Moving to Blogger

I've made the decision to move to Wordpress finally!

Blogger's given me faithful service over a number of years, but the time has come to say goodbye...

You'll now find me at http://mustardseedkingdom.wordpress.com/

Please be patient as I'm sure I'll be fiddling around with the blog design there for a while!

If you subscribe to my feed it should automatically transfer over via Feedburner but if it doesn't please the link above (sorry!).

TIM KELLER on presenting the Gospel as both challenge and appeal

The following quotation is from a comment by Tim Keller in a blog discussion about his views on sharing the Gospel by connecting the story of Jesus to baseline cultural narratives. He says, "you have to show in line with the culture's own (best) aspirations, hopes, and convictions that its own cultural story won't be resolved or have 'a happy ending' outside of Christ." At the same time he explains that an effective presentation of the Gospel will both appeal to and challenge existing cultural narratives. He makes the following exegesis of 1 Corinthians 1.22-25 to help illustrate this:

1 Cor 1:22-25 is a good example of what I'm talking about. Your own Paul Barnett talks about it somewhat in his commentary on the text. Jews wanted a powerful Messiah, and the Greeks' ideal was the philosopher king. These were 'baseline cultural narratives.' For Jews--power, for Greeks--philosophy and wisdom. Paul preaches the cross to both challenge and appeal. He uses the weakness of the cross to show the Jews that they've made an idol of power, and the foolishness of the cross to show the Greeks they've made an idol of wisdom. And yet, he also is willing to preach Christ as the true power and the true wisdom. So on the one hand, he adapts and on the other hand he challenges. He is saying to Jews, 'You seek power? Well, here is the true power.' He says to Greeks, 'You seek wisdom? Well here is true wisdom.'

I thought this was a really helpful description of what Paul is doing here and a useful model for sharing the Gospel.

I was reflecting recently with someone about modern cultural narratives which provide opportunities for sharing the Gospel - connection points. We're all familiar with the way that films, for example, can provide what you might call 'leaping-off points' for talking about spiritual realities; for example, a movie like the Matrix gave us a whole new set of vocabulary for talking about choices and faith and reality. But are there other cultural narratives which we should be making better use of, thinking creatively about connections with the Gospel story? One I considered was the environmental narrative that's so current right now, as we think seriously about the consequences of our choices and our stewardship of this planet. Are there ways to speak into this theme and engage with these questions that bring the light of Jesus to bear? What about the big themes of national security, terrorism, personal liberty and the surveillance issue (privacy vs security)? How do we respond and what story are we telling in the light of these?


Tim Keller's 'The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism' sounds like an interesting read.


Thanks Matt!

Quote(s) of the Day, Olympic Style

"...a gold medal is a wonderful thing. But if you're not enough without one, you'll never be enough with one."
Irv Blitzer, Cool Runnings

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever."
1 Corinthians 9.24-25

Open Theism discussed

I've stumbled across another interesting discussion on Open Theism at The Sign of Jonah blog. The original blogger is critiquing Open Theism (although I didn't feel he was particularly successful in this. He seems a little confused about distinction between OT and the problem of evil/suffering, which although connected is not really the same question) and provokes some excellent (although very lengthy) discussion in the comments. I was particularly impressed by the contribution of a commenter called Wesley Brainard who is generally articulate and intelligent in his arguments for Open Theism - although I'm not sure I agree with everything he says about the way God has limited himself (e.g. spacially).

Here's a couple of examples of things which got me thinking:

...This began to take shape around the discussion of God’s freedom. Jim B admitted that God was free to create or not to create. If He was free to choose, then there was a time when God hadn’t yet foreknown. This demonstrates that foreknowledge is not eternal or essential. God is still God without exhaustive foreknowledge.

The open view says that God was free to create the kind of world you propose he created. Does the CV allow that God could have created a world with freedoms like His as the open view suggests?

Keith: I feel like you really ducked the issue with Cyrus. Your basic answer was, "I don’t know how God predicted Cyrus but I’m absolutely sure that it wasn’t through exhaustive foreknowledge". In all candor I think that’s pretty weak.

Wesley: Straw dummy... My argument was that what you offered does not prove exhaustive foreknowledge. I thought Will D.’s post was especially good on this point. If we use your argument for proving exhaustive foreknowledge, my wife would certainly qualify since she knows what I’m going to do or not do before I do or don’t do it. Knowing something does not prove that He knows everything. ...

Openness and Prayer

Blogger TC Robinson has been investigating open theism on his blog and starting various interesting discussions along the way. I recently commented (hopefully gently!) on his post about prayer:

I've always understood prayer to be pretty effective - not just in my personal relationship with God, but also for affecting what happens in the world. I agree there's definitely the sense in the Gospels of Jesus taking time out in prayer to learn his Father's will (as Duane and others have mentioned above) but surely the overwhelming teaching of Jesus is that God responds to prayer and our prayers therefore have real consequences in the world, e.g. Luke 21.36, Matt 7.11 'how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him', Luke 10.2 'ask for workers', Luke 22.32 (in verse 31 it sounds like Satan is also able to pray!)... and I haven't even mentioned some of the most famous verses about prayer!

What I understand from what Boyd and others teach is that because God is relational he has chosen to mediate his authority through free agents such as ourselves and angels etc.* Although the plan was for us to rule 'under authority' (c.f. Luke 7.8), we have real delegated responsibility. To this end God has chosen to limit his influence and authority in the world according to our direction and desire. The really challenging thing about this view is that it makes prayer absolutely critical. God's involvement - to a certain extent - depends on us asking for it! When we pray 'your will be done' we're apparently - in a really odd way - actually giving God 'permission' to act to bring about his will. Sounds crazy, doesn't it?

I actually think this view has a lot to recommend it, as it makes sense of Jesus' instructions about prayer and the importance Paul obviously gives to prayer (e.g. 1 Thess 3.10). God is genuinely responsive to our prayers, relational even in the exercise of his sovereign authority. That sounds like a truly dynamic relationship! It's also interesting to note the way Paul talks about being coworkers with God.

[*At the beginning humankind is given dominion over the earth (Gen 1.26-28) but unfortunately it seems we surrendered our authority to Satan, who is now the 'prince of this world' (John 12.41). But Daniel 7 indicates that part of our final destiny is to finally reclaim this authority in the kingdom of Jesus.]

Comments?

GREG BOYD on what it looks like when God reigns

Last week at camp I finally got hold of my own copy of Greg Boyd's talks on the Kingdom of God from Revive! 2005. I've listened to them before but these are such fantastic talks that I wanted my own copies to listen to and lend out!

I first heard these talks on CD about two and a half years ago and they made a huge impact on me. I'm not sure any sermons, or indeed speaker, have been as influential in my life. I remember listening to them and just going 'yes, yes, yes - that's what it's about!' and being completely moved, even overwhelmed by the truth of it. Faith-growing, brain-stretching, life-giving...

Here's a 3 minute clip of Greg Boyd talking about what the kingdom of God - the "dome (domain) in which God is king" - is like:

'What does it look like when God reigns?'

