Athens here we come!!!!!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Poem for the opening of Christ the King Cathedral, Liverpool (a.k.a. Paddy's Wigwam)

Driving along a road near to where we lived in Liverpool on our trip up there a couple of weeks ago from which you get a good distant view of some of the city centre's landmarks including the 2 famous cathedrals. Reminded me of this poem by Roger McGough written for the original opening of the Roman Catholic cathedral which a friend showed me recently. I really like it:

O Lord on thy new Liverpool address
let no bombs fall
Gather not relics in the attic
nor dust in the hall
But daily may a thousand friends
who want to chat just call

Let it not be a showroom
for wouldbe good Catholics
or worse:
a museum
a shrine
a concrete hearse
But let it be a place
Where lovers meet after work
for kind words and kisses
Where dockers go of a Saturday night
to get away from the missus
Tramps let kip there through till morning
kids let rip there every evening

Let us pray there
heads held high
arms to the sky
not afraid and kneeling
let Koppites
teach us how to sing
God's 'Top of the Pops' with feeling

After visiting you
May trafficwardens let noisy parkers off
and policemen dance on the beat
Barrowomen knock a shilling off
exatheists sing in the street

And let the cathedral laugh
Even show its teeth
And if it must wear the cassock of dignity
Then let's glimpse the jeans beneath

O Lord on thy new Liverpool address
let no bombs fall
Keep always a light in the window
a welcome mat in the hall
That it may be a home sweet
home from home for all.

Family Snaps

Just realised I've not posted since before last weekend's trip up to Shropshire and Liverpool. Far too busy at the moment with my big essay deadline day and then exams looming large, so entries on here are probably going to be brief and sporadic. Couldn't let last weekend just go completely though - it was so good to see family and friends, and to see just how quickly our 2 nephews are growing up. Thought I'd share some of our photo's:

(Drink time for Nathaniel)

(It's a fun life!)

(Louise, Kevin and Nathaniel)

(Benjamin)

(Walkies)

(Peter, Lorraine and Benjamin)

Heading North!!!

Lisa and I are very excited at the prospect of heading to Shropshire, Runcorn and Liverpool tomorrow morning for the weekend to see brother, sister, brother in law, sister in law, 2 nephews, godsons and various friends!!! Can't wait to see the nephews at 15 and 8 months old having not seen either of them for 4 months!

I'm happy down here in Cambridge at the moment but there is something about heading back to Liverpool...family and friends are a huge part of that, but there is slightly more to it than that. It's strange the pull that particular places have on us sometimes.

Easter Electric Shock

And whatever Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were doing in writing the final sections of their books, they were not telling the story of Jesus's resurrection as a happy ending. They were telling it as a startling new beginning. Easter morning isn't a slow, gentle waking up after the difficult operation. It's the electric shock that brings someone back to life in a whole new way.

Just noticed this from Tom Wright on Malcolm's blog and really like it. As per my below entry Easter Sunday is and should be a real celebration - but it is a celebration of a new beginning, not the end of the story. The truth of Christ's resurrection makes a whole new life possible, and, as Tom says, in the church we often just celebrate it for a few hours before returing to the 'normal' way of things. But what can be normal after Easter? Easter needs to 'electric shock' us to a new way of living in the light of God's grace and love shown ultimately in Jesus' death and resurrection. Praise God! Click here for Tom's full article, as well as some interesting follow up comments.

Easter Sunday!

(African Resurrection image)

Following on from yesterday's entry (see below), it really is time to party and celebrate now!!! Enjoyed a lively family communion service this morning, and what better way to sum up what today is all about than with these famous words:

Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son;

endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won;

angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son,

Endless is the vict'ry,

thou o'er death hast won.

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;

Lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;

let the Church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;

for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.

No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life;

life is naught without thee; aid us in our strife;

make us more than conquerors, through thy deathless love:

bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.

Words: Edmond Budry (1854-1932), 1884;

trans. Richard Hoyle (1875-1939), 1923;

© 1925. World Student Christian Federation. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Easter Saturday

Struggled to find an image that I wanted to use for this post - not quite sure how realistic a picture this gives us of Jesus' body in the tomb, surely it would have been a bit more wrapped up?! Anyway, it makes the point that Jesus really did die - and stayed dead for 2 days.

