Ridley Lent Book

I was wandering around Cambridge yesterday afternoon, and nipped into the SPCK Christian bookshop. It was quite strange to see a book for sale on their shelves knowing that I had written a little bit of it - there's a 1st for everything (and probably a last)! It's a series of daily bible readings and short reflections for Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, written by Ridley staff and students, that journey through Luke's gospel from when Jesus' 'face was set toward Jerusalem' in ch 9 until the resurrection. Ridley has been producing these types of lent reflection books for a few years now, and they seem to be very popular with sales increasing each year - and as one of the author's I especially commend this 1! For details of how to obtain a copy and more detail about the Ridley Lent book project click here (it is based on Luke not Mark as the website mistakenly states), or contact me via a comment on this blog, or you might even spot the book in your local Christian bookshop.

Now, especially in the light of my previous blog entry, time for some essay writing...

Work avoidance!

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Another funny courtesy of the cartoon church blog. Was going to post it the other day but was beaten to it by Marcus. It really does sum up how I'm feeling at the moment. After a great 2 hour lecture with Professor Begbie, I spent the rest of the morning getting my life in order! Filing paperwork; putting various deadlines, appointments etc. into my outlook calendar; listing all the things I've got to do and when in my outlook taskpad; sending emails etc. Not my favourite kind of activity this organising lark, but a good thing to get done. The problem is that I've actually got to start doing all the stuff now. The temptation of sitting here moaning about all I've got to do on this blog and wasting time surfing the net for the sake of it, instead of diving into all I should be doing, is far more appealing!

Countries I've visited

create your own visited countries map

Found this through Ellen's blog. For a geek like me who likes travelling and looking at maps etc. it's quite cool being able to see where I have visited like this. Really does make me realise how vast the world is and how much more I want to see. I actually thought of myself as fairly well travelled until seeing it like this! What makes it worse is the fact that it just shows the whole of countries visited in red - not just the bits visited, so I haven't even covered most of the red bits! So much more I would like to see - but at the same time this is a reminder to be grateful for the amazingness of what I have seen.

*I notice when I post this it chops off the right hand side and i can't work out how to rectify that - but other than the rest of India, China which was only red because I've been to Hong Kong, and also Taiwan, it doesn't miss anywhere else I've been.*

Birthday Boy

It was my nephew's 1st birthday on Thursday, and they had a party for him in Liverpool today. We weren't able to be there, but my parents said it was great and he loved being the centre of attention! Here's a picture my Dad got of the birthday cake - I think it's really clever that you can get cakes done like this now, with the photo in icing! Happy Birthday Benjamin! Really wish we could have been there.

Happy Days!

One very happy Liverpool fan sat here at the moment! Finally managed to beat 1 of the top teams for the first time this season. Chelsea might have had a few players out with injury etc., but with the money they've had to spend on players and the squad they've got I don't feel sorry for them! 2-0 against any team that Chelsea put out is a great result. 2 early goals, 1 from Kuyt and a fantastic volley from Pennant - what a way and time to score his 1st Liverpool goal. It left me with what seemed an eternity to wait for the final whistle - 70 mins worth of football with the slightly nervous feeling for the whole time of knowing that just 1 slip and a goal from Chelsea would have had them right back in it. To be honest though it never looked like coming, Liverpool's defence and midfield were awesome and made Chelsea look decidedly average. Even had a fair few chances to make the scoreline better - with a 35 yard screamer from Riise slamming into the crossbar, and a couple of chances that Crouch should have done better with. Still, no complaints here - happy days!!

Bereavement short course (+ a win for the Reds)

Have just spent the last 3 days on a short course on bereavement. It's not the sort of thing I want to discuss at length on here. Suffice it to say that it has been an eye opening, challenging, and at times heavy, few days; but definitely one of the most practical and useful courses I've done as I look towards my future ministry, really well led by a guy who certainly knew his stuff. It challenged me on many levels - my understandings of death and all that goes with it, practicalities of what has to happen when someone has died, bereavement and grief reactions shorter and longer term and so on; my theology, especially in terms of being able to talk relevantly in funerals or in response to questions etc. drawing on my theology and the Bible where appropriate but at a level that can be at least understood by those listening - avoiding getting lost in jargon etc. (crucial in many area's of ministry and church life but particularly so, I feel, in this whole area). It has also challenged me, young as I am(!), to sort out certain things personally - there are practical details and things that I avoid and put off because I don't particularly like thinking about the possibility of death and also sometimes forget that it is relevant whatever age we are, but that would significantly ease the practical burden on my loved ones should something unexpected happen to me. Not easy stuff - but good, and important, to be challenged like this now and again!

Anyway, back to more usual and lighter subject matter. Having said I was going to avoid mentioning football, but would probably end up crowing about it again as soon as something good happened - that time to crow has arrived after a mere 4 days. Watched Liverpool beat Watford 3-0 earlier today, with 2 goals from Crouch and 1 from Bellamy. Should have been more though - had 70% of the possession and battered them. Liked their goalkeeper, he made a few great saves. Still 3-0 away from Anfield after the last few days the Reds have had is fine with me! Just need to start performing against the big clubs now - saying which, it's Chelsea up next in the league.