Link to mp3 if the player's not working for you.

Learning moments at Revive! 2008

[Something of a scrapbook of quotes etc from camp last week. Apologies for the lack of order - just getting them down!]

Jonathan Oloyede
- Luke 4.1 - the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. The Spirit can lead us into difficult and strange places. Jesus fasted for 40 days before going out in the power of the Spirit.
- If you want to follow the Lord he will ask you to drop some things...are you ready for that?

Christen Forster
- Matt 16.13-19. Jesus tells Peter 'on this rock I will build my church'. Jesus was not specifically a carpenter but more likely a builder (Greek: tekton, which is the general term for a builder/craftsman).
- this reminded me of Aslan telling Lucy "I am the master Bridge-Builder" in 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'.

- Proverbs 30.21 "Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: a servant who becomes king, ..." It is a dangerous thing for those with the insecurities of a servant to be put in positions of leadership. The primary responsibility of a leader is to be proactive in putting themselves in a position to encounter God and be open for God to change them.
- everything we do is motivated either by fear or love. Fear is born out of our slavery, love of our sonship.
- two fear-based behaviours that hit Christian leaders are competitiveness and striving.

Debbie Laycock
Matt 25.1-13 - the Wise and Foolish Virgins
'This is a Parousian Parable about God's People; Jesus makes it Personal and asks "Are you Prudent, Prepared and at your Post?"'
- do you have enough fuel to be burning hot on the day Jesus arrives? Are you filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit?
- You can't lean on the spiritual lives of others - do you have the Spirit in you?
- Are we being proactive in taking practical steps to fuel our spiritual lives?
- Are we taking our role in the kingdom seriously?

Sarah Fordham
- Need spirituality and religion in balance. Religion gives boundaries to our spirituality. Without structure we are easily swept away into the 'New Age' (no boundaries).
- 'Religion' comes from the Latin religio 'to bind'. As Christians we are to bind Christ - the Word - to ourselves in the same way Jews bind the Torah to themselves (Deut 11.18)
- The truth is to be encountered in Jesus
'Do what I say and then you will know that what I say is true' (Sarah's paraphrase of John 7.31-32)

Jackie Pullinger-To
- look at the world: there must be justice! there is so much pain that must be accounted for, retribution that must be made.
- without justice there is no mercy
- Isaiah 53. Jesus took the pain of those wronged and the punishment for the wrongdoers
- there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood
- The day of Jubilee: 'the slave driver is forgiven and the slave goes free'

- what the Scripture says is true: 'my soul thirsts for you'. We may not feel it but it's our feelings that aren't true.
- a man is a slave to what he worships.

Faith Forster
- 'a seeking soul and a seeking Saviour are sure to meet'
- we shouldn't be running after signs and wonders because signs and wonders should be following us!

John Paul Jackson
- if people don't find answers to spiritual things in the church they'll go elsewhere
- What is true spirituality? You cannot be spiritual by yourself - be filled with the Spirit of the living God
- the Spirit brings true 'enlightenment' while anything else brings only 'endarkenment'. Satan left the light and source of life and is therefore continually deteriorating...joining the dark side literally sucks the life out of you.
- Light always overcomes darkness. Darkness never wins unless there is no light.
- Fear / Faith are two sides of the same thing: a belief in something invisible that has not happened yet. Fear is the belief that something bad will happen, faith is the belief that something good will happen.

The power of the Nudge

Here's an interesting article on the power of the 'nudge' from the Sunday Times.

Politicians are devouring a book called Nudge, written by two American academics, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, which demonstrates how "thoughtful choice architecture can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice". That is, by knowing how people think, we can design 'choice environments' that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society.

The article mentions one example of this type of 'choice environment' - an ingenious little gadget called the Wattson which displays the amount of electricity you are using through colours and numbers, thus encouraging users to reduce the amount they use.

As the article explains, 'Nudge' is also encouraging politicians to think creatively about the power of social norms to influence our behaviour. As well as reducing our electricity consumption, other examples of areas in which social norms might provide a 'nudge' include organ donation and rubbish disposal.

...Realising that financial incentives and penalties such as green taxes had a limited effect on behaviour, Schultz set out to analyse how the energy usage of 300 people in San Marcos, California, could be changed for the better by invoking social norms.

He arranged for the participants to be told on their energy bills what the typical usage in the area was.

"Telling people what others are doing does tend to have an effect," he said. "But there are instances where it can boomerang – if you are using less energy than your neighbours, say by making a sacrifice by not running your air-conditioning, you can feel like a sucker." The result: your energy consumption goes up, not down, to meet the norm.

...Schultz’s solution was to add a little nudge. Some of the participants in his study had a smiley face added to their bill if they used less energy than the norm and a sad face if they used more. The results were startling. Among the participants receiving the emoticon, the boomerang effect completely disappeared. High users reduced their consumption by even more and low users kept their own down.

Disarmingly simple. So simple, in fact, that you wonder why no one's done it before!

Or, what about this "clever use of choice architecture [to] find a middle way for organ donation":

... "We quite like the idea of ‘mandated choice’ in this context," he said. This does not involve any presumption of opt-in or opt-out. Instead it requires people to make a deliberate choice by tacking the process onto something else, such as applying for a driver’s licence or a passport. That solves the problems of both our inertia and bias in the system.

You can see why the politicians are interested in this stuff. Something so simple is surely worth a try? But, as the article states, "it sounds too good to be true. Is it more wishful thinking than sensible policy? Can social norms really change our behaviour?"

Surface Design Websites and Wall Decals

Check out the Print & Pattern blog - a website showcasing surface design of all kinds. There are some awesome prints on there.

Also, I just stumbled across Wall Decals - self-adhesive vinyl 'stickers' that you use to decorate walls etc (and can be repositioned). I bought some for a birthday present for someone recently without realising what they were (they're selling kiddie versions in B&Q). But there are some fab designs out there...


Urban Outfitters - trendy but sadly US-based

Supernice Blik Graphics - lots of cool designs here, but not cheap!

The Threadless designs are pretty groovy as well.

  

Openness, the future and God's foreknowledge

One of the points that's often misunderstood about the Open Theism that Greg Boyd and others espouse, is that they are not saying that God does not know the future. On the contrary, they affirm that God does indeed have knowledge of everything, including what is still to come. What openness argues against is the idea that God only knows one future, in other words that the cosmos runs along a single timeline of 'ordained' possibility (Boyd calls this the 'blueprint worldview'). Open Theism states that God knows every possible future, an infinity of real possibilities (which exist within certain boundaries, of course). Openness asserts that God has given real freedom to individuals within creation to make choices that actually affect what happens in the world, choices for which they are responsible and will be held accountable. Within this He has set out certain conditions and boundaries - e.g. there will be a time of judgement and new creation etc. And of course God is not a detached observer of these events, but in fact the most active participant, always at work to redeem and restore His creation.

