how should life be seen & approached?

The biblical depiction of life begins with the words 'In the beginning God...' And it ends with a magnificent future that is also created by God. Just about everything in between also testifies to the eternal truth that life is made, redeemed, and certainly blessed by God. It's a gift to be received with humility and gratitude, not an achievement. Most of the biblical narrative for our lives can be seen as the unfolding drama of what happens when we do and do not accept our created identity as males and females made in the image of God, for communion with this Creator.

M. Craig Barnes, The Pastor as Minor Poet, Eerdmans, pp.8,9

fierce

I looked at you
with eyes that, I knew,
shone an intensity
that was fierce;

I shook your hand
with a grip that, I knew,
was not simply firm
but fierce, too;

And I looked,
and I gripped,
because I had no words
fierce enough

for your grief,
and our loss.

the great books (xv) - the screwtape letters

I think The Badger might approve of this one (and I do have to confess to being influenced by him in choosing to pursue more Lewis reading).

I hesitated to include it here because this is ostensibly a list of works of fiction. But what is a mild dilemma for me is, fully and truly, the genius of Lewis. His choice to write about the Christian life and, in particular, the struggle of a Christian to overcome temptation and to be, with Paul, wise to the schemes of Satan, by means of letters from a senior devil to his nephew makes his work rise to a greater height than any straightforward work of theology could have attained.

I've quoted on this blog from it before, here & there. Those excerpts - and they could be multiplied many times over - show an acuteness of insight that regularly leaves me speechless with admiration and sombre in reflection. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

And if The Caped Marauder (sorry, The Masked Badger) and I ever get around to posting a list of theological works, I daresay it will appear there too.

Deservedly.

'tis the season

for beta testing. Hot on the heels of taking part in the Laridian beta testing of the NET Bible & Notes, I've been accepted to beta test BibleMesh over the next few weeks.

BibleMesh? Have a look (at the bottom of the page you'll see the Sneak Preview option).

We'll see how it shapes up, I guess.

moments of the year 5

We were driving along, rushing to pick Iola up from school. Radio 2 was on in the car and it was the non-stop oldies at 3pm. Suddenly Anna says. 'Whos' that? He's got a nice voice.' It was The Smiths singing This Charming Man. She felt there was something authentic about him.

I think that has to be my most astonishing moment of the year.

moments of the year 4

For the most chilled moment of the year I'm nominating the few minutes we spent in the Will Neal exhibition at The Mill On The Fleet, back in August.

Will abstract paintings were perfectly complemented by some ambient music and the whole thing was just a few moments of deep relaxation.

Wonderful.

moments of the year 3

I don't suppose this counts as a 'moment', stictly speaking; more of an 'app' of the year, but I can't help but mention Spotify (again).

It's just a great, great way to access and listen to music. It's been a treat to be able to hear long-forgotten favourites, discover new ones and just generally have a ball. Music to suit any taste and every occasion.

All they need to do now is get the full Yoko Ono back catalogue on there & it's 'job done'.

If you're a photographer

but not yet David Bailey, these tips look good.

mutual subjection

Mutual subjection is God's way of nurturing harmony in a discordant world, unity in broken relationships, healing in a sick society and love in a divided church. it is applicable to imperfect people - like you and me - who belong to imperfect families, work imperfect jobs, participate in imperfect organisations, belong to imperfect churches and live in an imperfect world. It shows us how to function in communities that have tension and conflict running through them. It addresses people who are not married to the ideal spouse, who are not parents of ideal children, who are not members of ideal churches, and who do not have ideal jobs, colleagues and bosses. Mutual submission takes the world as it is, not as we want or expect it to be. It requires us to surrender ourselves to God, discerning how we can do his will in circumstances that are less than ideal.

Gerald Sittser, Love One Another, IVP, p.38 (my emphasis)

Advent Oratorio

Tom Wright and Paul Spicer some years back produced an Easter Oratorio. They have now followed it up with an Advent Oratorio (but note that Advent here primarily focusses on the commencement of Jesus' public ministry and his return in glory; 'Christmas' as such is not really in view).

You can read the full libretto here; by way of a taster, here is the opening chorus:

When the deaf hear the song of the new-born swan
and the lame go dancing on gold;
When the pauper raises his cheerful glass,
And the blind exclaim at the bright green grass,
And the hills bow down for the Lamb to pass,
Then the tale will at last be told.

It‟s a tale of a world put right at last,
it‟s the news of justice done;
It‟s the story the dead are eager to learn,
it‟s the song of the hedgerow, the stream and the fern,
it‟s the whisper of a long-lost Lord‟s return,
Of heaven and earth made one.

When the axe is laid to the root of the tree
(As the Baptist saw long ago);
When the greedy are blamed, and the violent tamed,
and the liars are named and the lustful ashamed,
and the rights of the poor are at last proclaimed,
Then the River of Life will flow.

And the Tree will grow its healing leaves,
and the Advent bell will ring;
And the stars will sparkle their glad applause,
and the seas will lend their voice to the cause,
while the angels unlock the ancient doors,
To welcome the coming King.

Beta testing

the NET Bible & its notes for Laridian's iPhone app. It means I need to use it a lot over this weekend, reading the text and looking-up the notes and so on.

Somehow it doesn't feel like a chore.

the aged & the manger

It was an 'outreach to the elderly' event. A lady played guitar and sang 'Away in a manger'. The people joined in. It was child-like, melancholic and deeply-knowing.

Here were people with formal Christian attachment, long years of, often, painful living behind them (some had lived through the War) and a present of evident decay. They sang of a baby sleeping in heavenly peace, of that child being near to them and loving them.

I can hardly remember a moment of deeper pathos and yet suffused with hope.

Too funny for words

Honest. It's a classic.

Especially the subtitles.

Go there.

the verse satan dared not quote

When assaulting Jesus with temptations, Satan quoted from Psalm 91

He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands
so that you will not strike your foot
against a stone. (v.12)

I wonder why he didn't go on to remind Jesus of the very next verse in that psalm?

You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent. (v.13)

moments of the year 2

For my sporting moment of the year, I'm opting for Stuart Broad's utterly destructive spell of bowling against Australia in the final test of this summer's Ashes series. It simply blew the Aussies away and laid the foundation for an England victory and the return of the urn.

As it happens, I heard some of that spell whilst driving to Leeds, to visit someone in hospital. TMS, as ever, was a joy.

this is astonishing

moments of the year 1

I've decided to offer here an eclectic mix of my very-subjective moments of the year, in a whole variety of disparate and random fields of human experience. Kicking-off today with

Current Affairs moment of the year - The special edition of Question Time on BBC1 to deal with the issue of the MPs expenses scandal. Back in the spring, that issue led almost every news programme for days. If MPs doubted the level of public anger over the revelations that just kept on coming (due, in part, to the smartness of the Daily Telegraph's coreography of the issue), then this programme ought to have swept that doubt into oblivion.

(The BBC has a Question Time microsite here which, alas, doesn't have that special edition for viewing but has many others on which the topic was raised)

pastoral abuse

John 9:13ff is a fascinating study in how not to pastor people and the inherent dangers in doing so. A few of the things that present themselves are:

i. The Pharisees are agrieved because the blind man's healing occurred on a Sabbath (v.13). As custodians of the law, that posed a threat to them and to their position. And their position meant more to them than the possibility that this was the in-breaking of God's powerful grace. Those who make much of their pastoral position will always be susceptible to such dangers.

ii. They govern through fear (v.22). It gets results, of course (of sorts) but always at the expense of others - in this case, undermining the relationship of the parents to their son.

iii. They demand compliance (v.24). Their shepherding is not by example nor by winsome exhortation; it simply demands a compliant response, based on their position. They do not lead through the power of sacrificial love (cf. John 10:12).

iv. They reject the opportunity for mature reflection (v.24). Wise pastors will always stop to reflect, to pray, to search God's Word and humble their hearts.

v. They are defensive, insulting and threatening (vv.28,34). They invoke censure and use exclusion for the wrong reasons: they are not seeking to restore the fallen but to victimise and punish any and all who oppose their distorted spirituality.

on the Word becoming flesh

A lengthy but very worthwile quotation from Herman Ridderbos on John 1:14

The Word...did not cease to be the Word that was from the beginning, and "became" does not mean "changed into." It denotes an identification...an identification that, though it is not further defined here or linked with the virgin birth, does mean that all the redemptive categories (the "life" and "the light of humanity") thus far attributed in the prologue to the Word now apply with the same absoluteness and exclusiveness to the man Jesus of Nazareth and, in his person as the possessor of that which belongs to God alone, completely transcend and exceed the possibilities of a mere man. One cannot (in 'docetic' fashion) hide or even dissolve the reality of the flesh, the true humanity of Jesus, in the revelation of the glory of God any more than one can (in 'kenotic' fashion) detach the glory of God from the humanity of the earthly Jesus. The Word did not become flesh by just assuming the form of the man Jesus as a garment in which God walked on earth or as an instrument that God used from time to time. Nor does "became flesh" only indicate the 'place' or 'sphere' where the revelation took place. At stake here is the Word's act of being united with the man Jesus such that in his self-revelation in words and deeds the glory of the Word of the beginning manifested itself, visibly and audibly, and is interpreted by him as such with a recurrent appeal to his Sonship and his having been sent by the Father. Thus "became" refers to a mode of existence in which the deity of Christ can no more be abstracted from his humanity than the reverse.