I don't think that it is too morbid to actually point that out and remember it appropriately, to show sorrow and remorse for our guilt as well as thankfulness for the amazing self-sacrificial love of God. Also to think about our response to it all. This is all summed up really well for me by the words of 'When I Survey the Wondrous Cross' (see yesterday's post below).

Sometimes we can be guilty as Christians (in certain church circles anyway), of really downplaying the solemnity of Good Friday / Easter Saturday, of commemorating them in a wishy-washy way (if at all) that almost makes them seem an inconvenience in the build up to the big resurrection celebration on Easter morning. What a celebration that should be! But at the right time, after an appropriate and real recognition and remembrance of the events that lead up to it.

Good Friday

When I survey the wondrous cross
on which the Prince of Glory died;
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.

Rampant Reds!

So says the headline on the BBC sport website following the 3-0 victory in Eindhoven this evening. Professional and classy performance against a very poor looking PSV team, 3 good goals which included another header from Crouch (4 goals in the last 2 games now from him including 2 headers - needs to break his nose and have a couple of weeks off more often!), a stormer of a volley from Riise, and a header from Gerrard (makes him Liverpool's highest ever European Cup goalscorer overtaking Ian Rush - 1 of my all time hero's). The way the two teams played you'd have thought Liverpool were at home not away - certainly sounded like that as 'Fields of Anfield Road' and 'You'll Never Walk Alone' dominated the noise from the crowd in the 2nd half! Can't believe that we were playing the same team that knocked Arsenal out in the last round! Only downside was serious sounding achilles injury to Fabio Aurelio - sounds like he's going to be out of action for a long time. Still though, great result to follow on from the demolition of Arsenal at the weekend!

At the end of the game David Pleat, 1 of the ITV commentators made me laugh saying that Liverpool had had an easy run because of the teams we'd played in the group stages and then getting PSV and that the real work would have to start when we go on to play Chelsea or Valencia in the next round (assuming we don't get hammered 4-0 at Anfield by PSV in the return leg!). What a stupid comment to make! Did he just forget that we had knocked Barcelona, supposedly the best team in the world as well as defending champions out in the previous round?

Now sat keeping an eye online to see if Ireland can pull off another shock in the Cricket World Cup against the South Africans - but not looking likely now. Looking forward to going to watch a bit of the England v Sri Lanka game tomorrow, though not holding out a great deal of hope for England.

Currently listening to...

Not done a music post for quite a while so:
Kaiser Chiefs: Yours Truly, Angry Mob

Enjoying this greatly at the moment. Highly recommend!





Guillemots: Through The Window Pane

A friend said to me when I first got this back around Christmas that it was brilliant, but a bit of a 'slow grower' and to give it time. He wasn't wrong! (Cheers Rich)


Looking forward to the new Arctic Monkeys album coming out in a few weeks as well - sounds good in the reviews I've seen.

Peter Kay John Smiths Advert

Following on from below entry and clip - remember the ads he did for John Smiths? This 1 and the dive bomber 1 still make me laugh!

Peter Kay

Enjoyed watching bits of Channel 4's Peter Kay night yesterday. I enjoy the way that like in this clip he just makes fun of every day things. Love Phoenix Nights as well, bored of Amarillo, but did enjoy him as Brian Potter from Phoenix Nights with Matt Lucas as Andy from Little Britain doing the Proclaimers song for Comic Relief this year.

End of term but work to be done...

So there ends another term at Ridley - suddenly hit me yesterday that that's now 5 terms down 4 to go, more than 1/2 way through and as mentioned in a previous post starting to think seriously and fill forms in about where Lisa and I move on to next. Does the speed at which time seems to pass scare anyone else?

Got a lot of work to get done over these holidays. 4 essays of 3000 words each and a 10,000 word portfolio made up of 3 bits of work are all due to be submitted 2 weeks into next term. Then 3 weeks after that I've got exams. So at the moment it feels like I'm facing something of an uphill struggle! Quite conscious that I feel like I'm moaning a bit too much to people about having all this to do though, and was thinking about this when I came across the following on the cartoon church blog:

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

Helps me put things in perspective - when I've got lots of work on like this and exams and things coming up I always worry and feel like things are going to be really bad, but just like in the cartoon getting to the finishing point is normally not as tough as I imagine it to be. These next couple of months will be something of a struggle but I bet they won't be as bad as I think they will be in my lower moments! I need to keep that perspective on it all - so please shout at me if you hear / read me moaning too much, whether on the blog or in person!!