It is worth emphasising in this view that while free agents make real choices about the future, no choice or possible future is outside God's (fore)knowledge. God is never caught unaware! (although Jer 32.35 is interesting!) Every choice you make, every infinite possibility of decision has indeed been known by God since before the creation of the world. And in every single one of those infinite possible timelines God has been working for the good of those who love him. Not only has every  individual ever created been loved by God, but every single timeline has been known and lovingly worked into his glorious purpose.

This infinite, sovereign 'intelligence' is much more difficult for us to grasp than infinite controlling power. We have examples of controlling power that we can 'multiply up', but we have very few analogies for the type of intelligence required to weave together infinite possibilities. Perhaps the nearest model we can think of (although it has some significant flaws), and an example I've heard Boyd use, is that of the Chess Grand Master. If I play a Grand Master at Chess he doesn't have to know for certain every move I will make to predict (with 99.9999999% certainty!) that he will win. In fact probably most of the moves I make will be boringly predictable! Really good chess players see possibilities many moves in advance. But God, to use the same analogy, has seen every single possible move, planned his 'counter-attack' for each one and seen the final endgame before the first move was even made!

There are many other ideas I could talk about that fit alongside openness: for example, what it means for God to be in genuine relationship with us; the understanding that God's will is not always done (thus Jesus teaching us to pray "Your will be done...") and so on, but I think this post is long enough for now!

Altogether I find Boyd, in particular, pretty persuasive on this whole topic. I don't agree with everything he states (he's generally more systematic than I'm comfortable with), but I have a feeling that he - and folks like Prof John Polkinghorne - may be on the right lines. And part of why I find it so compelling is that it seems to match up with what the physical universe is actually like. The argument about the relationship between epistemology (what may be known) and ontology (what actually is) in quantum physics may have a little ways to go (does the limit of what it is possible to know correspond with what actually is?), but most physicists will tell you that at the most fundamental level it makes no sense to talk about certainties (future or present). In the strange universe we live in there seems to be something more 'real' about possibilities. As Polkinghorne says, reality is a lot 'fuzzier' than we'd like to think.

[See also: Ben Witherington's view on the 'script']

The Barchester Chronicles

My latest audiobook listen has been 'The Chronicles of Barset', a dramatised version of Anthony Trollope's 'Barchester Chronicles', made by the BBC in the early 90's. The Chronicles is a series of six novels "set in the fictitious cathedral town of Barchester. They concern the dealings of the clergy, the gentry, and the political, amatory, and social maneuverings that go on among and between them." (Thanks to Wikipedia). Despite a slowish beginning it's turned out to be a real delight. I'll have to actually read the books next!

There are some fantastic characters in this series, from the gentle and harmless Warden, Septimus Harding, (who in this version has an endearing habit of humming softly in difficult moments) to the slimy Mr Slope (boo, hiss!) and the quite brilliant Archdeacon Dr Theophilus Grantly. Dr Thorne is my favourite story out of the six I think, with its predictable but ultimately satisfying ending, but the battles between the formidable Mrs Proudie and the horrible Mr Slope puts Barchester Towers a very close second! After a little deliberation my favourite characters - as in who I actually liked - were Lucy Robarts (who is adorably melodramatic and lively in this version), Dr Thorne and Miss Dunstable (who I warmed to immediately as a kindred spirit!), but I think I managed to resist the much-sought-after Eleanor Bold!

Thoroughly recommended.

Soup Experiment #2

This one's not too original either, but a first time experiment for me at least! And a very yummy one too...

Chicken Noodle Soup - serves 2-3

2 chicken breasts (left-over cooked chicken would have been better, especially dark meat!)
1 rasher of bacon, chopped
1 onion
1 leek
1 carrot, shaved with a peeler
2 sticks celery
2 portions of thin egg noodles
Chicken stock cube
Seasoning etc

I chopped the onions, leeks and celery and sweated them in some butter over a low heat, together with the carrot. When soft I added the bacon, then a splash of balsamic vinegar, some garlic puree and seasoning. Then finally I cooked the chicken.
I added some stock and topped up with water until the veg was covered. Then I brought it to the boil and left it to simmer for 15min or so. Finally I added the dry noodles for 5min until they were soft - and it was ready to serve!


I'm discovering that soups are really easy - and very yummy!

Any suggestions for something else to try? :-)

Fun with Sprouts

I've been testing out what Sprouts can do - and so far I'm quite impressed. Sprouts are advanced Flash-based banners or mini websites that can be loaded on websites or shared on social networking sites. Sprout Builder allows you to create custom-designed flash pages containing all kinds of media, feeds, links etc. My example multi-page Sprout below shows some examples of things you can use. This one is quite small but they can be as big as you like!

DOROTHY L SAYERS on Jesus the Man

"For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is - limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death - he had the honesty and courage to take his own medicine. Whatever game he is playing with his creation, he has kept his own rules and played fair. He can exact nothing from man that he has not exacted from himself. He has himself gone through the whole human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death. When he was a man, he played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile."

From 'The Man Born to be King' by Dorothy L. Sayers

Fighting Spending

Lifehacker's Top 10 Ways to Trick Yourself into Saving Money has some quite sensible ideas - most of which are, refreshingly, about avoiding unnecessary spending rather than just tips for finding deals and messing around with interest-free periods on credit cards etc.

I particularly liked #9, #8 and #2.

What's your favourite?


"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9.23

Wounds of a Friend

In this month's Christianity Today, complementarian (men and women have equal but different roles in marriage and church life - W) John Koessler and egalitarian (God freely calls believers to roles and ministries regardless of gender, class or race - W) Sarah Sumner have an "unexpected exchange" on the women's leadership debate.

Complementarians need to recover a fully biblical view of women — and of handling theological disagreement. By John Koessler

Egalitarians should rely more on careful exegesis and less on political ideologies. By Sarah Sumner

Both articles are refreshing and graceful additions to the conversation and I found plenty to agree with on both sides of the discussion.

When God created humankind in his image, he created them to be male and female (Gen. 1:27). It is often said that men and women bear the image of God equally. But it might be more accurate to say that men and women bear God's image together. Men and women collectively reflect the divine image; one without the other is incomplete. In addition, the Book of Genesis affirms men and women's joint mandate to exercise dominion over creation. Men and women share this responsibility; neither can fulfill God's mandate alone. ...

Complementarians need to be on guard against the temptation to use the Bible as a sanction for social constructs. The Pharisees tried to protect God's commands by putting a fence around the Law. I fear that complementarians, too, have gone beyond the Scriptures in our effort to preserve God's design. Have we added our own traditions to the Bible's teaching in an attempt to preserve biblical manhood and womanhood?

John Koessler

Egalitarians often argue that since God commands his people to submit to one another, women leaders have the right to be submitted to by men. When this doesn't happen, they feel angry. Yet a truly Christian ethic would remember that women have the duty, not the right, to lead as God calls them to lead. When God calls a woman to step forward, she is to step forward, regardless of how others respond. ...