The Gospel Of John, Eerdmans, pp.49.50

29 years

ago, on 8th December 1980, John Lennon was shot dead outside his home in New York city. At the time and since, there have been many reactions to his death. From those closest to him, there were several musical responses: from Elton John, the song Empty Garden; from George Harrison, All Those Years Ago, on his 1981 album Somewhere In England; from Yoko Ono, John's wife, the harrowing album Season Of Glass. And from Paul McCartney, the song Here Today on his 1982 album, Tug Of War.

McCartney's offering could never plumb the depths of emotional trauma that Yoko's did - she was his wife, after all, and with him when he was killed. Yet Here Today has its own deep resonances and is, in its own way, a remarkable statement.

McCartney & Lennon famously fell-out as the Beatles imploded and were never visibly close friends thereafter. But having lived through so much together left its mark and in this song McCartney testifies to such, with obvious regret at their latter years of distanced relationship.

Its most telling line, though, is surely the unexpected acknowledgement from one Liverpudlian man to another, 'I love you'.

Well said, Paul.

It's on Spotify, complete with a Yesterday-style string quartet. And here are the lyrics.

And if I say I really knew you well,
What would would your answer be
If you were here today?
Here today.

Well, knowing you,
You'd probably laugh and say that
We were worlds apart,
If you were here today.
Here today.

But as for me,
I still remember how it was before.
And I am holding back the tears no more.
I love you.

What about the time we met,
Well I suppose that you could say that we were playing hard to get.
Didn't understand a thing.
But we could always sing.

What about the night we cried,
Because there wasn't any reason left to keep it all inside.
Never understood a word.
But you were always there with a smile.

And if I say I really loved you
And was glad you came along.
If you were here today,
For you were in my song.
Here today

two of a kind....kind of (not)

Ezra 6:14 tells us that the returned exiles prospered "under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo". And the books of Haggai and Zechariah show that Zechariah was ministering in the middle of Haggai's 3 month stint as prophet-in-residence.

I guess you could call it a team ministry but what's fascinating is the vastly different flavour of their prophetic work. Haggai words were very direct and almost entirely lacking in apocalyptic imagery (excepting his final word). Zechariah, on the other hand, is one of the most dazzling OT books of prophecy, full of dense imagery and symbolic worlds.

And they ministered at the same time and, together, were God's way of strengthening his people. In the best sense of the saying, 'it takes all sorts'.

In praise of Anna

(On this occasion, I don't have the wife in mind...)

Prepping for some Christmas messages, I've been looking at Anna the prophetess in Luke 2:36-39. What is impressive is her devotion to God - yes, her circumstances may have allowed a certain shape to that which others couldn't adopt (but would you really volunteer for her pain?), yet her example is deeply stirring.

And notice how that devotion to God leads her to an embrace of Jesus. All genuine devotion for God must centre there. If that centre is lacking, it isn't fully-Biblical devotion.

She's also a great model for every church member: she spoke of this child to those who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. How that must have encouraged them! We could do the same for each other.

pastoral wisdom for specific needs

Anyone who has preached to different congregations, and engaged in pastoral ministry with different kinds of people, will know only too well that the moment when a very particular situation presents itself is precisely the moment when you need to draw deeply on something very central and non-negotiable. One might almost formulate a general rule that the more specific the situation, the more what is needed is a return to core truth, however freshly stated.

N T Wright, Paul: Fesh Perspectives, SPCK, p.20

modern missionary movements

You really need to read an account of the Davey family's involvement in a French wedding. It says so much about so many things (and before anyone asks: I refuse to elaborate on that last statement).

Go here, here & here.

pastoring through worship

Justin Taylor has pointed us to a very interesting conversation between Bob Kauflin and David Powlison on the subject of worship and the possibilities for pastoring & counselling people through leading them in worship.

There are two clips: here & here.

start with a small church

Some very interesting words from Tim Keller to young ministers on where to start in ministry: a small, country church (please remember: he is speaking USA...). As part of his advice he says,

Young pastors should not turn up their noses at such places, where they may learn the full spectrum of ministry tasks and skills as they will not in a large church. Nor should they go to small communities looking at them merely as stepping stones in a career. Why not? Your early ministry experience will only prepare you for 'bigger things,' if you don't aspire for anything bigger than investment in the lives of the people around you. Wherever you serve, put your roots down, become a member of the community and do your ministry with all your heart and might. If God opens the door to go somewhere else, fine and good. But don't go to such places looking at them only as training grounds for 'real ministry.'

The whole thing is well worth a read.

the great books (xiv) - the fall & rise of reginald perrin

The classic 70s series was based on the 3 novels by David Nobbs - The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin, The Return of Reginald Perrin and The Better World of Reginald Perrin. I've chosen the first of those for this list but all 3 are share the same attributes: warm, moving, funny, astute and humane.

If you aren't familiar with the TV series (three in all), Reginald Iolanthe Perrin worked for Sunshine Deserts, arriving late each day because of some (increasingly unlikely) rail problem. He chose to fake his own death and escape his old life. After working on a pig farm (I wonder where Nobbs got that idea?) he returned in the guise of an old friend of Reggie's and remarried his wife (although as Reggie's old friend). Then came the whole saga of his Grot empire and then, in the final volume, an ultimately futile attempt to meet the needs of a society that was breaking apart.

I don't currently own these books but I'm pretty sure that will change before too long. Maybe too rooted in the 70s for some, they nevertheless still ring true to life, albeit without the hope only the gospel can bring.

Having been chided by our Marketing lecturer for not including a bibliography with our essays (in early '83), I chose to include these novels on the bibliography of my next essay for him, because they had spared me sorrow upon sorrow as I wrestled with (what seemed to my undoubtedly depressed mind) a topic of no value or worth for human existence (the details of which failed to lodge in my soul). Mr Dawson (for it was he) didn't spot their inclusion on the bibliography until I pointed it out to him. He grinned weakly, in a way that Reggie would have understood.

independence day

A typical 'get out' song from Bruce Springsteen, coupled with generational strife and the inability of fathers & sons to truly connect, coupled as they are by a fractured humanity. Worth a listen or two.

Here it is on spotify, so you can sing along:

Independence Day
Well Papa go to bed now it's getting late
Nothing we can say is gonna change anything now
I'll be leaving in the morning from St. Mary's Gate
We wouldn't change this thing even if we could somehow
`Cause the darkness of this house has got the best of us
There's a darkness in this town that's got us too
But they can't touch me now and you can't touch me now
They ain't gonna do to me what I watched them do to you
So say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day all down the line
Just say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day this time

Now I don't know what it always was with us
We chose the words and yeah we drew the lines
There was just no way this house could hold the two of us
I guess that we were just too much of the same kind
Well say goodbye it's Independence Day
It's Independence Day, all boys must run away,
So say goodbye it's Independence Day
All men must make their way come Independence Day

Now the rooms are all empty down at Frankie's joint
And the highway she's deserted way down to Breaker's Point
There's a lot of people leaving town now
Leaving their friends, their homes
At night they walk that dark and dusty highway, all alone
Well Papa go to bed now, it's getting late
Nothing we can say can change anything now
Because there's just different people coming down here now
And they see things in different ways
And soon everything we've known will just be swept away

So say goodbye it's Independence Day
Papa now I know the things you wanted, that you could not say
But won't you just say goodbye it's Independence Day
I swear I never meant to take those things away

the triumph of grace

In a previous post, I mentioned a visit to a friend who was terminally ill and of grace shining in her life.

