Coldplay - Viva La Vida

I've pre-ordered the latest Coldplay album on iTunes, this has enabled me to download the title track "Viva la Vida". I'll probably let you have my opinions when the album is out... but cryptic imagery of this song really captured my imagination. I actually think it's a veiled attack on a political figure. I'll say who I think that is and why, after you've had an opportunity to read the lyrics:

I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies' eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you know there was never
Never an honest word
That was when I ruled the world

It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh, who would ever wanna be king?

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know St. Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world

Ohh...Hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know St. Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
Ooh...

I actually think the song is a veiled attack on Tony Blair. Yes, I know I could easily be attaching my own political bias onto the song... but I'll list my reasons and let you make your own minds up.

The chorus is my strongest reason for feeling the way I do. The character in the song hears Jerusalem bells a ringing... this could easily be a reference to Blair taking up a position as a Middle East peace envoy. Then we have a militaristic/quasi-religious reference connected to Rome and a line in later choruses that reads "for some reason I can't explain, I know St Peter won't call my name". These lines can't help but make you think of a connection to Roman Catholicism... to which Mr Blair is a "recent" convert. The character in the song is clearly struggling with something on his conscience which is why he knows deep down that St. Peter won't call his name... he knows he's done something that he feels he cannot atone for (Roman Catholic theology runs along the lines that you need to confess your sins to a priest to be absolved; also some catholics believe in purgatory, a system whereby you can only get to heaven by paying your sins off in a kind of limbo state - this is entirely without biblical foundation and opposes the teaching that Christ's sacrifice pays for the entire sum of our sins). It could therefore be a reference to the amount of casualties in Iraq (coalition and Iraqi), something that would take a heavy amount of paying if you subscribed to purgatorial theology.

Other elements of the song make reference to memories of an old king dying and a new king being crowned... which mirrors the early days of New Labour when all opposition was effectively neutered. Then we have the mention of betrayal... how everyone who believed the central character represented one set of ideals, actually discover they aren't representing them... and the head on the silver platter could easily be a reference to people wanting Blair out of office. The line following that talks of a lonely puppet on a string... and perhaps this could refer to Blair being a puppet to US foreign policy. There are also constant references to lies and deceit and Tony Blair was noted for his "spin". Funnily enough when he was in office at No.10, if you typed "liar" into Google, the top result was Blair's biography on the No.10 website.

The beginning of the song probably likens the central character to King Canute who according to legend told his people he had power over the sea... it betrays an air of arrogance. Actually to set the record straight, the historical King Canute had a reputation of being very good king. The reason he went out to the sea and tried to hold it back,was not to prove he had mastery over it... it was actually to prove to his people that he couldn't (because the silly idiots had got it into their heads that he was a godlike figure).

Anyway, that's my reasoning behind why I think the song is a veiled attack on Blair's political history.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree/disagree? If so, I'd like to hear your own ideas and alternative theories.

Not On My Watch.

I don't intend this to be huge post... I've got other things I feel I need to write about, but as it's Pentecost... I felt that there was a need to respond to an article I had read in The Times this week about the apparent decline in Christianity in Britain. I want to look at a couple of quotes:

"Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.

The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers’ pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die."

I don't believe that Christianity is dying in this country... I think that it is going through a God driven restructuring. I believe that if the organised church crumbles in this nation, it's passing will only be mourned as much as the butterfly laments over it's chrysalis. What I mean by that, is that the emergent Church will be stronger, more beautiful and closer to what it should be. Most people I mix with, who have an active church life within the Anglican Church, are frustrated that so much money gets pumped into infrastructure. Congregations are crippled by the upkeep of crumbling buildings that are not as central to our faith as they were when they were first built. Take away the overheads and the money from tithing/collections, would flood into the parched areas of the Church where it is needed. At the time of the early church, money was used to look after widows, orphans and the poor.

During the last recession, a church in a fishing village in Scotland found it's numbers had dwindled; the village was crippled and unemployment was rife. The core group at the church had a radical idea. Where employment was lacking, they used what resources the church had... to employ the villagers in the community who were without work. They paid money for them to repair fences etc. The church numbers began to rise... this was nothing to do with preaching or people being coerced by "bribery". People started to come back first as a show of gratitude for the support the church had shown and out of curiosity. However, having had their physical needs taken care of... they began to discover that their spiritual needs were also being catered for.

If you look in the Bible, this is exactly how Jesus and the early apostles handled things. preaching often followed healing. The light you demonstrate in your actions and attitudes towards others, is the key to evangelism. The Bible says that if we preach and prophesy without love... then we are a sounding gong or a clashing cymbal. What better way to demonstrate Christ's real, unconditional love, than to actively look after the needs of the people around you who are in need. Some commentators (notably Martin Luther) have criticised the Epistle of James for running counter to the idea of salvation by grace through faith. In fact, what i believe James is actually saying in his letter, is that if we don't demonstrate faith by our actions and attitudes, then people will never truly see it.