When Galatians 3:28 is used out of context, the egalitarian argument can easily be perceived as promoting a genderless church. Though most egalitarians emphatically believe that men and women are not the same or interchangeable, it is hard for the unconvinced to hear the wisdom of their message— and easy for others, like the gender-confused, to twist the meaning of their message into something it is not.

Sarah Sumner

Christianity Today's Timothy George also addressed complementarians and egalitarians in his excellent article 'A Peace Plan for the Gender War'.

I'm sympathetic to George's stated position 'I am not a card-carrying member of either party', finding plenty to agree with on both sides and probably falling somewhere in the middle of the debate. However, realistically, I know I'd fit in more easily on the egalitarian side, given my openness to women in church leadership roles. Also I personally feel more confident of having the opportunity in an egalitarian setting to argue in a complementarian direction, than I'm confident of being able to even talk about a egalitarian direction from a complementarian position. Whether you understand what I mean may depend on your experiences with both sides of the debate, whether positive or negative.

Walking in the cool of the day

It's summer evenings like these when I most crave something of the 'Eden experience' of walking with God among the trees in the cool of the day.

Evening walks are so delicious, especially on these light, warm summer evenings, when everything is touched with golden light and there's such a peaceful stillness in the air. I'd love to go out for more walks on evenings like this but it's not the same on your own. Walks are meant to be enjoyed with others I think. There's something about walking and relationships that goes together.

It's times like this when I wonder what it was like for the disciples to walk with Jesus among the trees on the Mount of Olives in the cool of the evening, away from the crowds of Jerusalem. I know that I want more of that intimacy with God. I want to walk with Jesus among the trees, to talk with him, to listen, to feel his hand on my shoulder and his presence beside me. It feels right to describe the Christian life and our growing relationship with God as a walk, but I find myself longing for more of those times among the trees. If only I had more awareness of the reality of that walk together and was able to relax more often in the Lord's presence, talk together and know that evening peace.

The food crisis, the price of oil and my weekly shopping bill

I don't pretend to know a huge amount about the current food crisis (see previous post 'Sheltered from a Crisis') and what's caused it but some of the things I do know have made me really angry about the way the world works. Below I've laid out some of the reasons, as I understand them, for the current food crisis. Reading them you'll understand - if you don't already - why some of these things make me so frustrated and angry, and ultimately I know make God angry.

Why is there a food crisis?

The current crisis is the result of a massive increase in the price of grain and a shortage of supply, both of which have fed into each other to create a rapidly escalating worldwide food crisis which is driving 'the bottom billion' further into poverty and starvation (UN). There have been a number of long-term factors leading to rising worldwide food prices over the last few years. More recently the massive price increases (especially in wheat and rice) have been caused by drought and investors hoarding supplies, triggering worldwide panic-buying, which in turn has pushed grain prices to their current heights.

Long and Medium-term factors:

Increased demand for food worldwide.
Economic growth in China and India has lead to a significant rise in meat consumption (closer to a Western-style diet). Meat production requires 4-10 times as much grain to produce the same amount of food. [This has been happening for a while and no one quite agrees about how importanta factor it is in this current crisis.]

Biofuel production
Food crops, especially corn and soya are being diverted to biofuel production. This year a third of America's (highly subsidised) corn crop will go to the biofuel industry. The Bush administration has pushed the development of corn-ethanol as a domestically-available alternative to petrol (the US enthusiasm for biofuel isn't about saving the planet but rather saving America. Biofuel isn't seen as an environmental -or even economic- answer to the fossil fuels question, but ultimately as the answer to the always-pressing national security issue of oil availability and cost). The UN estimates that the diversion of corn to biofuels has already contributed 10% to the current rise in food prices, while the IMF estimates it at 20-30% (FT).*

The end of cheap food?
US and European farm subsidies have long kept the price of commodities such as wheat and soya artificially low. For example, between 1995 and 2005 American taxpayers supported US agriculture by $165bn, most of which went to the huge US-based trading giants such as Cargill and ADM (The Guardian). Low prices have led to under-investment in agriculture elsewhere, something which the rise in prices may actually help to remedy in time.

The price of oil
The increase in the price of oil (it has doubled in the past year) has lead to a steep rise in the price of fertiliser, (assisted by increased demand from the US biofuel industry). Transport prices have also increased. These have increased the cost of growing and transporting crops.

Medium to Short-term factors:

Extreme weather conditions
Severe drought in Australia over the last few years has significantly decreased their wheat and rice production (National Geographic).

Artificial shortages due to stockpiling and export restrictions.
With prices climbing, there's plenty of incentive for those at every point of the food production chain to stockpile commodities, from traders to store-owners. Investors seeking a profit have driven up prices further by buying up the market for future sale. In recent months rice-producing countries have also responded to the rise in food prices by taking steps to protect their own markets. India and Vietnam, the world's second and third largest rice producers, have introduced export restrictions. This stockpiling by producers as well as middlemen has limited supplies of rice and driven up prices still higher (Business Week).

Financial speculation on food prices.
Rising commodities prices (and a slow-down in other markets) has dramatically increased the appeal of food futures to speculators. Speculators buy and sell stocks or commodities in order to benefit from fluctuations in price (without any interest in the product itself). Food futures contracts are agreements to buy or sell a given amount of food by a certain future date at a predetermined price. In trading futures speculators are gambling on the future price of food - i.e. that these will continue to rise. The speculators argue they are not driving the market, but cannot deny that the rising demand for commodities futures has amplified the price increases. In the past five years, the number of futures contracts for wheat has quadrupled (foreignpolicy.com).

So is this worldwide food crisis why my weekly shopping bill has increased so much?

The surprising answer might actually be 'no, not really'.

Although shoppers in Western countries have seen significant increases in the price of bread, rice, dairy products, eggs and so on, these have not in any way reflected the real worldwide increase in the cost of food. The supermarkets would like us to thank them for this, claiming to have insulated consumers with reduced profit margins. This may be true to a small degree but it's worth remembering that the real reason we have seen such a small increase in prices in comparison to world food prices is because such a small proportion of the price we pay for our food actually goes to pay for the ingredients. For example, if a loaf of bread costs £1 and 10p of that goes to pay for the flour, then a doubling in the price of flour will cause only a 10% rise in the price of bread (to £1.10). In fact the European Commission has argued that the near-doubling of the price of wheat should have led to only a 3% rise in the price of bread (FT) rather than the 10% we've seen (giving you an indication of the real proportion of the cost going on ingredients).

While they're certainly having an effect, supermarket food prices are affected surprisingly little by movements in food prices worldwide (although those buying direct from wholesalers, such as restaurants, are insulated much less. Indian restaurants have been hit particularly badly by the rising price of rice and subsequent shortages). In fact, the main factor currently driving up prices in Western supermarkets are increases in energy, labour and transport costs caused by the dramatic rise in the price of oil (which is also a major contributor to the worldwide crisis). And oil is not likely to get any cheaper. It looks like the days of cheap food are over - and no one knows quite what to do about it.**

* Corn-based ethanol is hugely controversial, even without taking the food considerations into account. Many have claimed that the energy required to grow and convert corn to ethanol is greater than the energy gained from the fuel (although it does reduce the consumption of oil overall). This MIT study attempts to bring some balance to the discussion. However it seems likely that the rising price of corn and soya have affected more than the price of food. Some claim that the rise in prices has led to increasing deforestation in places like the Amazon rainforest as farmers clear land for growing soya beans.