She is now where she wanted to be: in the presence of Jesus, gazing upon his glory (Jn. 17:24 meant a great deal to her).

We thank God for her grace-filled life.

Rome wasn't built in a day

And nor was the earth - it took 6 days*, in fact. And maybe there's a vital lesson in there.

Could it all have been handled in a day? Of course. Nothing in the Bible suggests otherwise. But 6 days were taken, deliberately. And those days show us the value of achieving over time, of persisting in a task and working diligently and creatively towards a goal.

Things I need to learn to appreciate more.

*Please note: this post isn't engaging in any way the debate over the meaning of 'day' in Genesis 1,2. The points being made here stand, whatever interpretation you lean towards.

was his glory veiled?

I love the Kendrick song, The Servant King, so this is in no way a rant. It's simply a question, raised by one of the lines in the song.

"Entered our world, your glory veiled" is, I imagine, cognate with Wesley's "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see" and possibly draws on the statements of Philippians 2 with respect to Jesus making himself nothing (but notice Paul doesn't speak of Jesus divesting himself of divinity; he asserts rather that Jesus refused to exploit it).

My question - Was his glory veiled? - is asked in the light of John 1:14 where John declares that he and others "saw his glory" and discovered it to be "full of grace and truth".

Does he have in mind the transfiguration experience? I have to say that hadn't occurred to me until someone suggested it, but I don't find it especially persuasive.

Maybe the fact is his glory wasn't veiled by his taking on flesh but was hidden from sight by the unbelief of some who encountered him (John 1:10,11). Others, in humble trust, saw it and such see it still (2 Cor. 4:6).

And maybe that's Paul's point also in Phil. 2 - the glory of God is seen in his humility and humiliation, in his very refusal to use his position to his own advantage.

thinking out loud 1 - who can forgive sins?

It's the question the Pharisees ask in response to Jesus pronouncing the paralytic forgiven in Mark 2 (paralleled in Mt. 9:2-8 & Lk. 5:18-26). They ask, Who can forgive sins but God alone? It's a rhetorical question that expects the answer 'no-one'.

Indeed. Who can forgive sins but God? Yet the Pharisees knew that YHWH had delegated his power of forgiveness and attached it to the cultic system, presided over by the High Priest. It runs throughout the OT - sacrifices are offered and atonement is made and people are pronounced 'forgiven' (see Lev. 4:20,26,31,35 etc - the references are copious).

Was their question really a short-hand way of asking, 'Who can forgive sins but God alone (which we all know he does via the delegated authority of the Torah)?' The forgiveness is still his to give but he chooses to give it in that context.

Were the Pharisees, then, questioning Jesus' positioning of himself not so much as equal to God but as one who takes the place of the Torah?

An interesting development of this whole scenario appears in Matthew's account. There, the people praise God for giving such authority to people (anthropois). They recognise in Jesus not a usurping of God's authority but a delegation of it, to human beings (not just to this human being) and outside of the cultus. Of course, it might be argued that they knew very little and were hardly sophisticated in the finer details of Torah (no doubt the Pharisees would choose to argue along those lines). But Matthew (writing post-Resurrection) in no way writes negatively of the people's assessment, not even hinting that they were askew in their conclusion.

But does God - has God - given such authority to people? Jesus apparently believes that he has; in fact, he himself extends that authority on God's behalf to his people - "If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven" (John 20:23); "whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 18:18).

But doesn't that then open up the whole matter of forgiveness to all sorts of possible abuses? Is God bound to forgive anyone whom I choose to forgive? What if that person isn't truly repentant? And will God withhold his forgiveness from someone genuinely repentant because I've decided they aren't really sincere in seeking it? Not to mention the potential for pride and an unbiblical priestliness?

Yes, that was my first reaction, too. People don't need to ask me for forgiveness; they go to God through Jesus. He alone can forgive sins. Except he tells me to forgive others, not just in the passages just referred to but in a whole host of others. I am to act in a priestly capacity as authorised by God, in light of Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice for sin, the true fulfilment of the whole sacrificial system of the OT.

So what about those pitfalls - people getting forgiven when they oughtn't to be and vice versa? Well, no one ever said God's hands were tied on this matter, any more than they are tied by the 'ask anything in my name and it will be done' strand of Jesus' teaching. God is big enough to handle our fallibility.

But he has commissioned us to proclaim forgiveness in Jesus' name, somehow or other, to enact it in our relationships. And not just in terms of gospel preaching (the way some would exegete and apply the John 20 text). Jesus makes it far more personal. He enacts it in the presence of the Pharisees and God is glorified for it by the people. Torah was passing; atonement was being located in Jesus' death and forgiveness on the basis of his atoning sacrifice was to be actualised through his people, as indwelt by his Spirit (John 20:22).

thinking out loud

Occasionally, I've written down some thoughts as I've wrestled with a theological issue. I've decided I may as well post them here and benefit from the astuteness of my vast readership (at the last count it totalled 2 humans and 1 of indeterminate origin).

So, we'll kick off with the question of forgiveness.

a primer for pastoral care

I've written-up some rudimentary thoughts for the elders here on how to approach pastoral care. It, of course, doesn't say everything (err...it's a primer) and is intended to sit alongside discussions of other related topics.

But I thought it might be useful to stick it here on the blog, fwiw. All names & situations are made-up and do not in any way relate to people known to me. The paradigm was suggested by a similar approach in Mark McMinn's book, Sin and Grace in Christian Counselling.

Approaching Pastoral Care: A Creational Paradigm

John is 43 years old and is married to Anne. They have three children (17; 15 and 12). Three months ago John was made redundant. It is the third time in the past seven years he has lost his job. Anne works 25 hours as a teaching assistant at a local primary school.

During a conversation with John, he opens up and tells you he has recently felt at a distance from the Lord, that his Christian life seems stale. During the course of the conversation, he confesses to watching online pornography in the morning when Anne is at work.

How are we to approach pastoral care for John? Or, indeed, for others in a variety of situations?

A useful place to begin is the recognition that we are made in God's image. That has been taken to have at least 3 dimensions of meaning: functional, structural and relational. Those aspects can be helpful windows into the need for pastoral care and how it can be given.

1. Functional (creative/physical)
God is a creative being. He expresses his character in his works. And he has made humanity in his image, commissioning us to express his likeness through our engagement with creation. We are created to work, to form and fashion, to create and care. Where there are functional limitations (through age, illness, circumstances etc) people are affected. We were made to function. Closely allied to this is our physicality. We were created for appropriate, physical activity. The body matters.

2. Structural (Spiritual, Moral, Rational)
We were made to know God, to relate to him. We were created to promote his character through our lives. We have a conscience that, however impaired, instructs us in our relationship with God. We have emotions that are intended to be vehicles for expressing that relationship. We are made with the ability to reason and to make choices.

3. Relational
God is three-in-one; he is a relational being. People made in his image are made for relationships. Not only is that so in terms of marriage but in the fullest range of relationships. People need people because people are made in the image of God.

Those different aspects of being made in God's image are profoundly inter-related. They are not discrete dimensions of human existence; they together form one whole reality. That means pastoral care needs to be alert to significant factors across the board and then seek to help by paying attention to all 3 areas.

When faced with a person in need, we must be careful to ask questions that relate to all 3 dimensions, to get the fullest understanding of what is happening in their lives and why. Recalling John in our example above, it is clear that there are functional (his lack of employment), structural (his awareness of guilt) and relational (his role as husband and father) factors at play. It isn't hard to see how all those factors can contribute to an overall sense of need and how they mutually reinforce each other (the 'vicious circle' effect).

In seeking to care for people, we need to recognise that help may be appropriately given by attention to all dimensions of a person's being. Even where the need is primarily related to one aspect of a person's being, attention to the whole person can help to address the most pressing and causal issue.

[It's likely that we will tend to see things more in terms of one dimension than the others (that's simply an observation, not a judgement). We need to be aware of our 'default' mode of thinking and work hard to ensure we include possibilities from the other aspects of being made in God's image.]

