Early on Saturday morning, whilst asleep, my wife Clare pushed me, I awoke, surprised. She told me that in my sleep I'd been unsettled. She asked me if everything was okay. I grunted something about having a nightmare. She asked me what my nightmare was about and I replied.
My reply as written below was my reply. I'm not lying. Seriously.
Clare asked, "what was your nightmare about?"
I replied, "the Church of England were thinking about abolisihing the parish system."
I was serious, at 5:00AM. This was a nightmare and would be a nightmare.
Later that morning, at a more reasonable hour, it became clear to me. I.... AM..... AN.... ANGLICAN.....
I mean, I had known this for some time, but there's knowing something, and something invading your night hours and giving you nightmares.
I am an anglican.
I love the Parish system!
Just thought I'd share that.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
Thursday, 26 March 2009
A new era
Grammy winning lyrics from B.Y.O.B. by System of a Down. Still have a haunting feeling in the back of my mind that whilst the president has changed and the future is temporarily optimistic regarding that situation, there is a numbness of inevitability that these prophetic music lyrics will be repeated time and time again.... and it's not just presidents either.
Why don’t presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don’t presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why, do, they always send the poor?
Why, do, they always send the poor?
Why, do, they always send the poor?
They always send the poor
They always send the poor
Still to be seen
Why don’t presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why don’t presidents fight the war?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why do they always send the poor?
Why, do, they always send the poor?
Why, do, they always send the poor?
Why, do, they always send the poor?
They always send the poor
They always send the poor
Still to be seen
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
principle and foundation: following on from Ignatius
Humanity, in all its complexity and originality,
Was crafted in the image of divinity,
Created to worship the Trinity,
To fill the world with progeny,
And to be stewards of earth, sky and sea,
Through Christianity, humanity,
Is to stand in times of adversity,
To live alongside absurdity and anxiety,
In a world of profanity,
And in a culture of perversity,
To live in ways the world sees as insanity,
To be open about faith and not live in exclusivity,
But to live out faith collaboratively,
In community, with accountability, for all to see,
To preach Christ in his divine humility,
And to preach the Godhead as trinity,
To share the wonder of God’s infinity,
And his salvation for eternity, through his approachability,
Made distinct from manatee,
With the potential for apostolicity,
With an inner Holy Spirit shaped cavity,
With discipleship as a central capability,
Whether employed in book entry security
Or living in Carson City,
To live lives free from sins captivity,
To worship the Lord throughout history
In awe of the glory of God’s mystery,
To hold tightly to the hem of the garment of his deity,
To with our lives seek after his majesty,
And to struggle conceptually to yearn for his orthodoxy,
Through prayer and meditative sensitivity,
To look to his eternal city,
And then to humanity, and see the pity,
And be moved to activity, with tenacity,
In the knowledge that God has no temerity,
Or irrationality, but that essentially,
By Christ’s death and resurrection he has set us free.
Was crafted in the image of divinity,
Created to worship the Trinity,
To fill the world with progeny,
And to be stewards of earth, sky and sea,
Through Christianity, humanity,
Is to stand in times of adversity,
To live alongside absurdity and anxiety,
In a world of profanity,
And in a culture of perversity,
To live in ways the world sees as insanity,
To be open about faith and not live in exclusivity,
But to live out faith collaboratively,
In community, with accountability, for all to see,
To preach Christ in his divine humility,
And to preach the Godhead as trinity,
To share the wonder of God’s infinity,
And his salvation for eternity, through his approachability,
Made distinct from manatee,
With the potential for apostolicity,
With an inner Holy Spirit shaped cavity,
With discipleship as a central capability,
Whether employed in book entry security
Or living in Carson City,
To live lives free from sins captivity,
To worship the Lord throughout history
In awe of the glory of God’s mystery,
To hold tightly to the hem of the garment of his deity,
To with our lives seek after his majesty,
And to struggle conceptually to yearn for his orthodoxy,
Through prayer and meditative sensitivity,
To look to his eternal city,
And then to humanity, and see the pity,
And be moved to activity, with tenacity,
In the knowledge that God has no temerity,
Or irrationality, but that essentially,
By Christ’s death and resurrection he has set us free.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Pro-activation of the blog
I feel that after seeing Bezzer's lastest blog, I too should be blogging. I have been blogged off for far too long. But all that is in the past now, a new sunny dawn of blogging is about to begin, 1..... , 2...... , 3.......
Friday, 3 October 2008
One week of college done
Wow, what an exciting week. I have been incredibly fortunate and blessed to be able to spend the last week studying at college. I'm having the time of my life, enjoying my lectures, my chapel worship and all the wonderful things in between. My lecturers are incredibly godly people and incredibly wise.
It's wonderful! Wonderful!
It's wonderful! Wonderful!
Saturday, 9 August 2008
5 years married and more in love everyday?
Yesterday Clare and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary.