**I should add 'except God'. So perhaps it's time these world leaders got praying...

Soup Experiment #1

I've decided I'd like to learn to make more soups.

So last night was my first experiment. I went searching for ingredients in the cupboard and came up with some bacon, half an onion and a bag of continential lentils! And it turned out pretty yummy!

So...

Bacon and Lentil Soup (for lack of a more exciting title!)

2-3 rashers of bacon, chopped
Half an onion, diced
Chicken stock cube
Squeeze of garlic puree
3oz of continental lentils (sludgy green ones)
Seasoning

I 'sweated' the onions down with a little butter in a pan and added the bacon bits when the onions were soft. Once the bacon was cooked I added some balsamic vinegar, a squeeze of garlic, some pepper and a sprinkling of Italian herbs (I wasn't feeling that adventurous!). Meanwhile I brought the lentils to the boil in a separate pan of water, with the chicken stock cube added. The instructions on the lentils packet say to boil the lentils for 10min and then simmer for 20min. So once they had boiled I added them to the cooked bacon and onion mixture and added some more water, then brought it all back to the boil and left it to simmer for 20min.

The result was yummy and could easily have fed 2 or 3 people. Result!

Onto the next one... suggestions welcome!

Wordle-ing

Whoever thought text analysis could be so fun! Wordle creates 'word clouds' from text you provide - and produces some surprisingly striking images in just a few seconds! Try it yourself to see...

Here's one or two I made earlier.. (well actually, just now!)


(from the -slightly edited- Wikipedia entry for Durham)


(from an old essay - can you guess what on?)


(from another old essay!)


(from a well-known song...)

It's a bit addictive really!

Here's one I didn't make:

(the complete text of the ESV Bible)
Isn't it interesting what words come up?

[Thanks to Matt!]

Iron Man

The movie Iron Man was a surprising pleasure recently - so much so I saw it twice!

I admit I'm a soft-touch for superhero movies to start with, but it didn't take long for Iron Man to gain another fan in me. A big part of that was down to Robert Downey Jr, who was as droll and gorgeous as ever in a part that seems made for him. The film gave me plenty of smiles and chuckles - enjoying the story with its angsty character development and humour, and, of course, charmed by Tony Stark's relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow's 'Pepper' Potts ("Tell me you never think about that night.." ahh). The romantic in me can never resist some good ol' UST (reminds me of those heady X Files days :-). I haven't seen a superhero movie with this much wit, heart and charm since Spiderman 2. Come on the sequel!



Robert Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times explains Iron Man's appeal (and its super-fit to RDJ) well in his review of the film:

Downey's performance is intriguing, and unexpected. He doesn't behave like most superheroes: he lacks the psychic weight and gravitas. Tony Stark is created from the persona Downey has fashioned through many movies: irreverent, quirky, self-deprecating, wise-cracking. ... Some superheroes speak in a kind of heightened, semi-formal prose, as if dictating to Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Not Tony Stark. ... He's flippant in the face of disaster, casual on the brink of ruin. ...
At the end of the day it's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies. You hire an actor for his strengths, and Downey would not be strong as a one-dimensional mighty-man. He is strong because he is smart, quick and funny, and because we sense his public persona masks deep private wounds. By building on that, Favreau found his movie, and it's a good one.

Church Politics and Chess?

I've just recently (re)discovered Dave Walker's cartoons on his Cartoon Church blog. Made me laugh lots despite (or perhaps because of) not being an Anglican!

So many to choose from - here's a few of my favourites:



The last one, in particular, reminds me of the cartoons my brother Brendan used to draw when we were younger - draw some more Bren!

Fun in the Playground

I missed church on Sunday, being away, so I was glad of this paraphrased excerpt(?) from Ruth's talk on Ben's blog:

Some people think of God's will, the plan God has for them, as a tightrope. You have to be really careful to stay on, otherwise it's a disaster. I think God's will is like a playground. It has a fence, and there are limits. Outside the fence it's dangerous as you could get hit by a car. Inside, there's slides, roundabouts, see-saws, swings - you can play on what you want. Sometimes God might say 'that's enough sliding for now, have a go on the swings'. You might enjoy some bits more than others, but you can have a go at different things. As long as you stay inside the fence, you're safe. But you don't have to walk a tightrope.

I like playgrounds!

(Thanks to Benbo Baggins!)

Healing on the Streets in Dudley

Here's hoping we have some testimonies like these at June Project!

The revival in Dudley seems to be an off-shoot of what's happening in Lakeland, Florida with Todd Bentley. Peter Kirk's been keeping up with events in Florida and the UK response on his blog 'Gentle Wisdom'.

Cell Poem

This is a poem we made in our cell - each person putting together a few lines based around a word taken from an alphabetical list of names for God. This is the (alphabetised!) result.

I really enjoyed the result and was impressed by how creative a group we are :)


Forgiver of debts;
Everything we owe
You paid yourself.

Glorious God, do we see you in your full glory?
If we saw your glory could we stand?
How overwhelming, Lord, that we can, like Moses, see you in your glory
and live.

Your awesome Holiness is so beautiful,
Revealing your pureness; showing your love
In the greatest way possible.
You are Holy; you are like no other.

Immanuel
God with us.
God: huge, universe-creating, nation-toppling, miracle-causing God
with us
In our weakness
In our pain, our brokenness
In our joys & in our sorrows
In our humanity.
Now alive within us,
Bringing life to dead bodies,
Light to dark recesses.
Immanuel.

Teacher: patiently explaining,
Gently upbraiding;
Sharing understanding,
Righteously demanding.

Unchanging One
You are still the mighty God
That spoke the world into being.
Forever you will be powerful.
You are still the merciful God
that sent his Son to die for us .
Forever we are yours.

Lord, you are the
Unchanging one.
From everlasting to
everlasting you are God. Unshakable,
dependable, always faithful.
Circumstances change, but you
remain the same.

Questions from Feminist Theology

I went along to Theology 101 at church today and, apart from being perhaps the first Soup and Theology I've been to without Chris, and missing his particular brand of "Jubious theology" :) , I quite enjoyed learning about feminist theology...

Mark was doing 'What's Right About Feminism?'

Lots to critique in the texts, but I was left with some interesting questions and counter-questions:

• Given that the Bible was written by male authors, did it have to be this way?
• Would the Bible have been essentially different if it had been written by women? Assuming that it would have been, at least to some degree, different, what does this say about the nature of truth? Could it still have been the Word of God? (perhaps a meaningless question.. Scripture is as it is.)
  
