the church actually in our own western culture today. I feel so much of what he says needs to be applied to the way Christians and the church need to be working and practising mission in the western world today as well as in other parts of the world. We need to be willing to deconstruct and change our understandings of what church is sometimes. We need to accept that there are many in this country for whom talking of God and the Christian message is completely alien. We need to learn to accept that many people will not come into our churches or be comfortable in them with the way 'things have always been done'. We need to be out there meeting people where they are at sharing the basic gospel message without all the 'extras' by word and action. I'm not advocating change for changes sake, but God guided change for the gospel's sake. Challenging stuff!

As he draws the book to a close Donovan returns to an original question of it, What is missionary work? and writes:

...that work undertaken by a gospel oriented community, of transcultural vision, with a special mandate, charism, and responsibility of spreading and carrying the gospel to the nations of the world, with a view of establishing the church of Christ.

Gospel oriented community - a community of public witness to evangelical values, formed by the gospel, dedicated to the gospel, understanding of the gospel, reflecting the gospel...

Transcultural vision - implying a stance and a view that seeks to break away from ethnocentric culture blindness. A wider vision, a freer vision, a humbler vision recognizing the richness of the human race...

Special mandate, charism, and responsibility - a unique and proper function and calling of certain members of the Christian community, discerned and authorised by that community, to a task beyond mere witness and holiness; a function to be distinguished from the general missionary obligation of the universal church, and from the apostolic responsibility of all Christians.

Spreading and carrying that gospel to the nations of the world - not a mere witness to the gospel in the palce where one is, but a reaching out with the gospel to where the nations are; a centrifugal motion outwards from the center, not static, not an inward, self-centered, self-salvation oriented movement...the urgency of forever reaching out with the gospel to the place where people truly exist, where they are and as they are.

Towards establishing the church of Christ - which is the sign of salvation and hope raised up for the nations, the light to the Gentiles, not the Ark of Salvation for those who dwell in it; the church for the 'non-church'...Missionary work should not envision the setting up of mission compounds or permanently dependent ecclesiastical colonies, but rather the coming into being of autonomous, adult, self-propagating, open-ended, unpredictable, Spirit-controlled, many-cultured responses to the gospel, which are the church of Christ...

Finally, the church described here should be seen as, itself, on the way to the kingdom, and as only part of the mission of God to the world, as only one step in the pursuit of him who is hunting down all of mankind.

I've said it a few times already, but I'll say it again - challenging, thought-provoking stuff! Go read.

Right man in the right place at the right time...

He'll never be the same player again, he's lost a yard of pace, he drifts out of games too easily, he misses chances, defenders are wise to him blah blah blah blah... All comments that I've heard said or seen written about Michael Owen over the last few years, and for the most part what a load of rubbish! There might be some morsel of truth in some of the comments, but so what if he doesn't do much for 85 mins of a match if in the other 5 he's scored the 2 goals that have won it! After so long out with injury he's proved again in these last 2 England matches against Israel at the weekend and Russia this evening that he's a top quality goalscorer - he just has the knack of being in the right place at the right time, and England haven't got anyone else like him. 2 great goals against Russia tonight making him the 4th player ever to pass 40 goals for England, and now well within sight of Bobby Charlton's English record. Wish he was still playing for Liverpool!

Feels strange to be able to sit here writing about England playing well twice in a week, but they have done - 2 3-0 wins is more than could have been hoped for. Very impressed with Gareth Barry alongside Gerrard in midfield. Hopefully now McClaren will realise how much better England look with a more defensive midfielder leaving Gerrard a bit more free to break forward - yeah Gerrard was maybe more quietly effective than dominating, but Barry and him worked well together and it gave the team a better balance. Gerrard and Lampard just does not work - should be 1 or the other with a Barry / Hargreaves in there as well, and I know I'm biased but I know which of Gerrard / Lampard I would pick every time! Heskey did the job he was brought into do well, and generally England did look pretty good. Having said that Russia were a bit unfortunate to have a goal disallowed which would have made it 1-1 and could have changed the course of the game, and they did create a few chances with their build-up play. England were at times quite sloppy in defence - Ashley Cole and Ferdinand in particular, both quality players but just seem to switch off sometimes and can be punished for it. The other slightly disappointing aspect for me was Wright-Phillips - great energy, great pace, great skill etc., but so often his end product whether a cross, pass, shot or whatever let him down. England could have had a couple more goals if he'd taken chances to score himself or if his final ball to put others in had been better. Imagine an English right winger who has his pace and skill but with Beckham's crossing / passing ability - he'd be perfect!