Anyway on that note I'm going too forget about it all for the rest of today and go to see Hot Fuzz with Lisa. Been wanting to see it since it came out and not had chance yet. Will follow it with some nice grub in town somewhere - probably a Japanese noodle place I've enjoyed before.

Happy St Patricks Day No. 2

On this Saint Patrick's Day, Please remember those less fortunate Irishmen suffering from floods in their Irish Homeland!

Crowds panic as floods threaten Ireland!

Happy St Patricks Day!

England Rugby / Cricket and last weekend

Following on from my entry last week (see here) and my negatvity about English Rugby / Cricket I'm glad to say I was proved at least 50% wrong! Very pleased and surprised to see such a good victory in the rugby for England against France. England looked like a different team to the team thrashed by Ireland in the previous game though that was actually partly true considering how many players were either dropped or injured, and the new look team did play well especially in the 2nd half. Having said that France were particularly poor so it's not time to get too excited about the 'English revival' yet - as the papers seem to so easily! Was disappointed in how poor the Irish played against Scotland, but at least they snook the win - by a massive 1 point! Looking forward to the final round of matches tomorrow and hoping that Ireland will hammer Italy, and then Scotland do something good against France to give the Irish a St Patricks Day to remember with a 6 nations championship victory - you never know! Think that's a more likely outcome than both Ireland and France doing badly enough to give England a chance of the title.

The English cricketers have still to prove my negativity about their World Cup chances wrong though after they were beaten easily by New Zealand in their 1st game of the tournament today - very disappointing. Quick improvement needed! In terms of other matches so far, I've been keeping an eye on Dwayne's progress with Bermuda after talking about him last week - but he only managed 1 wicket and 1 run as they got hammered by Sri Lanka, a South African batsman managed the remarkable feat of 6 6's in 1 over in their match against the Netherlands, and trust the Irish to liven the tournament up with a remarkable draw against Zimbabwe!

Changing subject, had a great time last weekend with really good friends who came down from Liverpool with their 3 month old to see us. Really cool to see and have time with them. Weather was fantastic, and I'm really proud of a couple of photo's I took at Kings College in Cambridge, so thought I'd show them off on here:



Weather like we had at the weekend and for most of this week, and shots like these really remind me of the privilege of living somewhere like this for a while!

ASBO Jesus

Found a blog yesterday (thanks to Malcolm) with some very funny cartoons called asbojesus. Here's a couple of examples that cheered me up as I was sat at my desk struggling with an essay:
For these and various others click here.

Church for all...

Came across this on this blog recently. Ben who shared it was writing about an article that he had seen in the New York Times about 'churches without walls' - unfortunately the link he gives to the article doesn't work anymore, it takes you to a NY Times archive page where you have to pay to get to the story . Anyway, there seems to have been a big move in various cities across the US to take church out into the parks and other places where homeless people who won't set foot inside church buildings gather, and just to 'do' and 'be' church there. As Ben writes in his post, "This is a story about taking church outdoors because the homeless and street people often will not come inside a church for worship. The remarkable thing about it, is that it is working...they are taking the singing, homilies, and Eucharist to the streets. And interestingly, people are lining up to participate. It appears that if you will go to them and show up in a environment where they are comfortable much can be accomplished when it comes to the poor, the homeless, the addicts, and the prostitutes."

He then goes on to tell this story:

Tony Campolo tells a story about when he was in Honolulu to do a Christian event, and late one night could not sleep. So he goes to the local greasy spoon at about 3 a.m. The waiter has a dirty apron on, and Tony orders bad coffee and a doughnut.

The overweight waiter who is also the owner slaps it on a plate and then wipes his hand on his apron. Not long there after all these women come into the place. Its the local prostitutes. They sit on either side of Tony, some 8 of them sitting on stools and they start talking as if he is not there. The one to his left is named Agnes. The girl on his right is ragging on Agnes and teasing her. Agnes makes the mistake of saying that tomorrow is her birthday. "No big deal" says the other girl, "we all have them." Agnes says "Yeah, you're right no big deal. I've never had a birthday party anyway." Eventually the girls get up and leave.