• Did the Bible have to have been written by men? Was this a reflection of the (male-dominated) culture, or was it supposed to be this way - determining cultural norms? As in a hegemony, which comes first - the reality or the interpretation of that reality as normative? In other words, perhaps controversially, is the patriachal hermeneutic divinely ordained or the product of a fallen society obsessed with holding power over others? Or is it somewhere between the two?
  

These are complicated questions and raise questions about the authority and authorship of the Bible. Part of the answer may rest on how we see the divine / human authorship of the Bible. But asking 'could it have been otherwise?' is much the same as 'could it have been other?' and leads us onto difficult and possibly dangerous ground. Scripture defines itself.

I'm not normally a fan of feminism, but I have to admit these are interesting questions. Ultimately of course, we know Scripture - as it stands - as God's word and I'm not about to dispute that. But I do think it's a sensible idea to treat texts with a 'hermeneutic of suspicion' at times - as long as you remember to question this hermeneutic as well! As a good friend used to say, 'I'm learning to question my doubts'.

I also think it's important to learn from the way feminist theologians are explicit about their hermeneutical agenda, not claiming to be unbiased or objective. I have some serious issues with some of their conclusions, but I do think they raise some important issues about the importance of questionning our own hermeneutics and use of language.

However, at the end of the day I want to remember that we're involved in a searching for the Truth - above liberation, freedom, 'correctness', or anything else. Because we believe that ultimately Truth is a person (John 14.6), and he alone gives true freedom.

...Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ...if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8.31-36

Wycliffe and Tyndale

[Still in my addiction to audiobooks phase!]

After finishing the unabridged 'Dune' by Frank Herbert (read by Scott Brick), which was a completely absorbing 22 hours on another world (and even more marvellous to listen to than read), I'm now listening to Melvyn Bragg's Adventure of English. It's a truly fascinating story for anyone interested in history and language and Robert Powell's narration makes the words and language come alive. From Beowulf to Chaucer to Elizabeth I... (that's about as far as I've got!)

I'm currently deep in the Middle Ages; being inspired and moved by the stories of Wycliffe and Tyndale and their respective Bible translations. Tyndale sounds like a fantastic character particularly. The story of him agreeing to sell a whole print run of 6000 copies to the Bishop of London - which were then burnt - and then using the proceeds to finance a new version - pure brilliance! And Melvyn Bragg rightly raves about the lyricism and brilliance of his translation. He introduced a huge number of new words and phrases into English (see the Wikipedia article for examples). The King James Version stuck to his phrasing and vocabulary in most cases and lots is still familiar today in modern translations.

Tyndale was a preacher and his version was a preacher's Bible, lyrical and memorable. Bragg comments that English Bibles today still share this legacy from Tyndale of being designed to be read aloud and understood by all.

"I defy the pope, and all his laws... If God spared him life, ere many years he would cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of the Scripture than he did."

Bragg has some great quotes from Tyndale and others, which sadly I cannot share because I don't have the text in front of me, but I highly recommend reading the book - or even getting the audiobook (I have a subscription at Audible - by far the cheapest way!)

Preaching the Gospel

[From a link on Undercover Theologian.]

I liked this article by Tim Keller on Christianity Today's Leadership Journal on 'The Gospel in All it's Forms' about the different aspects of the 'one gospel' and, especially, his wisdom on preaching them:

1. I don't put all the gospel points into any one gospel presentation.

When studying Paul's gospel speeches in the book of Acts, it is striking how much is always left out. He always leads with some points rather than others in an effort to connect with the baseline cultural narratives of his listeners. It is almost impossible to cover all the bases of the gospel with a non-believing listener without that person's eyes glazing over.

2. I use both a gospel for the "circumcised" and for the "uncircumcised."
- or the moralists and the postmoderns

...I use the biblical definition of sin as idolatry. That puts the emphasis not as much on "doing bad things" but on "making good things into ultimate things." ...I tell them that they are sinning because they are looking to their romances to give their lives meaning, to justify and save them, to give them what they should be looking for from God. ...Then Christ and his salvation can be presented not (at this point) so much as their only hope for forgiveness, but as their only hope for freedom. This is my "gospel for the uncircumcised."

3. I use both a "kingdom" and an "eternal life" gospel.

...I point out the story-arc of the Bible and speak of the gospel in terms of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. We once had the world we all wanted—a world of peace and justice, without death, disease, or conflict. But by turning from God we lost that world. Our sin unleashed forces of evil and destruction so that now "things fall apart" and everything is characterized by physical, social, and personal disintegration. Jesus Christ, however, came into the world, died as a victim of injustice and as our substitute, bearing the penalty of our evil and sin on himself.

4. I use them all and let each group overhear me preaching to the others.

No one form of the gospel gives all the various aspects of the full gospel the same emphasis. If, then, you only preach one form, you are in great danger of giving your people an unbalanced diet of gospel-truth. What is the alternative? Don't preach just one gospel form. That's not true to the various texts of the Bible anyway. If you are preaching expositionally, different passages will convey different forms of the one gospel. Preach different texts and your people will hear all the points. ...

Lots of wisdom there I thought! Read the full article.

Thanks Matt!

Your Atonement is Too Small

From an article on Christianity Today, reviewing 'A Community Called Atonement' by Scot McKnight. Looks interesting!

...A Community Called Atonement is not just a bridge-building book. It is also an expand-your-vision book. To parody J. B. Phillips's famous title, this book could have been called Your Atonement Is Too Small.

McKnight's gaze follows the way Paul focuses his wide-angle lens. McKnight reviews the various metaphors, pictures, and theories of Atonement implicit in Scripture and looks for the big picture. Taking themes expounded by the earliest church fathers—victory, ransom, recapitulation—he wraps them together into one package called 'identification for incorporation.'

Yancey

Christianity Today has a really nice article about Philip Yancey, one of my favourite Christian writers.

I'm a big fan of Yancey's writing, especially 'What's So Amazing About Grace?', which is always in my 'Christian classics pile'. I was also reminded today of how good 'In the Likeness of God' (by Yancey and Dr Paul Brand) is - a fascinating journey through the intricacies of the human body and the insight they give us into the body of Christ. Loved it - the science and the theology!

Coming up

Films I'm looking forward to this summer.

Prince Caspian - 27 June
Not my favourite book, but looks like a fun movie!


Indiana Jones 4 - 22 May
Wahey! How can Indiana Jones not be fantastic?


The X Files 2 - 1 August
Can you believe they're back?! Mulder and Scully rock...

Everything you need to know in 7 minutes

Everything you need to know about the Democratic race for president in 7 minutes. Genius.


Via Marbury.

Articles on the rise of Reform Theology

I'll be keeping up with this ongoing discussion on Christianity Today, between Tony Jones (no, not the Durham one!) of 'The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier' and Collin Hansen of Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists.

Also, I thought this guest post from Thomas McCall was interesting to read in its sympathetic - yet cautionary - portrayal of the New Calvinists.

Sheltered from a crisis

These figures on the food crisis are quite incredible. The price of wheat has risen 130% since March last year. The increase in the price of rice has had huge effects worldwide.