Have to applaud Scotland this evening as well - 1-0 win away in France is a fantastic result, meaning they're still in with a great chance of qualifying and considering they've had both France and Italy in their group no-one would have thought that possible. Less said about Ireland the better though, unfortunately...

The Sound of Laughter

Decided that with having such a long break from college this summer I really needed to get my teeth into some deep, meaningful, thought provoking reading this summer to keep the brain ticking over a bit. So I was really happy to be given this for my birthday - it gave me an excuse to put more serious stuff aside!!

As you'd expect from Kay it's a laugh a minute book full of funny stories of his childhood, youth and then early adulthood with the various jobs he did and the time he spent performing in plays ands performing in pubs and clubs etc. before making it big time. Well worth a read for any of his fans.

One section from it really struck me though, so I thought I'd share it here. It comes at the end of a section where he has been talking about his experiences of going to a Catholic school and the nuns that taught him, and also of being an altar boy at his local Catholic church:

I like to think that by serving on the altar I've more than done my bit towards securing my place in heaven. And what a vision of heaven it is too. Millions of people queuing in single file up an endless white marble staircase, there's plenty of mist and tireless angels fly to and fro on administration duties...

Hopefully, I shouldn't have to queue up for too long before I get to the pearly gates (like I say, being an altar boy is a bit like having one of those fast-track passes that Alton Towers do, remember wink, wink). And my idea of heaven is that I get to settle back in front of a large television and watch the best bits of my life all over again. All of my friends and family can sit with me too and hopefully we'll be able to settle any outstanding arguments about who said what and when. I can also stop the tape once in a while and go for a swim in a pool full of Vimto. I always wanted to do that, especially on a summer's day, so I could swim and drink at the same time. I might as well request it when I get to heaven because I wrote to Jim'll Fix It in 1982 and heard sod all back.

I know it might seem hypocritical of me to talk about a heaven after all the criticism I've thrown at Catholicism, but at the end of the day I can believe what I like, it's my life. I like to believe in a God of some kind, in some sort of higher being or force. Personally I find it very comforting plus it also gives me somebody to talk to on long train journeys when there's no phone signal.

And if I do get to my heaven and find that it doesn't exist then it'll be much too late to do anything about it and hopefully I will have lived a deluded but happy life...

Lots to think about there wouldn't you say? It really strikes me in all sorts of different ways and on many different levels. But the one thing that really stood out to me straight away was the level of faith that is there, and how there must be so many people with some kind of faith like Peter Kay. People who have in some way been impacted by a more 'institutionalised' Christianity through their upbringing, their school days or whatever brought them into some kind of contact with it. People who, whether rightly or wrongly - from actual personal experience or hearsay, have negative perceptions of Church and the Christian faith (see entry below). But still people who have a faith in God and a hope of heaven. As a committed Christian and church member I really do believe that the Church does have a lot to answer for, but I also passionately believe that it has a lot to offer and there are so many people out there with faith looking for answers that the Church needs to be giving relevantly and with care and love, sharing God's love and grace with a people who are searching.

People's perceptions of church...

Noticed this on the asbojesus website, and from what I've come across in discussion boards and so on online it seems to accurately sum up so many people's perceptions of church and Christianity. Whether these perceptions are right or wrong and on what they are based is a massive discussion with no easy conclusions. But keeping it simple I really want to see the church working to change these perceptions, working to show that talk of God's grace and love is not just empty meaningless talk but that it really is what the Christian faith is ultimately all about!

Top of the league!!!

Barclays Premier League Table
02 September 2007 17:59
1 Liverpool
2 Arsenal
3 Everton
4 Chelsea

In the football entry below I said Liverpool needed to keep things going starting with Saturday's match against Derby County. Well we certainly did that! As the above shows Liverpool are currently sitting pretty at the top of the premier league following the finish of the last round of league matches yesterday evening. We went to top spot on Saturday after the 6-o thumping we gave Derby, and I was shocked to see it was the 1st time for 5 years that we have actually been in 1st place at any point of a season. Was fully expecting to see us drop down to 2nd yesterday with Chelsea set to go top if they beat or drew with Aston Villa (though they have played a game more than Liverpool), and so was delighted to hear that Villa actually beat Chelsea - great result!! No premier league matches for 2 weeks now though due to internationals - means I get to see Liverpool's name at the top of the league for at least 2 weeks! Bit of a pain though because I'd like us to be playing our matches while we're in such good form, rather than seeing all our players go off to different corners of the globe to play for their countries. Really hoping that none get injured. But for now I'm just going to savour that premier league table. Keep it up redmen!