Tony asks the owner--

"Do those girls come in here every night?"

"Yep", says Marty the owner, "why do you ask?"

"Well, what would you think about having a birthday party for Agnes tomorrow night right here, same time? I'll go get the cake in the morning."

Marty calls he wife in the back-- "Hey Louise, this guy thinks we should have a birthday party for Agnes... what do you think?" Well turns out they both think its a nice thing to do.

Marty says to Tony: "No way are you buying the cake. I'm making it."

"Fine" says Tony, "I'll get the balloons and stuff."

Well the day comes and goes, and Tony shows up at 3 again. They decorate the diner, and out comes a nice sheet with Happy Birthday Agnes on it and lots of candles. These girls are all in their late 30s and 40s. Sure enough they show up at 3:30 sharp, and Tony and the owners say "Surprise Agnes", and start singing Happy Birthday to you, and bring out the cake.

Well, Agnes is stunned, having never had a birthday celebration before. Marty says " Blow out the candles."

Tony interrupts and says "Wait, if you don't mind I'd like to say a prayer first for Agnes." And so he does--- thanking God for Agnes life and saying that she is a person of sacred worth created in God's image.

There is an awkward pause, and then Marty says again "Blow out the candles and cut the cake." But Agnes is crying and says, "Could I wait just a bit on cutting the cake? I'd like to take it down the block to my Mom's and show it to her first."

"Sure," says Marty, "It's your cake."

No sooner does she leave then Marty says to Tony, "Hey I didn't know you were a minister. You didn't tell us you were gonna get all religious. What kind of church do you serve?"

"A church where prostitutes are welcome", says Tony.

"Nah", says Marty, "There's ain't a church like that, because if there was I'd go there. I'd feel welcome to.

"Honest" says Tony, "You could come to my church, Jesus loves everybody and accepts them and starts with them where they are."

I think that this is fantastic, and gives a glimpse of how I believe God wants His Church to be. Yet so often it is not the reality - and even where churches are really seeking to be like this they are battling against people's preconceptions, sometimes misguided, but often based on real experiences of the church in their past. For me this all puts up 2 major challenges: how to get our churches and their members to a point where words and attitudes like Tony Campolo's above, and the actions shown by the people taking church out onto the streets, are being spoken and acted out for real, not just as empty promises but in some way being put into practice. Also how to get past people's preconceptions of the church - whether misguided or based on personal experience. It's about showing God's love for real, not just speaking about it in nice words. Challenging, but exciting!

Life after Ridley

Had a sharp reminder yesterday that there is life after Ridley. I'm generally enjoying my time here, but it is a bit of a unique and slightly unreal time being in a theological college community - and its good to remember that there is life beyond it, I am where I am for a purpose! The reminder was in the shape of a form in my college pigeon hole that I've got to fill in and give back to the college to then go off to various important people like Bishops and so on who are going to be involved in sorting out where Lisa and I go next for me to be a curate. I have to tick various boxes to say what sort of place and what type of church we would like to go to. It always surprises me how many different types / categories of churches there are within the Church of England - and looking down the list on the form I need to find out what half of the categories on it actually mean before I prioritise which ones I would like to consider going to! When I give it back in I've got to attach my 'CV' as well - that should be fun, I've managed to avoid doing one of those since I had to do it as an exercise at school in what I think they now call 'Personal and Social Education' or something like that! Any tips on what sort of stuff to include and more cruciallly how to lay it out would be most welcome.

Talking sport but not football for a change...

Was made to chuckle when I flicked to the BBC sport website to check on England's progress in their 1st warm up game for the upcoming World Cup against Bermuda, to read that England's "best 2 batsmen have fallen to a 20 stone policeman"!!!!! Made me laugh, but not sure how well it bodes for England's World Cup chances - if they've got any to begin with!

Anyway, during and after the game there was banter about, and a focus on, the said Bermudan bowler's girth: He's called Dwayne Leverock and when questioned about his weight by BBC sport he responded "I don't get upset about that, its what the Lord gave me and I just use it to my advantage." - Well said Dwayne, all the best for the World Cup!