Using this creational paradigm, how would you approach John's situation? What are the significant factors here? How do those factors inter-relate to each other? In what ways could you seek to help him?

still

Dad, the days just
go rolling by and,
somehow, I still
feel it's not right
that you aren't here
to see them.
Part of me never
wants to accept that
all memories are now
defined, limited
and cemented in
place, like the
crazy paving I
helped you lay, back
in the summer of
'78. But it

can't be denied,
and I know that
everyone has to
live in these
streets someday,
that maturity demands
an acceptance
of what is
and what is
not, any longer.
When

you came to fetch
me home from college
that last time, and
I couldn't help but
cry at the passing of
those days and the joys
of those friends,
you just told me
to do what I needed to
do, but make
sure I told you the
directions
for home - so
I hope you won't

mind that the tears
still roll
down.

Cash & Co

BBC4 can be an absolute delight - it shows the most interesting and enjoyable music programmes. Tonight I came across an old Johnny Cash show (well, a best of, from over the years). He was joined by various guests, some duetting with him (Linda Ronstadt; Joni Mitchell) and others performing solo (Neil Young, singing the beautifully, and angrily, sad The Needle & The Damage Done) and Cash himself (a superb, first-time-in-public The Man In Black).

And then there was Derek & The Dominoes (Eric Clapton & friends). When they finished their song, Cash joined them for a bit of chat and then on walked Carl Perkins and they all performed Matchbox together - what great guitar playing!

It was a riot.

why the blues matters

The blues artists....sang, giving voice to their hope for deliverance, their hope that Sunday's coming. The blues invites us not only to embrace the curse but also simultaneously to embrace the cross. To see the broken made whole, the lost found. We see the exile and the stranger make their way back home. "I was blind, but now I see," says the classic hymn. Not through some cheap happy ending, but in the identification and the defeat of all sorrow and sin in the Man of Sorrows on the cross, the most solemn minor key ever sounded in human history. In short, the blues helps us understand what theologians call redemption, all of the realities of life under the cross.

Stephen J Nicholls, Getting The Blues, pp.34,35

lights, please!

Pontefract's Christmas lights were officially turned on this evening. It's a big thing, in a small way - some stalls in the street, a podium from which someone said stuff we couldn't make out because the volume was too high and he help the mic too close to his mouth. And then there was a band! A four-piece, keyboards, lead guitar, double bass and drums, playing some old rock'n'roll classics. They were great!

I hope Santa's grotto wasn't too grotty.

Doings

Finally through the Apple App store process and promptly bought & installed on my iPod touch.

It lacks a bit of functionality so I emailed their support line. Got a reply within minutes, explaining something of their roadmap for improving the app. Impressive.

tiny colour movies

Remember John Foxx? I do - just about: Underpass. Yes; quite. Well, here's an interesting & enjoyable album of mini-soundtracks. Quite reminiscent of Vangelis and JMJ, but not in a derivative sense (Foxx was in at the start of it all).

Worth a listen.

an important question

On a recent Q&A, someone asked John Piper, "What role do you think your temperament plays in determining your view of God and the kind of Christianity you live out?"

That's a great question. It's one that I need to reflect on (but without getting too stuck inside my own navel).

For Piper's (very helpful) answer, go here - first video, about 6 minutes in.

the great books (xiii) - the lovely bones

In some ways, The Lovely Bones is best read alongside author Alice Sebold's memoir, Lucky. The latter is her account of her rape and near-death as a young college student; the former is her novel of a young girl's murder and subsequent life in heaven (we'll qualify that in a moment). Both are harrowing; both are, in their own ways, hopeful. Both are well-written; neither is maudlin or brutal.

Susie Salmon, the victim in The Lovely Bones, writes from, and of, heaven but the glimpses of it are relatively few; its concerns are more with life on earth and the impact of her murder on her family and friends. Sebold's writing on the topic is sharp and clear - almost icily so at times.

The heaven portrayed here is thin and watery; its happiness is detached and dulled. And Susie's own reconciliation with her death is via a consummated relationship in a brokered return to earth. What becomes clear, perhaps unintentionally so, is the fact that a disembodied reality cannot ultimately contain the fulness of joy we were made for.

And it will not; our adoption as sons will be completed with the redemption of our bodies.

welsh hill farmers; you can't get better than this

Gosh - I didn't expect that!

A BBC4 programme on the making of the Duran Duran album Rio shows them to be seriously competent, intelligent musicians, and interesting too. Even Bob Geldof sang their praises.

Life takes some strange turns.

on the crest

of a google wave!

finally got my invitation today to sign-up for google wave.

not sure if or how much i'll end up using it.

but it feels great to be able to do so!

not a clue what it is? try this.

in praise of written sermons (and more)

My father always preached from notes, and I wrote my sermons out word for word. There are boxes of them in the attic....For me writing has always felt like praying, even when I wasn't writing prayers, as I was often enough. You feel that you are with someone. I feel I am with you now, whatever that can mean, considering that you're only a little fellow now and when you're a man you might find these letters of no interest. Or they might never reach you, for any of a number of reasons. Well, but how deeply I regret any sadness you have suffered and how grateful I am in anticipation of any good you have enjoyed. That is to say, I pray for you. And there's an intimacy in it. That's the truth....

...I wrote almost all of [the sermons] in the deepest hope and conviction. Sifting my thoughts and choosing my words. Trying to say what was true. And I'll tell you frankly, that was wonderful. I'm grateful for all those dark years, even though in retrospect they seem like a long, bitter prayer that was answered finally. Your mother walked into church in the middle of a prayer - to get out of the weather, I thought at the time, because it was pouring. And she watched me with eyes so serious I was embarrassed to be preaching to her. As Boughton would say, I felt the poverty of my remarks.

Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life. All it needs from you is that you take care not to trample on it. And that was such a quiet day, rain on the roof, rain against the windows, and everyone grateful, since it seems we never do have quite enough rain. At times like that I might not care particularly whether people are listening to whatever I have to say, because I know what their thoughts are. Then if some stranger comes in, that very same peace can seem like somnolence and like dull habit, because that is how you're afraid it seems to her.

Marilynne Robinson, Gilead, pp.21-23

man of steel

Man of steel, your hands
so strong, your
grip so tight;
laughter as fluid
as spilt milk.
At ease without
effort; curling
joy into a ball
for playing in the streets.
Unwilling, unable,
to wrest the
depths for lasting
truth; how settled
into shallows
of uncluttered
occupation.

todoist & doings

not wanting to get too esoteric, but....for a while now i've been using todoist as my task manager. it's a great (& free) online service. what it's lacked, for me, has been an adequate iphone app. minttodo offered promise but doesn't really cut it. but any day now, doings should be in the app store - and it looks like it will finally bring all the benefits of todoist to the iphone.

i can't wait.

the great books (xii) - red bird

Mary Oliver is a recent discovery for me in the world of poetry (I don't keep close tabs on what's going down in that world, I have to say). The first volume of her work I read was Thirst, which also happened to be her first collection of poems that handle a turning to faith in God. But it's her latest work, Red Bird, that I'm choosing for this list.

Her poetry is an absolute delight to me - it's the sort of poetry you 'get' on first reading and yet it calls you back again and again. First readings generally disclose a luxuriating moment; her use of ordinary language in service of joy and humanity marks her as a genius.

She may write a lot about nature but in a wholly different tone to Ted Hughes. And, latterly, her poetry has used meditation upon all things created as a doorway into time spent in contemplating and addressing the Creator.

I can't do better than quote here the following poem by way of example.

Maker of All Things, Even Healings

All night
under the pines
the fox
moves through the darkness
with a mouthful of teeth
and a reputation for death
which it deserves.
In the spicy
villages of the mice
he is famous,
his nose
in the grass
is like an earthquake,
his feet
on the path
is a message so absolute
that the mouse, hearing it,
makes himself
as small as he can
as he sits silent
or, trembling, goes on
hunting among the grasses
for the ripe seeds.
Maker of All Things,
including appetite,
including stealth,
including the fear that makes
all of us, sometime or other,
flee for the sake
of our small and precious lives,
let me abide in your shadow -
let me hold on
to the edge of your robe
as you determine
what you must let be lost
and what will be saved.

matt redman: we shall not be shaken

A new album from Matt Redman - spotified.

Leithart on Marilynne Robinson's Literary Calvinism

With Home amongst the Best Books list on this blog, here's an interesting addition: an essay by Peter Leithart on the Literary Calvinism of Marilynne Robinson.

Worth a gander.

grace in full bloom

We were sat today with a friend who knows she is dying. She has been terminally unwell for some time but her time is now clearly and visibly short. What was most clear, though, was the brilliance of God's grace, sustaining her and her family, giving glimpses of better things and sight of present blessings, too. It was more humbling than words can say.