It's true that God can move in a really dynamic way, perhaps through a powerful sermon... or by timely words... or just by divinely pouring out his Spirit on an unsuspecting community... but if we aren't reflecting the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, if we aren't responding to the Holy Spirit in our own walk, then people will pass by and maybe miss the moment. If people see us slaving laboriously with religion, they are going to cross the road and walk on the other side of the street very quickly. However, if we are living in a way that shows we actually understand the freedom Christ gives us, in our own daily lives... we are being active and faithful witnesses.

The article also makes a very bold conclusion that the report "makes it clear that Christianity is becoming a minority religion". This is slanted and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the complexity of modern Christianity in the western world. The Church of England and Methodist Church responded by pointing out the popularity of the Fresh Expressions movement.

The church is adapting... it is learning that you can't be conceited and sit on yesterday's laurels, you have to go to where people are... and this is what Fresh Expressions is all about... heck, for that matter it's one of the main reasons I blog.

Ministers might be in decline... but theological colleges are bursting, young people are deciding to reinterpret what ministry means in new and exciting ways.

Buildings may close but house groups are becoming a more and more important of church life.

Is Christianity dying out in the West? No way, not on my watch.

It's Pentecost and I'll let you into a little something I know...

The Holy Spirit is the church's best kept secret. More and more people are discovering the Spirit on their personal journey... and that's worth more than a thousand churches or ministers. A Spirit filled people... will light the way for others.

Come Holy Spirit.

A Tap on the Shoulder

I've been feeling much more buoyant over the past couple of days.

Part of it has just been down to being in the presence of good friends (some of whom I consider family), during a training session for the Scripture Union holiday I help out at... but something far more significant happened there... something that had the odd effect of making me beam from ear to ear (much to the bemusement of those sat around me at the time).

A couple of years ago, there was a passage of scripture from the Old Testament that was laid on my heart and it kept reoccurring in the bizarrest of circumstances - almost like the numbers on LOST keep cropping up.

On Saturday morning, there was a brief talk given by Sheila, on a passage from scripture. She didn't read out the reference... but as far as I was concerned, she didn't need to. I was very familiar with those words... which are like old friends in themselves to me. The passage actually comes from Isaiah:

"For a long time I have kept silent,
I have been quiet and held myself back.
But now, like a woman in childbirth,
I cry out, I gasp and pant.

I will lay waste the mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up the pools.

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known,
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do;
I will not forsake them. "

Isaiah 42:14-16

Sheila only read from verse 16 (the portion that I have emboldened), but it served as a tap on the shoulder and brought back so much for me. The passage speaks of God releasing his people from the things that bind them and changing them so that they can follow him in a new and exciting way, and inflicting hardship on those who try and keep God's people from the freedom he desires to give them. In Isaiah's day, that meant deliverance from the impending Babylonian captivity... this is not something that you may feel we have an obvious connection with today. However, God sent his Son Jesus to release us from the slavery of our sin, mistakes and brokenness. Furthermore... we all have a destiny to be claimed through Christ. He wants us to grow into the people the Father called us to be.... to take on his character and nature through the power and gifting of the Holy Spirit. Naturally God's enemies in the spiritual realm aren't too happy about people choosing to stand up in the power of God... and will do everything they can to keep us from claiming that prize, our inheritance. So there is a link between Isaiah's original readers and ourselves. Reading this passage always reassures me that God will always come for his people - to save an empower them to do his will. It always picks me up off the floor and inspires me to keep running.

Recently I had to submit a sermon outline for the preaching course I am on. I was asked to use an illustration to back up what I was saying. The passage was different... but the sentiment is the same and so I'll offer it to you as an example here:

You know something? Watching the end of that video, you'd think it ends on a bum note.

The athletes all talk about how sad it is because of how much the race mattered. No offence or disrespect to them, but in their professionalism I think they miss the main point as to why this clip resonates so strongly with people who saw it back in 1992. It's not the sadness of having lost the race that moves people... it's the love of a father for his son... and the son's determination to come home no matter his injuries and pain.

That image and the thoughts attached to it are worth a thousand gold medals to me, they are that inspirational. I will never forget.

As much as Derek Redmond's dad loved his son... how much more does God the Father love us? Not only will he come to pick us up off the track when we stumble... he'll restore us so we can finish the race he has given us to run.

The Priorities of Change and Connection.

Recently I've succumbed to a dawning realisation that Christians as people (and I of course include myself in this analysis), are too easily swayed by the things that we are emotionally attached to.