Next round of matches in Rugby Union's six nations tournament coming up this weekend. Holding out more hope for Ireland to beat Scotland than I am for England to beat France, especially given the annihilation England suffered at Irish hands last time out. Talking of which my Irish Father-in-law sent me this picture which pretty much sums up the game that day:

Anyway, let's hope England can prove my negativity wrong in both the Cricket and the Rugby!

Come On You Mighty Reds!!!

One very relieved and happy Liverpool fan sitting here, having spent the evening as a nervous gibbering wreck!!! The silly thing is that I become so negative about these things. Right from the start I was scared Barcelona were going to comeback after our win out there and win the tie at Anfield, even when we were creating the better chances I still thought they were going to win it, the fact that we came so close to scoring made it even worse, and then when they got 1 of the 2 goals they needed that was it - all over, definitely Barcelona going to go through and Liverpool to go out, and still thought that right up to the final whistle - especially after the silly last minute loss to Man United last weekend. Not going to over analyse this game, just mightily relieved that the men in red proved my negativity wrong - Jamie Carragher especially was immense, and feel it has to be said that over the 2 games the better team has deservedly gone through to the next round. Feels good to say that when your team has knocked out the trophy holders and supposedly the best team in the world! Could it be European Cup no. 6 for Liverpool? Better not get too carried away, but you never know....

Care for creation...

…there’s no need for the church of Jesus Christ to be wasting its time gullibly falling for all of this global warming hocus-pocus. We need to give our total focus to the business of reaching this world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and stop running down meaningless rabbit trails that get our focus off of our heavenly purpose.

says Jerry Falwell a nationally recognised Christian minister and TV show host in the US. Picked up on this via Cartoon Church and Ellen's blog. Click here to read the full script of what he said. It reminds me of a sermon I heard not too long ago at a church I was visiting where the preacher basically said that worrying about the environment is a bit of a waste time as God will end the world according to his own timetable / plan anyway. This kind of thing really worries me because to my mind it is so anti what the Bible says about the created world and our responsibility. I really like the email that Ellen has sent off to Rev Falwell (see here) and will be interested to hear if he replies, and if so how.

**Update**
No reply from Jerry to Ellen as yet.

Salvation

Been very busy this week and not had much time to think about blogging. Could certainly have done without the incident mentioned in the below entry!

Anyway, spent a fair bit of time last weekend working on an essay about the imagery Paul uses to describe salvation in Romans. One thing that writing that really made me realise is that Paul was very good at using language and images that were relevant to his time and culture, images and language that would have really resonated with and meant something to his readers. I think 1 problem that much of the Church in this era has is that we are still using these same words and images nearly 2000 years later, and they often do not mean anything to or resonate with people in our culture in the same way. Words such as salvation itself, justification, righteousness, redemption, sanctification, have become religious jargon that don't mean much to us as Christians some of the time, let alone people who we're trying to communicate the gospel to. As a Church I really believe we need to be looking for relevant words and images that convey the amazing meanings and truths of these words and concepts in a way that will grab people's minds and attention.

One of the images Paul used for salvation was the idea of reconciliation, and I really like something Bishop Tom Wright wrote about this. Reconciliation is “effected from God’s side, by the initiative of love” and “The fact that God’s rescuing love has found a way of deliverance and reconciliation is part of the wonder of the gospel.” Surely this is something that as Christians we should be trying to communicate relevantly and effectively. We worship an amazing God!!

Crime in Comberton!

Comberton, where we are living at the moment, is a really nice village 5 miles out of Cambridge. So small and quiet that it took us a long time to get used to living here having been in the inner suburbs of Liverpool before. It's got some pretty thatched cottages, a village pond and green, 1 shop, 1 pub, and generally it's an idyllic 'English' village. We get a village magazine, with news from around the village, tips for the garden and other such cutting edge stuff called 'The Comberton Contact'. When we first moved down we saw a little section in this reporting 'crime' that had occurred in the village, and the only thing it had to report in that issue was a 'missing' bike from the caravan site on the edge of the village! Then, a while back there was an issue about a mobile kebab van that used to be in the village 5 evenings a week, and supposedly caused a gathering of 'unruly youths' around the crossroads and green. It all made me laugh a little bit!