Some of the effects to be caused by the crisis include a new craze for eating spaghetti in Liberia, families in Bangladesh surviving on one meal a day, 100 million extra families plunged into poverty, and food riots in Haiti, Cameroon, Indonesia and Egypt.

Read the BBC's Q&A on the crisis.

If ever there was a good reason to become a vegetarian, this is one.

How fixed is the script?

I was interested to read Ben Witherington's view on God's 'script' and the significance of human decisions.

"Whilst, God could have done otherwise, he has chosen to allow us to be viable partners with God in ministry and the working out of his will and Kingdom on earth, beings capable of making un-predetermined choices that have incredible consequences. The issue is not the sovereignty of God - the issue is how God has chosen to exercise his power and will. And what the Bible says about this is that he has not pre-determined all things from before the foundations of the world.

Human history is not merely a preordained play, played out perfectly to a pre-ordained script. On the contrary while there is a blue-print, or a general script, God has allowed, indeed invited us to make the drama like a night at the Improv, improvising our roles as we go, and making viable choices of moment and consequence along the way. Are we supposed to follow the general instructions in the script? Well yes, as they provide the boundaries beyond which we ought not to go and show us what character and kind of roles we should play. But of course we may fail to play our parts well, or indeed at all."

I absolutely agree. Saying that God always gets his way makes no sense of Jesus' instructions on prayer, in particular the Lord's prayer:
"Let your kingdom come, your will be done..."

Another interesting link I came across on Ben's blog is a 'blogalogue' between Bart Ehrman and N. T. Wright on the problem of suffering. Ehrman has just published a book called 'God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer'. NT Wright is as eloquent and graceful in his replies as ever. I always find him refreshing on this subject as he takes the existence of evil seriously and isn't content to attribute all suffering in the world to human choices.

"...the Gospels constituted, and still constitute, a challenge to all expectations, particularly in that they link – as readers for hundreds have years have found it difficult to do – the story of Jesus’ kingdom-inauguration with the story of his crucifixion and resurrection. Somehow, they are saying, this is what it looks like when the good, all-powerful and all-loving God is in charge of the world. You may say that if this is what they’re saying then the God of whom they speak is not ‘all-powerful’ in the way we might have imagined, and I suspect that is in a sense correct. Near the heart of Jesus’ proclamation lies a striking redefinition of power itself, which looks as though it’s pointing in the direction of God’s ‘running of the world’ (if that’s the right phrase) in what you might call a deliberately, almost studiedly, self-abnegating way, running the world through an obedient, and ultimately suffering, human being, with that obedience, and especially that suffering, somehow instrumental in the whole process. What ‘we would want God to do’ – to have God measure up to our standards of ‘how a proper, good and powerful God would be running the world’! – seems to be the very thing that Jesus was calling into question.

The mystery of Jesus himself, then, is for me near the heart of – not ‘the answer’, because I don’t think there is such a thing as ‘the answer’, but – the matrix of thought and life within which God’s people are called to continue to grapple with the problem. This is where, in Evil and the Justice of God, I try to draw together traditional discussions of ‘the atonement’ and traditional discussions of ‘the problem of evil’ and suggest that it’s odd that they should ever have been separated, since they seem to go together so closely in the Bible itself. (And can’t be reduced, I suggest, to the ‘God punishes sin’ logic; I have tended to include some elements of that within the Christus Victor motif, which, yes, involves suprahuman cosmic powers and all that. Hard though they are to describe adequately, they are even harder, in my view, to ignore.)"

Clip clip and away

How did I survive so long without an MP3 player? I've wanted one for years, but just kept putting off the crucial decision. Now, finally, I have my very own shiny red, matchbook-size 2GB player and I'm quite addicted to its charms.

The player that's captured my heart is the Sansa Clip 2GB with Radio - the red version, of course!

After first being drawn to its shiny red gorgeousness and miniature proportions and then charmed by its helpful little screen and friendliness to others (computers and software alike), you could now say I'm looking forward to a comfortable, committed future together...

It has a fantastic inbuilt clip - thus the name - which has proven really useful at the gym, the good sense to keep your place in an audio book even when you switch over to listen to something else, a radio, sensible controls, easy volume adjustment and it sounds great!

[advert over] :-)

I've also rediscovered audio books. Not a cheap option compared to a book, but what a treat! I signed up to Audible for a couple of months and this may be a new addiction! I listened to The Hobbit (unabridged) first - all 12 or so hours of it. Absolutely brilliant! For days you couldn't get much sense out of me at all, it was all 'What has he got in his pocketsess?' and 'the eagles! the eagles!'

My second find, and another treasure, has been Tim Butcher's Blood River, read by the author. In 2004 Tim, a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph, made his way alone across one of the most dangerous countries in the world, the Congo, inspired to follow the route of the famous explorer HM Stanley. This is his account of the adventure, the people he met and the history of this apparently doomed country. Obsessed, yes; crazy, probably. Yet this is a fantastic tale and a deeply provoking and affecting account of the present-day Congo and the forces which have shaped it and continue to do so. Thoroughly recommended.

No Lions...

I really enjoyed this story in the Guardian about the Maasai Warriors running in the London Marathon and their thoughts on England.

We heard about showers before, in a briefing about the country. It said be careful - when the shower is hot it is really hot, and when cold, really cold. This is true.

The Telegraph also has some great quotes from the guide to England they were given.

Design for the Other 90%

The title of this post comes from a recent design exhibition - with a difference. As the exhibition website explains,

Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted; in fact, nearly half do not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this 'other 90%.' Through partnerships both local and global, individuals and organizations are finding unique ways to address the basic challenges of survival and progress faced by the world’s poor and marginalized.

There are some fantastic ideas being showcased here, both ingenious and simple. Other websites celebrating designs for the developing world include the INDEX award, the Project H Design site, and the blog TreeHugger, among others.

I've long been fascinated by the development of the One Laptop Per Child project, its 'first principles' approach and the way in which OLPC have turned every assumption about building laptops on its head. There's an excellent video of the designer Mary Lou Jepsen at the Greener Gadgets show explaining the many innovations that have gone into the XO laptop and why it's not only low-cost and fit-for-purpose, but also amazingly 'green' as well. In fact, as she explains, it could not have been otherwise: the design had to be low energy and 'green' in order to survive in an environment where energy is at a premium. There's a great section about innovative charging methods including (my favourite) the cow-charger! I completely get her excitement - so many elements of this design are worth raving about!



Of the many design solutions being profiled on these websites, some of my other favourites include the LifeStraw, a personal water-filtration and purification device, the weird but ingeneous Stenop Low-Cost Correcting Glasses, and the simple but effective Hippo Roller!



Classic ideas also seeing a new lease of life include the Solar Oven, the WaterCone, a solar-powered water desalinator, and the Portable Light Project, which makes use of the new high-brightness LEDs.

"The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%."
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises (link)

Another design site I've enjoyed recently is the Houses of the Future project - check out the cardboard house!