What I mean by that, is that we find it so easy to make changes in lifestyle for the tangible... yet when God asks us to make some kind of alteration ton the way we live out our lives... suddenly the temptation to become emotionally tightfisted, hovers ominously overhead.

It's all the more easier when you have empathic qualities... because it is then, that you seek out connection with others. Don't get me wrong here, empathy is a really great strength and blessing... but as with most strengths it carries with it an Achilles Heel. The weakness is that in seeking out connections, we can allow ourselves to embrace things that don't really fit who we are as an individual. I guess it's a bit like having a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces from a different puzzle thrown in. The pieces might even physically fit... but the picture on the front is different to the rest of the puzzle.

This isn't to say of course that we shouldn't allow diversity to culture growth in our relationships with others... but we mustn't sell out on ourselves so easily. We shouldn't give up the things we care about, that matter to us or interest us... just because someone new comes along who doesn't really like them. Neither should we worry if we aren't interested in the things that other people are all the time. We are who we are... we don't belong to others, we belong to God.

If we allow ourselves to become enamoured and swayed by things other people say and do... without offering at least the same privileges to the one who created us and purchased us with his Son; isn't that idolatry?

If we allow people to change us, or if we allow their interests or companionship to rule us at the expense of our relationship with God... or at the cost of the identity he has given us (and I'm not only talking of the new identity we are given when we become a new person in Christ, but also generally just the individual character he has blessed us with), then we do sell out and become idolaters.

Don't let yourselves get robbed blind by an overwhelming need to fit in. Have faith that in this universe you do have a place and time, and there are people that God designed you to fit in with. Who cares if your superficial interests aren't to everyone's taste? As long as God's cool with it, sing your song - the song he set in your heart when he designed you.

That's what he made you for!

A Ludicrous Comparison

I was reading one of the local newspapers the other day and was appalled at a dreadfully inappropriate comparison I found.

First a bit of background.

In recent months, a local pressure group called Stratford Voice, has been locked in a bitter struggle with local government over a proposal to place another bridge across the Avon. They argue that it would spoil the historic view of the river... and that it would undoubtedly result in land on the far side of the river being converted into parking spaces to boost the revenue of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre which is currently undergoing a renovation programme.

I won't dispute the plausibility of either of those arguments, they could easily be the truth. Whether or not the arguments are being made on a purely nimbyistic crusade is something I leave up to you - the discerning reader.

The group is chaired by a man called Martyn Luscombe and it is his latest comments that I wish to strongly criticise.

Mr Luscombe foolishly drew comparisons between Stratford-upon-Avon's backyard scuffle... and the plight of Zimbabwe. While it is true that the newspaper amplified the sentiment around his words by elaborating a little on what is actually going on in that country; the simple fact remains that it was an incredibly imbecilic argument to make... even as hyperbole it is vulgar, distasteful and completely out of order to suggest the comparison.

While it is true that local government may well ignore the the voice of popular opinion among the local residents... it is there that any comparison ends. Ironically Mr Luscombe, speaking out of turn in an attempt to defeat the footbridge proposals, may well have crossed "a bridge too far" of his own.... and at the end of the day, his battle is just about a bridge... and not about a collapsing economy or the brutal suppression of a nation's citizens.

Mr Luscombe and the people of Stratford will not be suffering any form of torture or severe intimidation, for making their views known. Here are a few examples from Amnesty International of what might be expected if they were in the crisis ridden Zimbabwe and not affluent Stratford-upon-Avon:

• In MDC activist in Mashonaland West province was stabbed to death on 13 April by ZANU-PF supporters outside his house, according to local reports. His brother, a 58-year-old man, also an MDC member from Mashonaland West, reported that three groups of about 60 ZANU-PF supporters came to the MDC activist’s house and started throwing stones asking him to come out because they wanted to "sort him out".
  
• Though nine other MDC members also gathered at his house and retaliated by throwing back the stones, they were out-numbered by the ZANU-PF supporters. The ZANU-PF supporters managed to reach his house and abduct his brother, the MDC activist. The MDC activist was stabbed twice with a knife in the stomach and died at the scene. The brother of the deceased also suffered serious injuries and had to be hospitalised. The case was reported to the police who are reported to have said they were too afraid to intervene.
  
• A 21-year-old woman in Harare, an MDC activist, was woken up during the night on 30 March 2008 by ZANU-PF supporters after she had been celebrating the victory of MDC councillors in the election. The ZANU-PF supporters took her from her house and assaulted her with clenched fists and sjamboks [whips].
  
• A 30-year-old man from Mashonaland East province reported that, on 9 April, a group of "war veterans" burnt down three houses at about 11pm. The inhabitants had previously received a tip-off that this would happen and had fled to the bush.
  