On a similar theme is this interview with Steven Curtis Chapman, reflecting on the tragic death of his young daughter. It's solemn and solidifying reading.

His album, birthed from the grief, is on Spotify here.

a pop classic

I can't remember which radio station it was but, driving in the car the other day, an absolute classic pop song was playing - the kind of song that puts a smile on your face and a lightness in your step (if stepping is an appropriate thing to do when driving a car).

Anyway, here it is (spotify required). Enjoy.

"....talking Italian"

idolatry & ministry

Tim Keller has a new book (Counterfeit Gods) out soon on the subject of idolatry. His own personal reflections on idolatry in ministry are worth reading (go here).

virtual church

There's been a lot of debate in various places of late about the idea of 'virtual church' (people meeting for the purposes of 'church' in what is called synthetic space - i.e. virtually). The big question seems to be: Is virtual church 'church'? A couple of thoughts spring to mind:

i. One argument put forward to defend virtual church as real church is made along these lines: "I know someone who comes to my church every Sunday and is not physically present; I can’t touch him, can’t hold him, can’t hug him, can’t greet him with a holy kiss, but thank goodness, He’s there and in community with us." (from here)

I think we do need to admit the already/not yet dimensions of worship and of our personal knowledge of God. But it strikes me that there's a point being missed in that statement: he is physically present, inasmuch as his Spirit dwells within believers who meet together. You can - dare I say it - hug him. And that is part of the indispensible wonder of meeting together; we just don't realise it regularly enough, perhaps.

ii. It is, however, observably true that many people feel able to be more open and honest in relationships that are conducted in virtual space. Maybe that tells us we have more work to do in building secure face-to-face relationships that allow for a deep honesty. The attractiveness of virtual church to a large number of people is perhaps as much an indictment of 'real' church as it is of anything or anyone else.

the great books (xi) - jewel

Don't be put off by the cover of this book (it proudly announces it was chosen by the Oprah Book Club.....) - Bret Lott's tale of the life & times of Jewel Hilburn is a classic work of American fiction. The first chapter contains some of the finest writing I've ever had the pleasure to read and the rest of the book confirms its early promise.

It's about....well, I don't want to give too much away (I read it through without reading the blurb, not wanting to have any short-circuits) but life-history & the redemption of suffering wouldn't be a bad summary.

It's a truly great read.

High Flight: Dad's Movie Debut

Back in the 50s, Dad was stationed at RAF Cranwell. Whilst he was there, the base was used in a film called High Flight and starring Ray Milland and other notable actors (Leslie Phillips; John Le Mesurier; Anthony Newley to name a few). By a happy accident (I doubt he auditioned for the role), Dad had a walk-on part in which he helped an airman into his cockpit.

I last saw the film when I was very young (early 70s I think - we watched it on our black & white tv - we went colour in about '75). It's not the kind of film that gets shown these days and has been very hard to obtain. I thought we'd never track down a copy of it and a small piece of family history would be lost.

Well, I've managed to get hold of a copy and watched it today. It was in colour. Dad was superb, albeit onscreen for less than two seconds. He looked so young! And the whole film was really enjoyable.

A piece of history preserved.

God's Love is more than Kindness

If God is Love, He is, by definition, something more than kindness. And it appears, from all the records, that though He has often rebuked us and condemned us, He has never regarded us with contempt. He has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense.

C S Lewis, The Problem Of Pain, p.33

the present or eternity but not the future

In letter 15, Screwtape urges his nephew to focus his subject's thoughts on the future. He notes,

The humans live in time but our enemy destines them to eternity. He therefore, I believe, wants them to attend chiefly to two things, to eternity itself, and to that point of time which they call the Present. For the Present is the point at which time touches eternity. Of the present moment, and of it only, humans have an experience analogous to the experience which our Enemy has of reality as a whole; in it alone freedom and actuality are offered them...Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present...It is far better to make them live in the Future...We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present.

C S Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, pp.75ff

prayer & busyness

I know someone who's reading Paul Miller's A Praying Life - sounds like a great book. Here's a really helpful quote from it (as noted by Josh Harris & mediated via Justin Taylor):

The quest for a contemplative life can actually be self-absorbed, focused on my quiet and me. If we love people and have the power to help, then we are going to be busy. Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less busy heart. In the midst of outer busyness we can develop an inner quiet. Because we are less hectic on the inside, we have a greater capacity to love . . . and thus to be busy, which in turn drives us even more into a life of prayer. By spending time with our Father in prayer, we integrate our lives with his, with what he is doing in us. Our lives become more coherent. They feel calmer, more ordered, even in the midst of confusion and pressure.

the gift of food

Preparing to preach on Psalm 65, I came across this helpful observation by John Goldingay:

...food is the first thing God gives humanity (Gen. 1:29), the first thing God gives to humanity again after the flood (Gen. 9:3), a basic thing for which all look to God (Ps. 104:27,28), and the first thing for which Jesus bids his disciples pray (Lk. 11:3).

(Old Testament Theology, vol 2, p.562)

Dad's Big Break

When he was stationed at RAF Cranwell back in the 50s, Dad had a walk-on part in a movie that was made at the camp - High Flight, starring Ray Miland. We saw it when we were children and waited and waited for the big moment. It came and went in a matter of seconds. But it was Dad all right.

For years, the film has been unobtainable. And I guess it just isn't the sort of oldie that makes it onto TV these days. But at last I've located a copy and it's in the post. A memorably nostalgic moment awaits, for me and, now, for some of Dad's grandchildren too.

wolf hall

It won the Booker Prize for Hilary Mantel and has just made its way into my study, in readiness for some holiday reading in the next few weeks.

Not my usual cup of tea, historical drama, but I'm prepared to give it a go. Mind you, it's huge.

vanhoozer: on pastor-theologians

Kevin Vanhoozer on the type of preachers we need:

The preacher is a “man on a wire,” whose sermons must walk the tightrope between Scripture and the contemporary situation...The pastor-theologian, I submit, should be evangelicalism’s default public intellectual, with preaching the preferred public mode of theological interpretation of Scripture.

(HT: Michael Bird)

keller: how to become a preacher

From the pen of Tim Keller

It is only through doing people-work that you become the preacher you need to be - someone who knows sin, how the heart works, what people's struggles are, and so on. Pastoral care and leadership (along with private prayer) are to a great degree sermon preparation. More accurately, it is preparing the preacher, not just the sermon. Through pastoral care and leadership you grow from being a Bible commentator into a flesh and blood preacher.

You can read the whole post here.

(Thanks to The Masked Badger for pointing me to it)

kraftwerk: remastered

ok, you may not 'get' them; they're a relatively acquired taste - but for those who do get it, some good news: remastered kraftwerk albums now available on spotify.

for appetite whetting, here's a link to the man machine.

yummy.

the great books (x) - the bell jar

The Bell Jar is Sylvia Plath's celebrated semi-autobiographical account of a descent into clinical depression and its treatment, of the failures of human relationships to secure stability and so much more besides. The struggles of Esther Greenwood (the main character) reflect deep disquiet with the social position of women, parental failures and much more. The lie that love and sex are the same thing is devastatingly exploded.

The writing has a cool objectivity that many have admired but is ultimately deeply disconcerting. The degree of detachment from the pain being described bears too much of the hallmarks of ongoing morbid fascination (or so it seems to me). There is not a shred of triumph here.

I've read this book probably three or four times. The first occasion was in early 1983 and co-incided with great depths of pain; I think for that reason I never made it all the way through the book. Returning to it some years later, and making it the whole way, left me thankful I'd put it down when I did. The sadness is unrelenting, all hope is qualified and life is demarkated as loss.

chris rea in concert

well, playing for radio 2 anyways (he's on tour soon & has a new greatest hits package to promote)

saw him in concert in early '85 at the birmingham odeon - best concert i ever went to.

so, taking advantage of the kindness of the radio 2 folks, here's the man singing his latest single...

the great books (ix) - animal farm

George Orwell's fable of the Russian revolution is simple & enjoyable, clear & salutary. Its celebrated lines have already passed into common use ('but some are more equal than others' is but one example). That it is, in form, a fable makes it easier to spot the main lessons; but Orwell's skill is in masking deeper resonances within the simplicity. The scene in Jones' kitchen with the pigs faces resembling humans is devastatingly worked.