What 'Other 90%' or 'Green' design ideas have caught your eye recently?

What I know

I've been listening to Greg Boyd's recent sermons on prayer - inspiring and thought-provoking, as ever. Hopefully I'll get round to blogging further on my thoughts and response to these. But, listening to his sermon on the variables that affect answers to prayer ('Scorpions, Eggs and Prayer') I've been particularly reflecting on his explanation of what we DON'T know, that is almost everything! He explains that it's profoundly important to know what we don't know and to get comfortable saying 'I don't know'. As he memorably describes it, we "swim in an infinite sea of unknowability" and what we call the 'things we know' is an oasis of pseudo-knowledge floating in a sea of mystery! It is knowing this that keeps us from being sucked into formulas and trite responses.

I completely agree with him that the statement 'I don't know' can be enormously powerful in the right context. When faced with the question of suffering, I wonder whether it is indeed the only appropriate answer. It rings true with God's response to Job - there is far more in the Universe than you could possibly know or understand. There is a necessary humility when faced with the question of why a prayer has not been answered. Although it may ease our pain to find someone to blame, any answer cannot help but be simplistic and damaging - either to ourselves or others, or to our relationship with God.

However, while we may have to answer 'I don't know', this cannot be the end of our response. We are called to have compassion - and words may only be a small part of this. And as Christians we also have hope.

There is much we don't know, but one thing I do know: Jesus our Saviour was dead in the grave, and is alive again! Jesus is alive - that is the response of hope.

"I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."
Revelation 1.18

Happy Easter everyone!

John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel

This a superb video highlighting comments by John Piper on the 'Prosperity Gospel' message speaking in Birmingham in 2005.



Those are full-on words, but I think he's essentially got it right.

N.B. The story he tells about the car crash happened to someone in his church.

Heroes!

A recent, and most delightful, discovery has been the TV series 'Hornblower'. Completely fantastic! The adventures, the wit and derring-do, the honour, duty and courage, the twinkle in his eye, the floppy hair.... Where have I been since 1998? - or was it 1798?

I'm not sure whether to read the books or not - Ioan Gruffudd is so perfect in the TV series that it's hard to imagine anything different!



I knew by the end of the first episode that Horatio Hornblower would be joining my 'list' of favourite fictional characters. But it got me thinking as to who else might also be on it!

So here goes, my first draft at a list of favourite fictional characters heroes:

In no particular order,

Horatio Hornblower (as played by Ioan Gruffudd)
Captain Jean Luc Picard
Constable Benton Fraser (Due South)
President Bartlett (plus the rest of the cast of The West Wing!)
Mr Spock
Anne Shirley (as played by Megan Follows)
Jo March (Little Women)
Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen gets it!) - plus Gandalf, Legolas and the others!
Sir Lancelot

On the B list are:
King Arthur (Sean Connery's, obviously)
Robin Hood (I think Kevin Costner's wins)
Spiderman (Tobey Maguire) - he's so sweet!
Mr Darcy (hmm, difficult to decide which one)
Princess Leah, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker
Buffy Summers
Captain Carrot (from the Terry Pratchett books!)
Sherlock Holmes
Elinor Dashwood

Hmm, I notice they're almost all TV characters so far! And by far the majority, men :) And a good number of men in uniform as well... I'm so predictable...hehe.

I'm sure I need some more 'intellectual' choices... any suggestions, anyone?

From West Wing to the Real Thing

... so states the headline of an article on Barack Obama in today's Guardian. I'm glad I'm not the only person getting confused between The West Wing and the real world of US Politics!

It turns out that Matthew Santos, the 'next' president in The West Wing, was in fact modelled on Barack Obama - way back in 2004. As the article states, "the result is a bizarre case of art imitating life - only for life to imitate art back again."

In the TV show, Santos begins as the rank outsider up against a national figure famous for standing at the side of a popular Democratic president. There are doubts about Santos's inexperience, having served just a few years in Congress, and about his ability to persuade voters to back an ethnic minority candidate - even as his own ethnic group harbour suspicions that he might not identify with them sufficiently.

But the soaring power of his rhetoric, his declaration that the old divisions belong in the past and his sheer magnetism, ensure that he comes from behind in a fiercely close primary campaign and draws level with his once all-commanding opponent. Every aspect of that storyline has come true for Barack Obama. Axelrod, now chief strategist for the Obama campaign, recently joked in an email to Attie: "We're living your scripts!"

The Telegraph also found a list of 'delicious parallels' between The West Wing and the US Presidential Election.

Could this be how it ends? :-)

Matthew Santos' stirring convention speech (from 'The West Wing'):

Music and Mortality

I found myself inspired today to re-read the Narnia series again. I had a wonderful time reading - and blogging about - the series a couple of years ago, but it's the kind of reading feeding material that deserves a regular visit I think.

So I sat down - or rather lay down - this afternoon with the Magician's Nephew. I'm a quick reader, but I forced myself to slow down, almost reading aloud, for the many beautiful passages describing the creation of Narnia. I could almost hear Aslan's voice singing Narnia into being, then the stars joining in, and the shear fruitfulness of the ground that cannot help but respond. My whole mind and body responds even to the thought of that singing, with recognition and joy, like a forgotten memory. Singing, yes - Jesus! O to have been there - but then we will be next time!

Speaking of heavenly music, a recent discovery has been 'Spem in Alium' by Thomas Tallis (listen to it sung by the Tallis Scholars on YouTube). A truly beautiful choral piece, it requires 8 choirs of 5 parts each (40 singing parts in total) and is designed for a cathedral. Rich and complex yet pure and simple, the interweaving melodies are haunting then joyful; completely wonderful. I would absolutely love to go to a live performance of this - and would travel a fair distance - so if anyone hears of a performance anywhere, please let me know!

But back to the Magician's Nephew. There's a moment at the beginning of Narnia when Aslan 'calls' the Cabbie's wife and she suddenly appears, whisked away from the Earth in the middle of her laundry! I was shocked to discover my reaction to this event - what, give her no warning? but what if she wanted to bring something? say goodbye? - and forced to reflect on my own silliness (even as the questions raced through my mind, I was simultaneously appalled and amused!). But actually it was not the mortality question necessarily that rocked me, the fact that of course we can't take anything when we die, but actually the conviction that I am too attached to 'things'.

What 'thing' left on Earth could possibly matter when brought to this wonderful new place of Narnia - why should she need or miss anything when Aslan himself is there? I know this will be true when we meet Jesus and live with him on the new Earth, so why do I have this attachment to 'things' that have no lasting value? I couldn't even think of anything particular I might have wanted to pick up had it been me whisked away - it was a general sense of disattachment. I have had the general sense for a number of months now that I want to 'lighten the load' and get rid of some stuff, because I have too many things, so this was an encouragement to me that that's true. I want to lose some of the excess weight, tone up, lighten up, be more flexible, temporary, ready to leave... So it's going to be 'give away' season! (feel free to help out! :)