Human uniqueness, individuality and taste...

One of the things that has often convinced me of the reality of God, even in my more rebellious moments when I would not have admitted to much of a faith, is the fact that people are so unique. People's make-ups are so intricate and so different to anyone else's, and I find it harder to believe that this all happened just by chance than it is to believe that there is a loving creator God who made humanity with all its variation and uniqueness.

One of the more amusing ways that the uniqueness of each individual comes out is in regard to taste. It can be amusing to see different people react to the same thing in wildly different ways - what 1 person sees as the best thing ever is often someone elses worst nightmare. True with so many things in life. With music and films, as with anything else, I can accept that different people like different things, it's a fact of life. Having said that, 1 thing that can wind me up sometimes is when people seem to dislike (or pretend to dislike) music or films etc. just because they are 'too popular' or 'too mainstream'. Fair enough if it is a genuine dislike, but that's not always the case. Musicians and so on often do it themselves, they come to hate their most popular songs because they get played too much, and then refuse to play them live.

Sometimes we need to just accept that things are 'too popular' or 'too mainstream' because they are actually darn good! In a world where it is often easier to hide behind a mask or a created persona I believe that we need to be true to who we really are and let's admit to what we like or don't like whether its popular or not without any embarrasment or attempt to be what we're not! Let's not try to be different for the sake of it, God has made each of us uniquely and individually enough without us needing to add to it artificially!

ITV's Christian hour

Seems like ITV has got a bit of a Sunday late night 'Christian' slot on the go at the moment - good thing that there is coverage that some people will actually see, and that will hopefully at least keep Church / Christian things in some people's thought and discussion habits! However I do worry about the image that is being portrayed sometimes. I didn't actually see much of the 1st programme about the recent Church leaders pilgrammage to Bethlehem. The 2nd programme though was basically a look at goings on in Canterbury Cathedral during Holy Week last year. 1 thing that was happening was an opportunity for various ordained people (I'm guessing of the Canterbury diocese) to re-dedicate themselves to / renew their ordination promises. What saddened me was that it had to be done in 2 separate services - 1 by a bishop brought in specially to conduct this ceremony for ordained men who cannot accept the ordination of women to the priesthood and would not share this ceremony with ordained women whose position they did not recognise, and 1 conducted by Archbishop Rowan for all the others. I don't want to get into a theological debate about the rights and wrongs of women's ordination here, but I am happy to describe myself as an evangelical Bible-believing Christian who is very much in favour of the ordination of women. What worries me is that there are a number who can't bring themselves to accept that the wider Church to which they have committed and work for has accepted the ordination of women, and work with that. Surely we all at times have to deal with and work in certain situations, even when we don't agree with certain things? Just because women were making the same commitments in the same service, did those who took part in the separate service really feel they could not make their own commitments irrespective of what they thought of others? It saddens me that such division is a reality and there for all to see, is it really the sort of image that God would have his church portray? Any thoughts, opinions and disagreements welcomed!

Disaster!

Could things really get any worse than this? Beaten fair and square by a better Arsenal team on Saturday in the FA Cup. Come to play them again just 3 days later, and knowing that they would play a 'weaker team' Benitez decided to do the same even though the Carling Cup was Liverpool's best chance of winning something this season. I'm almost too embarrased to mention what happened and the score, and its far too depressing to think about. I've never known a Liverpool defence to be as bad as this, but why did we play such a different defence to normal and why did we persist with Dudek in goal after his dodgy game on Saturday - he was even worse tonight. 4-1 down at 1/2 time and then 6-3 at the end - unheard of at Anfield (in fact I've just heard that Liverpool have not conceded 6 goals at Anfield since the 1929/30 season!). Fair dues to Arsenal's 'kids' they certainly did a great job of destroying us. I'm going to have to go into hibernation to avoid the other football fans at Ridley over the next couple of days - especially the 2 who support Arsenal. Football's off my agenda - far too depressing! (Having said that being a fickle fan I'll probably be back on here crowing as soon as Liverpool get something right again.)

Yawn!

Know exactly how this poor creature must have been feeling! I'm sat here at my desk at Ridley feeling very sorry for myself. Even though its the 5th time I've done it now the 1st day or 2 of a new term is always a shock to the system. Having basically had 4 weeks free of schedules and time deadlines - which basically means late nights either watching TV / DVD's, messing around on the computer or reading, with the accompanying late mornings - it's so hard dragging myself out of bed at 7 in the morning and onto the bike for the 5 mile ride in. Just about managed it this morning but have spent the whole time since yawning, and struggling to motivate myself to begin to face the mountain of work I've got in front of me! Sympathy much appreciated!!