We have (somewhere in the house) a great reading of it by Timothy West - his voice was made for the task. The children loved listening to it on car journeys and sang along to 'Beasts of England' with great gusto.

Thinking about the book yesterday (see, these posts are not just 'off the cuff'), it struck me that Paul's letter to the Philippians might be helpfully explored through the lens of Orwell's yarn - I don't mean to make Euodia into a Napoleon but nevertheless I do think there's some mileage there.

So watch this space for 'Animal Church'.

Maybe.

I Saw From The Beach (Moore)

I was talking with someone today and they made reference to a poem by the Irish poet, Thomas Moore (no 'Sir'). The poem is known as 'I Saw From The Beach' and it struck me as a very moving piece and one capable of being helpfully quoted in a variety of settings - hence the decision to post it here.

So: enjoy.

I saw from the beach, when the morning was shining,
A bark o'er the waters move gloriously on;
I came when the sun o'er that beach was declining --
The bark was still there, but the waters were gone!

And such is the fate of life's early promise,
So passing the spring-tide of joy we have known:
Each wave that we danc'd on at morning, ebbs from us,
And leaves us, at eve, on the bleak shore alone!

Ne'er tell me of glories serenely adorning
The close of our day, the calm eve of our night;
Give me back, give me back the wild freshness of Morning,
Her clouds and her tears are worth Evening's best light.

Oh, who would not welcome that moment's returning,
When passion first wak'd a new life through his frame;
And his soul, like the wood that grows precious in burning,
Gave out all its sweets to love's exquisite flame!

a QWERTY church?

Here's an interesting anecdote I wasn't aware of:

Many of the rules that apply in businesses were set years ago and have endured by force of habit. A good example is the QWERTY keyboard, which is in use on all desktop computers. The original QWERTY layout of keys on the typewriter keyboard was designed in the 1870s to slow down the speed of typing because fast operators were causing typewriter keys to jam together. By putting the most commonly used letters e, a, i, o away from the index fingers of the hands, speed was reduced and jams were avoided. Those mechanical jams are long gone but we are stuck with a rule for a keyboard layout that is outdated and inappropriate. How many of the rules in your organisation are QWERTY standards – set up for circumstances that no longer apply today?

(You can read the whole article here)

Interesting as that is, it set me thinking: are there aspects of our church life & practice that are, effectively, QWERTY-standard?

And if there are, what then? Changing keyboard isn't possible - not now, not this late in the game. But changing church? Wadda ya think?

the great books (viii) - to kill a mockingbird

Continuing the sequence of major prize-winning literature that this list is turning into - an Orange, & two Bookers to date - we now reach the Pulitzer-accorded To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee's most famous piece of writing.

It's a coming-of-age novel but that can never do justice to this fine, fine work. The story of Scout, her father Attitcus and the fabled Boo Radley is wonderfully observed and bravely raised a flag for the injustices of the deep south.

The least-churchy of the main characters, Atticus nevertheless displays the most consistently Christian behaviour. Perhaps unwittingly, Lee takes us on a side-journey into the waters of Romans 2, Luke 10 and James 2....not the hearers but the doers.

It took me a long time to get around to reading this but I'm so glad I did.

wild horses

Susan Boyle on top form. Honest.

the great books (vii) - disgrace

Here we are again. And this time with a book I never epxected to read but found utterly enthralling, albeit not in any joyous way: J M Coetzee's Disgrace.

Rather than try to capture its central storyline and authorial intent myself (read: cannot do so), here is something lifted from Amazon which makes a fine job of doing so (although I'm not necessarily saying she gets it fully right...). All I will add is that the quality of Coetzee's writing is truly outstanding.

So, over to you, Rachel....

Disgrace takes as its complex central character 52-year-old English professor David Lurie whose preoccupation with Romantic poetry - and romancing his students - threatens to turn him into a "a moral dinosaur". Called to account by the University for a passionate but brief affair with a student who is ambivalent about his embraces, David refuses to apologise, drawing on poetry before what he regards as political correctness in his claim that his "case rests on the rights of desire." Seeking refuge with his quietly progressive daughter Lucie on her isolated small holding, David finds that the violent dilemmas of the new South Africa are inescapable when the tentative emotional truce between errant father and daughter is ripped apart by a traumatic event that forces Lucie to an appalling disgrace. Pitching the moral code of political correctness against the values of Romantic poetry in its evocation of personal relationships, this novel is skillful - almost cunning - in its exploration of David's refusal to be accountable and his daughter's determination to make her entire life a process of accountability. Their personal dilemmas cast increasingly foreshortened shadows against the rising concerns of the emancipated community, and become a subtle metaphor for the historical unaccountability of one culture to another.

The ecstatic critical reception with which Disgrace has been received has insisted that its excellence lies in its ability to encompass the universality of the human condition. Nothing could be farther from the truth, or do the novel - and its author - a greater disservice. The real brilliance of this stylish book lies in its ability to capture and render accountable - without preaching - the specific universality of the condition of whiteness and white consciousness. Disgrace is foremost a confrontation with history that few writers would have the resources to sustain. Coetzee's vision is unforgiving--but not bleak. Against the self-piteous complaints of all declining cultures and communities who bemoan the loss of privileges that were never theirs to take, Coetzee's vision of an unredeemed white consciousness holds out - to those who reach towards an understanding of their position in history by starting again, with nothing - the possibility of "a moderate bliss." --Rachel Holmes

honourable mention

to the album, Flying Cowboys by Rickie Lee Jones (yes, she of the Chuck-E fame).

You can check it out on spotify here.

The track, Don't Let The Sun See You Crying, is wonderfully beautiful.

reading for pleasure

Alan Davey has some helpful thoughts on summer holiday reading here.

My own holiday reading went like this:

Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
Reading Paul by Michael Gorman (ok, I admit it: theology - but not John Owen)
Home by Marilynne Robinson (started, not finished)

Nocturnes strikes me as the perfect holiday read. Kazuo Ishiguro is a serious - and seriously good - writer. Here, though, he lets his comic side show; I laughed out loud more than once. It's not a heavy book; it's not a demanding read. It's is a collection of 5 short novellas, united loosely around music and (mostly) night-time. But more compactly united by fame and failure, by pretensions and age.

I would guess he enjoyed writing it.

the great books (vi) - home

To begin, a confession: I haven't finished reading this book yet. To continue, a defence: it belongs on this list, without a shadow of a doubt. It won a prize and deserves to have done so.

Some people say Marilynne Robinson's writing is luminous. Home certainly shines. They say it's profound; they're not wrong. This is writing that is simple and clean, not clever and soiled. It makes no pretences and offers no misplaced thrills. It invades the soul with the stealth of a virus but with none of its venom.

A storyline? Well, only being one third of the way through the book I can't say for sure (and wouldn't want to diminish anyone's experience in reading it). But it's ordinary people, set in the town of Gilead (the terrain for an earlier novel, some of whose characters reappear in this). It's the stuff of life and faith, of failure and love.

One reviewer (quoted on the cover) declares all other writing to 'seem jejune for ages afterwards'. I can imagine not wanting to read anything serious for weeks after the last page is turned.

Part of me never wants this book to end. And part of me scarcely wants to go on, for fear of collapse.

marilynne robinson: home (i)

For her, church was an airy white room with tall windows, looking out on God's good world, with God's good sunlight pouring in those windows and falling across the pulpit where her father stood, straight and strong, parsing the broken heart of humankind and praising the loving heart of Christ. That was church.

Marilynne Robinson, Home, p.52 (my emphasis).

the great books (v) - the black cloud

From really good literature (Greene) to a really good story, with lots of science thrown in to boot. I read Fred Hoyle's The Black Cloud way back in 1976, during third form at Ysgol Glan-Y-Mor in Pwllheli, in company with a couple of friends (Howard Hughes & Andrew Harangozo). As I recall, we were enthralled by the story - it was, for us, real sci-fi; plenty of science, no fantasy elements.

In the years that followed I read most of what Sir Fred wrote - both on his own and in collaboration with his son, Geoffrey (I mean I read his sci-fi books, not his astronomy papers).

For anyone interested in a plot summary, click here.

I'd love to get hold of a copy just to re-read what first opened my eyes to a new genre of writing (new to me, I mean).

the great books (iv) - a burnt-out case

Having studied a Graham Greene novel at 'A' level (The Power and The Glory), I've always had a fascination with his work, not that I have read that many (5 or 6 novels perhaps).