The day broke down as below:
* Opened "wood" themed presents for each other
* Went to the Chill Factor(e) where Clare had bought me a snowboarding taster session. I loved it and never fell off!
* Home for a shower!
* La Tasca for lunch, mmmmm.
* The DIY shop for all those last minute DIY needs
* The Red Cinema for a walk around the Lowry, popcorn and Wall-E (amazing)
* Home to sleep
(not the most amazing blog post ever, but sometimes you've just got to enjoy the good things that happen around you!)
The day broke down as below:
* Opened "wood" themed presents for each other
* Went to the Chill Factor(e) where Clare had bought me a snowboarding taster session. I loved it and never fell off!
* Home for a shower!
* La Tasca for lunch, mmmmm.
* The DIY shop for all those last minute DIY needs
* The Red Cinema for a walk around the Lowry, popcorn and Wall-E (amazing)
* Home to sleep
(not the most amazing blog post ever, but sometimes you've just got to enjoy the good things that happen around you!)
Friday, 1 August 2008
The Dark-est Knight
Last night a friend and I swooped down to a cinema in the modern heart of Latvia's capital city, Riga. We went to the shiny new multiplex cinema to see the new Christopher Nolan Batman movie: The Dark Knight.
I'm not going to give any of the plot away; no spoilers here so it's safe to read on. I don't want to ruin the film for you and I don't want to get sued so it makes sense to steer clear! The movie is a blast. a fantastic follow up to the first Christopher Nolan Batman movie, Batman Begins.
It's a movie that raises questions and is constantly trying to answer those questions whilst posing further and further questions. It's no surprise that a non-official book about Batman and philosophy has been released in 2008. There are so many questions about good, identity, morality, faith, hope, justice, tolerance, etc, etc, etc, the list just keeps going....
One theme that follows on from the last movie into this film is the question of who the Batman actually is.... We, the audience know it's Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), but most of the inhabitants of Gotham city have no clue.
That's a fascinating concept, an intriguing suggestion; doing all the hard work for none of the glory. Like serving meals on wheels, or being the cashier's assistant at a local community finance initiative, or being one of those people who pray for the persecuted Christian's they hear about in books and at conferences.
A not so recent phenomena is that of the celebrity endorsement for a charity or for a certain work. It's fantastic. When we see a footballer from the Premiership doing a street workshop with some inner-city youth, or when we see a movie actress visiting a small school in Ethiopia. They are raising awareness for the charity, I'm not interested in hearing about the positive impact on their celebrity status, let's not detract from good work for the sake of cynicism.
What is better though, is the millions slipping their pennies into the charity envelopes, the countless people who will never get to visit that school, or who can't teach kids positive footballing skills.
And it's worth remembering (when we're drained from effort, or frustration, or lack of thanks, or emptiness) that Batman wears a mask. The people of Gotham don't know who he is but they know he's there. Those who strive to keep community organisations going, or who support charities in everyday ways may not get much recognition, but the charities and the community organisations know who they are!
Besides all that; the movie is fabulous, terrifying at times, but fabulous.
I'm not going to give any of the plot away; no spoilers here so it's safe to read on. I don't want to ruin the film for you and I don't want to get sued so it makes sense to steer clear! The movie is a blast. a fantastic follow up to the first Christopher Nolan Batman movie, Batman Begins.
It's a movie that raises questions and is constantly trying to answer those questions whilst posing further and further questions. It's no surprise that a non-official book about Batman and philosophy has been released in 2008. There are so many questions about good, identity, morality, faith, hope, justice, tolerance, etc, etc, etc, the list just keeps going....
One theme that follows on from the last movie into this film is the question of who the Batman actually is.... We, the audience know it's Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), but most of the inhabitants of Gotham city have no clue.
That's a fascinating concept, an intriguing suggestion; doing all the hard work for none of the glory. Like serving meals on wheels, or being the cashier's assistant at a local community finance initiative, or being one of those people who pray for the persecuted Christian's they hear about in books and at conferences.
A not so recent phenomena is that of the celebrity endorsement for a charity or for a certain work. It's fantastic. When we see a footballer from the Premiership doing a street workshop with some inner-city youth, or when we see a movie actress visiting a small school in Ethiopia. They are raising awareness for the charity, I'm not interested in hearing about the positive impact on their celebrity status, let's not detract from good work for the sake of cynicism.
What is better though, is the millions slipping their pennies into the charity envelopes, the countless people who will never get to visit that school, or who can't teach kids positive footballing skills.
And it's worth remembering (when we're drained from effort, or frustration, or lack of thanks, or emptiness) that Batman wears a mask. The people of Gotham don't know who he is but they know he's there. Those who strive to keep community organisations going, or who support charities in everyday ways may not get much recognition, but the charities and the community organisations know who they are!
Besides all that; the movie is fabulous, terrifying at times, but fabulous.
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