However, recently things have been more serious with vandalism at the primary school and verbal attacks and things being thrown, when there have been people there for evening events and so on. I think part of the problem is that there is very little for teenagers to do in the villages around here - I'd have hated it when I was that age!

Then a few weeks ago our neighbours car was broken into one night on the road outside the house. Now it's happened to me! Got up to cycle in to college this morning and as I was pulling off noticed a load of glass in the road, and realised that someone had smashed the one of the little quarter light windows on my parents car (which we're 'looking after' while they're away travelling in Asia) and had a look through the glove box etc. They don't seem to have tried to actually steal it, and there was nothing in there to be nicked anyway. Sat here now, having reported it, waiting on a 'scene of the crime' officer who's coming to have a look shortly (funnily enough, at different times Lisa and I both had cars broken into in Liverpool and reported it but no police came to the 'crime scene' there!). Anyway, this is not the sort of thing I was expecting to be dealing with when we moved in to this little 'idyllic' English village that only had missing bikes to worry about - or so we thought!!!

**Update**
Car now in Cambridge Autoglass having window fixed through the insurance. Police 'scene of crime scientist' came and checked for 'evidence', but didn't seen too hopeful. I then spent a bit of time sweeping up as much of the glass as I could - interested me that while I was doing that a number of cars slowed right down had a good nose at me and the car and then drove on. Hmmm...human curiosity is a funny thing isn't it. Also reminded me a bit of what two of the characters in 1 of Jesus' more famous parables did!

We're ready to stun Barca...

...according to Steven Gerrard, as quoted in the sports headline of the Liverpool Echo earlier today. Man was he right! Playing Barcelona in their Nou Camp stadium is a big deal, current champions of Europe, favourites to hold on to the title and supposedly the best team in the world. But what does all that matter to the mighty Reds! Gutted that I wasn't able to get to see the game and had to be content with listening on the radio. Barca scored an early goal and it sounded like they then battered us for the rest of the first half, until 2 mins before 1/2 time when Bellamy equalised. 2nd half sounded like we were very organised and just didn't give them a look in, and actually missed a few chances ourselves before Riise scored the winner. Both our goals were supposedly helped by poor keeping / defending - BUT WHO CARES!! Typical that the goals were scored by Bellamy and Riise - the 2 players at the centre of last weeks stupid headlines.

"A quite sensational result" according to the BBC website, "one of the most stunning results in their proud European history" says the official LFC website, "a famous win...in most impressive fashion" according to Sky Sports. One very happy Liverpool fan sitting here - just hope we don't implode and get stuffed back at Anfield in the 2nd leg in a couple of weeks!

Dangerous Wonder: The Adventure of Childlike Faith

Great book all about how boring we have a tendency to make our Christian faith seem, and the need to recapture the adventure and excitement of a childlike faith. Very readable, lots of very perceptive and challengingly true comments etc., and various quotes might well appear on this blog from time to time. At the start of each chapter he quotes short verses / poems / stories etc. that he picked up from elsehere. Let me share this one with you:

Life is tough. It takes up much of your time, all your weekends, and what do you get in the end of it? I think that the life cyle is backward. You should die first, get that out of the way. Then you live twenty years in an old-age home. You get kicked out when you're too young. You get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You go to college; you party until you're ready for high school; you go to grade school; you become a little kid; you play. You have no responsibilities. You become a little baby; you go back into the womb; you spend your last nine months floating; and you finish up as a gleam in somebody's eye.

Sounds good to me!

Life's struggle...

Following words were shared with us at morning prayer earlier today:

Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world rather than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me. It takes very little to raise me up or thrust me down. Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the mercy of its waves. All the time and energy I spend in keeping some kind of balance and preventing myself from being tipped over and drowning shows my life is mostly a struggle for survival: not a holy struggle, but an anxious struggle resulting from the mistaken idea that it is the world that defines me.

Henri J.M. Nouwen

Piercingly true words - I feel like this guy knows me!

I'm the man! I've got it sorted, my priorities are right...

...according to a guy who shook me profusely by the hand as I stood with a glass of beer watching the last 1/2 hour of the England v Scotland game on the opening day of this years 6 nations rugby.