Joining a book club years ago, I was able to pick-up a hardback copy of A Burnt-Out Case for next-to-nothing (we're probably talking 1981) and have read it through a couple of times, although some of the details escape me and demand another reading.

Querry is the hero - or antihero, perhaps - and his spiritual & moral condition is likened to that of a leper in whom the disease has burnt-out. As ever, Greene shows a deep awareness of human sin and brokenness but, perhaps, less of a sure grasp of the possibilities of redemption. You never leave one of his novels rejoicing but you sense a possibility for hope, albeit often dimly perceived.

But a very worthwhile read, none the less.

the great books (iii) - the remains of the day

An elegant, elegaic novel, written in almost sublime English by a Japanese author. First read this book when it was feted as the winner of the Booker Prize (circa 1989). I was hugely impressed. I read it again last year and remained so.

The story is clearly intended to work on many levels, all intertwined. Its narrator, Stevens, is clearly blind to reality; so, too, his employer. And maybe the reader. What is the nature of true service? What is loyalty? And what is the power and importance of love? All sculpted in beautifully-observed prose with a deep respect for words and language.

It was made into a film, starring Anthony Hopkins. Just to say: I've never seen the film but I scarcely doubt it could ever do justice to such a fine piece of writing.

wild animals

I preached not so long ago on Mark 1:9-13 and (from memory) handled Jesus being with the wild beasts in verse 13 as a counterpoint to Adam's original setting in Eden (where the animals were not wild beasts).

Just been reading some comments on that text which suggest a different slant: Jesus was with them as the Messiah-who-brings-peace. That is, the wild beasts were with him in a pacified way, not as threats. In the wilderness, Jesus was already bringing transformation to his creation, undoing the effects of sin.

And, of course, 'wild beasts' has deep OT history as a term that refers to hostile human powers that opposed Israel (think Daniel especially). Is there a hint in Mark that Jesus is going to pacify the hostile powers, making peace (as Paul expressed it) through his blood, shed on the cross? If so, then maybe that hint is strengthened in 15:39 where the Centurion recognises him as the Son of God, the bringer of peace, through the manner of his death.

I'm preaching on this passage again this Sunday morning. It's always great to read things that stimulate further thinking.

how to avoid disconnection

Over at Stepcase Lifehack, Craig Harper has written a piece about disconnection. I particularly liked his suggestions for avoiding disconnection (or making connection); they seem to hold promise for pastoral work, too.

1. Work to build trust and respect. If there’s no trust or respect there can be no real connection. What often appears to be connection is in fact acting and/or manipulation on one person’s part. Simulated rapport I call it. We learn this kind of stuff in basic retail sales training. It’s not connection; it’s role-playing.

2. Ask the right kind of questions. Ask questions that will generate meaningful dialogue; open-ended questions, not yes-no questions. Ask questions which demonstrate that you’re interested in what the other person has to say.

3. Work to increase your awareness and to become an active listener. If you are serious about creating connection with someone then give them one hundred percent of your attention in that moment. Yep; all of it. Don’t be anywhere else (mentally). This is not always easy for us as our cerebral landscape tends be a very busy “place”. However, it is a very valuable skill to develop. Do your best to understand the other person’s perspective and thoughtfully consider the intended meaning of their words. Don’t be like many who simply wait for a gap in proceedings to launch their own self-indulgent monologue. As a general rule, listen more than you speak.

4. Read the non-verbal communication. In any conversation, the words are only part of the message and sometimes, a small part. What people don’t say will often tell you more than what they do. Listen with your eyes as well as your ears.

5. Speak their language. All the talking in the world will result in zero connection if you’re both speaking different languages. And we see this all the time; the boss and the employee, the mother and daughter, the teacher and the student, the tech-dude (Johnny) and the non-tech-dude (me). Lots of words but no understanding, no connection and no positive outcome. While most of us understand English, we all speak our own “language”. What will motivate one person will intimidate another. What will make me laugh will offend my neighbour. What will make complete sense to you could be totally confusing to your parents (think computer). Know who you’re talking with and learn their language if it’s connection you’re after.

the great books (ii) - the great gatsby

This was a book I bought on a recommendation of sorts and it sat (with many others) by my bedside for a few months, unread. I tried to start it but never got anywhere with it - the first couple of pages somehow just didn't draw me in.

I can't remember how it happened but at some stage I was drawn, slowly at first and then without any reserve. There are many layers to why I enjoyed the book so much: an enthralling story of deep human tragedy; the Jazz-age context; the New York setting. It has a lot going for it.

But it's the quality of the writing that really did it for me. Fitzgerald's writing by turn dazzles, intrigues and astonishes. He had a rare gift for conjoining words and images that seem at first sight thoroughly incompatible but which, on further reading, disclose a deep awareness of the possibilities of language.

Surely one of the greatest shorter novels of all time.

The Place I Want To Get Back To (Mary Oliver)

is where
in the pinewoods
in the moments between
the darkness

and first light
two deer
came walking down the hill
and when they saw me

they said to each other, okay,
this one is okay,
let's see who she is
and why she is sitting

on the ground like that,
so quiet, as if
asleep, or in a dream,
but, anyway, harmless;

and so they came
on their slender legs
and gazed upon me
not unlike the way

I go out to the dunes and look
and look and look
into the faces of the flowers;
and then one of them leaned forward

and nuzzled my hand, and what can my life
bring to me that could exceed
that brief moment?
For twenty years

I have gone every day to the same woods,
not waiting, exactly, just lingering.
Such gifts, bestowed,
can't be repeated.

If you want to talk about this
come to visit. I live in the house
near the corner, which I have named
Gratitude.

(from Thirst, p.35f)

the great books (i): the thirty nine steps

The Badger and I have decided to blog 15 of our all-time favourite works of literature and I'm kicking the series off (you can find him at UnChristian Ministry).

My first choice is not a work of high literature but rather of high drama told with great skill. An old-fashioned adventure novel of the highest order that draws you in from the first page and, once there, the fate of Richard Hannay becomes an almost obsessively important part of your life, until the last page is turned and the final denouement complete.

I've read the book a couple of more times over the years (and some time ago seen the similarly-excellent film). I don't actually own a copy of the book, except as an ebook (which is the form in which I last read it a couple of years back). I do, however, currently have a bid on a Folio Society edition on eBay....

I've also read some other Buchan novels, notably Greenmantle, and whilst enjoying them too, I think this, for me, is his best work.

pastoral wisdom

Some verses in Proverbs 20 recently sturck me as particularly appropriate for those engaged in pastoral care: one for direction, one for humility, one for hope.

For direction:

The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters,
but a man of understanding draws them out.
(verse 5)

For humility:

A man's steps are directed by the LORD.
How then can anyone understand his own way?
(verse 24)

For hope:

The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man;
it searches out his inmost being.
(verse 27)

Reflections on Getting Things Done (i)

David Allen's (almost) seminal work, Getting Things Done, is a very stimulating read - and not just for those looking for better working practices. I'd like to interact with him, on an occasional basis, starting here: the blurred edges of modern work.

David is quite right, I believe, to point to the changing nature of work for most people as a major factor in mounting stress levels. He quotes Peter Drucker's phrase for the new type of work - knowledge work - that most people are somehow engaged in.

(Of course, doctors and nurses, teachers and firemen and a whole host more are not really doing this kind of work....or are they? More and more those employed in such professions have to handle information demands - it's spreading all over....)

The thing about knowledge work is this, says Allen: "there are no edges to most of our projects. Most people I know have at least half a dozen things they're trying to achieve right now, and even if they had the rest of their lives to try, they wouldn't be able to finish these to perfection." The egdes are ragged; the need for what he terms "cross-divisional communication, cooperation and engagement" is becoming all-pervasive. And to that "we must add...the constantly shifting definition of our jobs". (pp.5,6).

