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...