This was something else that I meant to post a comment on last week and never got round to it with everything else that was going on. But what happened was that while the 1st 2 matches - Italy v France and then England v Scotland were being played Lisa and I were on the Eurostar travelling to Bruges. When I realised at Bruges station that I was still in time to see some of the England game I was very keen to get straight to somewhere showing it, before going on to check in at our hotel, and Lisa very graciously agreed. So a taxi driver dropped us suitcase and all, at the 'Irish' pub pictured below, and in we went to a pub full of folk shouting at the TV - all English and Scottish accents, not another language to be heard. Anyway, dumped our bags, went to the bar to get a drink, and then the next thing I knew this English guy was shaking me by the hand and paying me the above compliments. Why? Because I had just arrived somewhere and gone straight out on the 'lash' without even going to our hotel first! He seemed seriously impressed. Ever wonder where the stereotypical images of 'Brits' and maybe especially 'Brits abroad' come from?!!!!! I had only gone there like that because of the rugby - honest!!

My week...

Sat here feeling a sense of relief at having got today over with! This last week has been a bit of a blur - in fact I can't believe it was only this time last week that Lisa and I were travelling back from Bruges. Since getting back last Monday night I've finished an essay on the theology of baptism; done some reading and prepared an essay plan on what Paul means by 'righteousness of God' in Romans; prepared and preached a sermon at one of my attachment church's for a 9.30am service on Sunday, as well as preparing and leading all of a more informal service at my other church at 11am on Sunday - both on the one Sunday as the vicar is away for 1/2 term; attended various lectures and done bits of reading for them; and then today had supervisions based on the theology of baptism and righteousness of God work, as well as a pastoral seminar for which I had to read someone elses essay and give feedback to them about it. Busy few days - hence the lack of much meaningful entry on this blog!

Amidst all the busyness though I did take a few mins out last week to enjoy Ridley in the snow:

and also at the weekend to watch the England v Italy and Ireland v France 6 nations rugby matches. Not much to say about the England game really - victory as expected, but a bit of a 'nothing' game and performance, very uninspiring stuff. Kind of expected that really, after all the silly media hype after the Scotland game the week before - why do things get built up so quickly on the back of 1 game? Anyway, the Ireland game was a different matter altogether - what a match! Lisa and I were so gutted when France nicked it with that try at the end, but on what I've seen so far Ireland and France are head and shoulders above the other 4 teams this year. Still not convinced that anyone can really challenge the All Blacks for the World Cup later this year though. In other sport - great victory for England in the cricket one dayers down under, especially after the awful time they had been having. The less said about football, and especially Liverpool the better!

With the lack of time over the last few days, not had a chance to say about our weekend away in Bruges. Really enjoyed it - beautiful city and well worth a visit, and getting there via the Eurostar from London to Brussels was so easy. Burnt a lot of sole rubber wandering round the city and its sites, enjoyed a boat trip on the canals, enjoyed a tour of a brewery and drank some very good Belgian beer, had a couple of really nice meals out, bought some good Belgian chocolate and beer home with us, and stayed in a really nice hotel. Great time! See a few of my photo's below:

A church in trouble...

For anyone who is wondering, this is for real - I took the photo myself! Worrying isn't it? Not the sort of message I want to see in church doors!

Men's rest rooms...

Carrying on the cribbing from others, I came across this from the Ship of Fools website via Simon's blog. Made me laugh so much I had to crib it! It's a sign that was placed on the wall of a mens toilet at a church in America:

Now, after that slight distraction back to my essay on the theology of baptism! Very busy at moment - but very much looking forward to a short break in Bruges at the weekend.

What does it mean to be British?

An interesting quote someone told me they heard on radio 4 recently:

It's to drive a German car to an Irish pub then have a Belgian beer after which one would have an Indian curry or a Turkish Kebab. Then go home and sit on Swedish furniture watching American tv programs on a Japanese made television.

and yet the same programme also said:

The worst thing the British fear = anything foreign.

Spot a slight contradiction?!! What a mixed up (or messed up?) society we live in. Why do people fear diversity? I'm all for all of the stuff in the first quote! Slightly simplistic take on a complex issue, but as a basic principle I want to be part of a society that embraces and enjoys variety and diversity, not one that is scared and suspicious of it.

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.