Some reflections:

i. Where there are no edges, no boundaries, there is no shelter, no real home. That matters greatly. We need the security, the rest, of home.

ii. I wonder if it would help to try to recategorise what is required and what is being done. That is, to view knowledge work instead as people work - to learn to focus on the relationships that exist (or that come into existence) rather than on what passes between them (knowledge). Making people primary without knocking knowledge. To learn to see knowledge not as the product but as a conduit, as a means to an end - the goal being people living well (you can fill-in the theological defiition of 'well').

iii. In a world of fuzzy edges with no end in sight for work, where it spills over into every other dimension of life, aided by the ubiquity of email, texts and so on - in such a world, the ability to position that work into a larger framework that has at its heart the creative and benevolent sovereignty of God is of immense importance. I think that's an improtant insight for pastors to work with but it also ought to help all of us, whatever our work.

iv. Knowing that fuzzy edges are held in the grasp of a God who is not only creative but redeeming is a vital breakthrough. Work, even the fuzziest and most blurry-edged, is not futile, is not in vain 'in the Lord'. Somehow, it gets redeemed because Jesus lives and has overcome all the forces of chaos and futility.

Getting Things Done (well, trying to)

For some time now I've been trying to implement a GTD method of working (if it's new to you, here's a brief explanation).

Allied to - and maybe central to - that effort has been the quest to find suitable software to enable the most helpful means of collating and using information in tracking projects and so on. It would be really helpful to have both a desktop app and one that worked on a mobile basis (for example, on the iPod Touch). If it somehow interfaced with Google Calendar or Gmail then even better.

Well, I've tried loads - I thought Evernote might do it but somehow it's great for the Reference dimension of GTD but not so good at the Project and Next Actions level. The same applies to OneNote, although I do find that easier for the Project level. For a while it looked like Google's Notebook might be the one but that is now history.

A number of online services have been suggested along the way - some of which have counterparts that work with the iPod Touch (and iPhone, of course, but I have the former, not the latter).

Of late I've tried with varying success the following:

Remember the Milk
GTD Agenda
Task2Gather
Toodledo
Todoist

RTM I could never really get the hang of - maybe I ought to try it again. It has an iPhone app and it handles the Gmail aspect, too.
GTDAgenda - What I really like here is the ability to 'star' items on a Project List as being Next Actions and they then appear in the (surprise, surprise) Next Actions section. But it doesn't have such a clean look and keeping track of stuff hasn't been easy.
Task2Gather I gave a whirl to the other day but it just doesn't work for me. Not simple enough.
Toodledo I've used quite a bit - it has a really nice iPhone app but even that has its drawbacks (no grouping of tasks within the Next Actions section). And the basic online layout is just a wee bit too busy.

In terms of the iPod, I'd love to be able to try out Appigo's ToDo because it has a desktop counterpart. I'd love to try the (reportedly) amazingly powerful OmniFocus which also has a desktop experience. The same applies to Things. Alas, all these only work on Macs. If only....

Which leads me to Todoist - not the most catchy of names but it's shaping up into a really nice app - after a short and not too steep learning curve I've been able to set it up how I want it to be - nice layout, good options for outlining of projects etc. I've set it up without a Next Actions section (gasp!surely not!) - instead, I can check the Projects and tag whatever is next in line to be done and a simple 'next' query brings up a list of items that are so tagged.

I've only really used it in earnest for a day or so - and most of the time I've spent with it has been set-up rather than proper use - but it's really appealing. It's a free service (as most of these are) with the option to pay a low monthly fee for extra facilties (I don't think I'll be needing them).

It's an online app which has a mobile site from which you can look through your whole set-up. Not sure how much editing you can do from there but that's not neccessarily a deal-breaker.

So, that's about it, for now.

Maybe I ought to add that I'm using it in conjunction with Evernote (for reference materials) and OneNote (for keeping track on focus areas and for writing).

Of course, the irony isn't lost on me - time taken to research and set-up a system and then posting about it is all time spent not Getting Things Done...but it's worth it in the long-haul.

Update: Not only does the mobile version work reasonably well on the iPod Touch, it works nicely on Opera Mini on my Nokia 6120, despite its small screen. That is good news. You can't edit items or check them off as done but you can add items.

tracking down the hinted greats

Way back when, unless a mate had the album, all you had to go on were the singles released, the odd album track played on the radio and the reviews in your music mag of choice. To shell out precious cash on an unheard album was risky and, so, although many hints were dropped about how great an album was, it was always a leap and one not everyone was willing to take.

So - spotify! Yes, continuing to sing its praises. This last week I've had a great deal of pleasure in 'discovering' these albums:

UB40 - Present Arms - I had Signing Off, their first offering. But, apart from One In Ten, this album remained a mystery - especially its dub twin. I'd say it's one of their very best - a great listen.

Simple Minds - Sparkle In The Rain - If I remember rightly, this made its appearance in the autumn of '83 and it was quite a departure from the aesthetics of New Gold Dream (81, 82, 83, 84). Big, bold, anthemic - perfectly suited to its time. A real treat to hear the classic singles in their larger context.

Japan's The Tin Drum and David Sylvian's Brilliant Trees - I've often been intrigued by the press they got, and only now think I can begin to see what others saw in them. An acquired taste, certainly, but some standout tracks.

None of the above would make my list of all-time great albums but they're more than worth a listen.

on false dichotomies

A couple of really thought-provoking posts by Chris Wright on false dichotomies within evangelicalism.

Part 1

Part 2

Well worth reading.

the best discovery

Chatting to someone about spotify last night and they asked me what my best discovery had been.

I regaled them with tales of Echo & The Bunnymen's fine album, What Are You Going To Do With Your Life, Glen Campbell's superb Meet Glen Campbell and the two pivotal Steely Dan albums, Aja and Gaucho (the latter much-maligned but for why I cannot fathom).

His best discovery was Moment Of Glory by The Scorpions with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Seems like there's no accounting for taste.

adrian snell

Great to see some Adrian Snell albums appearing on spotify. Let's hope it isn't long before his whole catalogue is available there.

Anyway, here's a link to his latest offering, Every Place Is Under The Stars.

functionally dysfunctional

Much of this article struck me as being relevent to pastors, too.

the young gatsby's struggles

But his heart was in a constant, turbulent riot. The most grotesque and fantastic conceits haunted him in his bed at night. A universe of ineffable gaudiness spun itself out in his brain while the clock ticked on the wash-stand and the moon soaked with wet light his tangled clothes upon the floor. Each night he added to the pattern of his fancies until drowsiness closed down upon some vivid scene with an oblivious embrace. For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint of the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy's wing.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, p.79

the great songs (xxv) - the cutter

What sadness attends this final post in the series! But The Cutter by Echo & The Bunnymen almost makes me want to start a sub-genre: songs I'd love to sing on a karaoke night. (Just for the record, I've never been to one....)

There are lots of reasons I'm including this here. The sheer energy of the playing; grand, but not grandiose. The singing that just about stays this side of histrionic, pummeling the emotions out of their shell. And the intriguing lyrics: will I still be soiled when the dirt is off? Hmm.

They had a great run of singles in the mid 80s - I first sat up and took notice with the charting of The Back Of Love and fell head over heels in love with The Killing Moon (which would be a worthy substitute for The Cutter - check out the All Night version here; more memories of confined evenings in a Doncaster bedsit in '84, with Kid Jensen on the evening Radio 1 slot). And Never Stop was an unusually-affecting song, falling between the Porcupine and Ocean Rain albums.

Sure, they were overblown and maybe took themselves too seriously but they were young and so were we. Who isn't guilty?

One final reason for choosing this one: the memory of the song playing on the jukebox in the Cov Poly Student Union bar one night and a couple looking into each other's eyes and singing, 'Not just another drop in the ocean'.

I've often wondered whether they went the distance.

the great songs (xxiv) - rhinestone cowboy

Well, many weeks back I was convinced I'd have to include Glen Campbell's Wichita Lineman in this list but then I heard Rhinestone Cowboy on the radio and knew straightaway the latter had supplanted the former. Not because it's a better song, per se - I think Lineman has one of the all-time great lyrical couplets ('And I need you more than want you, and I want you for all time'). It's a truly worthy, special love song, of the old fashioned variety. They justifiably call it sophisticatiion. So why did RC win the day?

I think it's down to the overall singalong quality of the song - it's got great momentum from the off; once heard, never forgotten. But, perhaps moreso, it's down to the memories it evokes, memories that are touched with the deep sadness of loss right now: life at 41 Y Ddol in Pwllheli; listening to Mam's radio in the kitchen, watching Top Of The Pops, lying on the floor doing homework. Mid 70s homelife.

And I think, too, that the lyrics were deep enough to spark some thoughts in my 12 year old brain. Thoughts about life being less than straightforward. About compromise. About the hope of redemption.

(Really worth checking-out is his 2008 album, Meet Glen Campbell, with some great cover versions and other stuff. Go, Glen; long may you run)