You Know My Name - Chris Cornell

Came across this the other day on youtube. Casino Royale as well as being my film of last year has also given us an excellent theme tune courtesy of Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden and more recently Audioslave fame). Bond themes are usually rubbish - but this is cool! Enjoy!

All good things must come to an end

Typically after winning the FA Cup last season thanks to Gerrard's amazing last minute equaliser against West Ham (see pic in 2006 review entry below), Liverpool have bowed out of this year's competition with barely a whimper! Very upsetting, but it has happened to Liverpool so often these last few years - we've won more than our fair share of cups but we always seem to get knocked out pretty easily and early on in the same competition when we're defending the trophy the following season. Also, it was the end of an amazing run for Liverpool at Anfield, no team had beaten Liverpool there since Benfica knocked us out of the Champions League last March, and Liverpool had actually beaten 15 out of 17 teams who have played in league or cup matches at Anfield this season, drawing with the other 2. Ah well, runs like that can't last for ever I guess.

No complaints about losing this game. As much as it pains me to say it (especially if any Arsenal fans like Harry are reading this) Arsenal fully deserved this. They got their tactics spot on and just when Liverpool had got 1 goal back, were dominating play and looking like they might get an equaliser, up stepped the fantastic Thierry Henry, despite still not being fully fit, to put it beyond doubt - how classy that guy is, my favourite ever non-Liverpool player. No complaints, but it does put a dampener on my mood for the last weekend of the college holidays!

My Ridley homily experience

As mentioned in my look back at 2006 below, one of my scarier experiences of the year was having to give a homily (or short talk) in a morning prayer service at Ridley chapel last term. Basically every Thursday during term time a student has to do this, and is given 3 mins max to say something linked to 1 of the morning's bible passages, kind of like a thought for the day. I'd been hoping to keep my head down really and avoid it - but that didn't work out. When I started to prepare for it, my 1st problem was realising that it's very hard to work out something to say that's in some way meaningful that can be shared in 3 mins. In many ways its easier preparing a decent length sermon - especially for someone like me who struggles with cutting out waffle and just saying the bare minimum anyway! Then I had to deal with the fact that getting up and doing this in front of my peers and lecturers at college was actually really scary. I found it far more scary than preaching I've done elsewhere. Looking back though, I kind of think that's a bit daft. Firstly because my fellow students are all in the same boat as me, and so were generally likely to be fairly sympathetic (even if they were maybe a bit more likely to notice any stuff ups!). Secondly, I was talking to a chapel full of Christians pretty much all involved in either training to be vicars or doing the training - surely I should be more concerned about what I say in churches and other situations outside of college where you never quite know all who are listening or certainly not everything about them and what they know of God and the Christian faith?

Anyway, enough rabbiting about it - if anyone is interested at all in what I actually said please read on. It was based on 2 Kings 19:1-19 and Phillipians 2:14-30.

(Had this image on the big screen for everyone to see, though someone more technical than me had 'airbrushed' out the TV aerial - I never got round to getting the resulting improved image.)
‘Christo Redontor’, ‘Christ the Redeemer’ the famous statue on a mountain top above Rio. I’m not normally a particular fan of statues, icons and things like that, but this image of Christ with his arms wide open in welcome and love, and the way it was situated, is something that will stay with me forever.

This morning we’ve heard King Hezekiah’s prayer showing his belief in who God was and crying out in desperation but with trust for God to save Israel from the threatening might of the Assyrians. Notice not only his trust that God could save Israel, but also his motivation: “…O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone”.

Then in our New Testament reading we hear of Paul encouraging his readers to be blameless and innocent, shining like stars in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, holding out the word of life.

Hezekiah praying that all the kingdoms of the earth would know God through his saving of Israel; Paul wanting God’s people to stand out and shine in their world holding out the word of God, showing the world God’s salvation.

In many ways the world hasn’t changed much has it? Constant war and strife throughout OT times, Paul writing in NT times in a crooked and perverse generation, through to the messed up world we see around us today. In Rio I saw real extremes of what’s good in our world and what’s bad in just 1 city, but it’s all around us isn’t it – you don’t have to travel that far. What really struck me about Rio though, was that this statue of Christ was there above it all – visible from any point in that city, arms outstretched reaching out in welcome and love to a messed up world. I’m here at Ridley because I know that God through Christ has welcomed me with those outstretched arms and saved me, and that when I stray those arms are still outstretched to me in love drawing me back; and I firmly believe that he’s called me to show that salvation, that welcome, that love of Christ in the particular role of a vicar in the places he leads me to, to shine like a star, holding out the word of God.

As we continue in worship this morning and have the opportunity to receive prayer, lets consider the role God is calling each of us to play in showing this world his salvation, and lets consider the example of Hezekiah in recognising and stating who God is, crying out to him for help where we are weak and struggling, and seeking his glory that we and all the kingdoms of the earth would know that He is God, and that He alone can save. ‘Christo Redontor’ Christ the Redeemer, Christ our saviour and our Lord. Amen.