Nathaniel's baptism

Just enjoyed a great though full and hectic weekend up in the northwest! It was great to be able to catch up with various family and friends in different places, and especially to be able to celebrate our nephew Nathaniel's baptism and be a godfather for the 2nd time - it's a real privilege! It was also really nice as godfather and uncle to be able to lead the prayers for Nathaniel and others as part of the service, and the service seemed to go really well. The church was packed! Anyway here's a photo of me with my godson / nephew:

After the baptism we went to meet a vicar for an initial chat about a possible curacy for next summer which I felt went well, so we'll just have to see how things develop over the next few weeks. We went to the evening service at church as well before heading back down the M6 and A14. Late arrival home and Lisa and I both pretty tired, but worth it. I'm still on holiday fortunately so plenty of time to recover this week - but I did feel sorry for Lisa getting up and going into work for the start of the new term this morning!

New football season

Not posted anything about the new football season yet with being on holiday. But so far so good for Liverpool - in fact I almost feel like I'm tempting fate by posting about it in case it all goes pear-shaped. Hopefully not though, Benitez has spent a lot of money on new players and re-couped a small percentage by letting a few players go, and so far the signs are promising that his choices have been good this time around. Still a long way to go though - will be interesting to see how the season progresses...

I've managed to watch 3 matches so far - league matches against Chelsea and Sunderland, and the Champions League qualifier 2nd leg against Toulouse. We played Sunderland off the park - major gulf in quality was very apparent. I know that a large part of that is down to the money Liverpool have available, but the manager has still got to make the right choices and the players still have to perform. We coped without the talismanic Gerrard and lost both centre backs to injuries during the game, but still never gave Sunderland a look in. Was pleased to see Sissoko (above) score his 1st goal for Liverpool. My only worry was that with the number of chances we created it took until the 87th minute to kill the game off completely with the 2nd goal. Call it missed chances or great keeping by Craig Gordon but Liverpool should have scored a hatful! Similarly against Toulouse the other night - played them off the park, scored a couple of goals but missed a hatful of chances again before a couple of late goals when the tie was all over made it 4-0.

Even thinking about the Chelsea game makes me angry still! I thought Liverpool were the better team and good value for the 1-0 lead given by Torres' great goal, and I still can't believe how abysmal the decision to give Chelsea the penalty that got them a 1-1 draw was. I don't normally have too much of a go at refs because I think they've got a horrendous job that I would never want to do - but this was perhaps the biggest howler I've ever seen!! Enough about that...

So signs are promising - lets see if it keeps going, starting with the match against Derby County on Saturday. I'm not going to make any silly claims at this stage about Liverpool's chances of winning the league this season - but what I will say is that I will be very disappointed if we are not a lot closer than last season and still in the mix with a chance of winning going into the last few games. We shall see...

Talking of Liverpool, Lisa and I are off up there today for the weekend for my nephew and godson Nathaniel's baptism, so looking forward to catching up with various family and friends. Also going to have an initial meeting with a vicar about a possible curate post for me for next year. More details about this will follow if and when appropriate, but for now any prayer would be appreciated!

Signs etc.

Some funnies we saw on our travels round Ireland:

Security!

Crime!

Good advice!

Church advertising

But it's fine anywhere else?!

Interesting t-shirt as well!

Also, I'd forgotten how much better, funnier and more enjoyable I find Irish radio compared to radio back here - particularly some of the more local stations as you move round the country. In a morbid kind of way, 1 thing in particular that amused me this time was hearing them giving the death notices on Radio Kerry. I turned on expecting to get the sports news at the end of the 6pm news and instead got the death notices being read out followed by an advertising of them stating that they are read 4 times a day and not only that but if you miss them there is a number you can ring to hear them at any time, calls costing 1 euro per minute! Made me chuckle a bit - hope that is not being disrespectful! Would love to know what the uptake on the phone line is!!