• On another occasion, nine people from a residential area in Harare were detained, while they were attending a funeral, by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police Support Unit and other people suspected to be members of the Zimbabwe National Army who were dressed in plain clothes.
  
• On 16 April, 22 people were abducted by soldiers and ZANU-PF supporters from their homes in a high density suburb outside Harare city centre during the early hours of the morning. Some of the people were assaulted with booted feet and slapped all over the body.

You can read Amnesty International's full report by following this link. You can also read this report on the BBC News website for more information.

No further elaboration is needed. Stratford Voice and Zimbabwe are poles apart... it was completely inexcusable for the pressure group to make such an analogy and Mr Luscombe should apologise immediately.

If anything positive has come out of this debacle at all; it is that the plight of Zimbabweans gets a little bit more publicity. If that helps to expose the corruption within Zanu-PF and expedite the collapse of Robert Mugabe's iron fisted reign... or even if it merely motivates people to see what they can do to help... then there will have been something good as a byproduct.

Preaching Practice

I promised earlier that I would republish my first sermon here once delivered... I've had to amend a challenge at the end for reasons that you will see. However I'd like to think that the way I've reformatted that challenge for use on the Internet, kills several birds with one stone. If you aren't up for a read tonight... then in the words of Tim Bisley from Spaced...

"Skip to the end!"

I say that because there is still something important at the end that everyone on here should be willing to do irrespective of personal belief.

Anyway, for our sermon we were asked to preach on Luke 7:36-8:3 and here was what I felt led to share:

When you read the story of the sinful woman anointing Jesus, you feel there are certain parallels with the tale of Cinderella.

There you have a woman who is frowned upon by those around her, who nevertheless seeks out the hero because she wants to be with him. At the end of the Bible story and the fairy tale, both women are exalted despite their position in society... on account of what their love means to the Prince or Jesus.

They are both rags to riches stories.

Or perhaps it’s a bit like Saturday night’s programme of Britain’s got talent. I don’t know if you saw it… but there was a woman who was an immigrant worker from the Philippines who sang the song “I will always Love You”. Most people there were singing just to get a glimpse of glory… a shot at fame… but she was also singing for other immigrants and her children who she was separated from. When it came time for her to sing, she moved the entire audience to tears. I wonder how many people watched that show and thought badly of her because she was an immigrant … and yet failed to appreciate that she was singing her heart out so beautifully?

In the passage we read that Simon the Pharisee was... well, a bit of a lousy host. He was glad to have Jesus round for what Adrian Plass might call “a salvation sandwich, or a cup of sanctity”. To him Jesus was a guest, here today, gone tomorrow. All of a sudden a woman who Simon and his socialites – the “It Crowd” of the day considered sinful… bursts into the room and overcome with emotion, starts showing Jesus more hospitality than Simon had done. To this unnamed woman, Jesus was so much more than just a guest. She poured out the entire contents of her heart before him. She had seen Jesus for who he was; desperate to be touched by God... she desperately clung onto him. Max Lucado in concluding his book, Just Like Jesus; makes the observation that we can be seekers of salvation... or seekers of the Saviour.

Simon wanted a pat on the head and a photo opportunity. The woman wanted to know God’s forgiveness and love in her life.

When Simon becomes upset that someone who he considers dirty is showing him up; Jesus makes a comparison between two people who both had their debts cleared. One person didn’t consider his debt that big… and said a quick thank you before clearing off. The other realised just how much trouble they had been in and how emotionally indebted they were to the person who had cleared their debt. They didn’t deserve to be let off such a fee… and yet they walked off scot free. They weren’t going to forget that in a hurry.

I don’t know about you, but when I am deeply grateful to someone for an act of kindness and can’t pay them back for it, it changes my attitude towards them. If I can’t pay them back directly… then I seek ways to live my life in a way that doesn’t make them regret their choice to help me.

In the film Saving Private Ryan, Matt Damon’s character is the recipient of an act of kindness he can’t repay, after his colleagues lay down their lives for him in order for him to be able to live out his. The only way he can thank them… is by living a good life.

Jesus not only saved us from a debt we could not pay; he also came to give us... give all of us who choose to follow him purpose. He takes what is broken and makes it new... and if we love him and are truly grateful, we’d be willing to let him use us.

I’m not clever enough. I’m not strong enough. I’m too sinful. I don’t have enough faith. I don’t have the time. These are all things we can be guilty of saying when God knocks on our door with an opportunity. I know I often am.

However, just look at a list of some of the lowly or shady backgrounds you find among Jesus’ followers in the New Testament. The first gospel is written by a man who once was an extortionist, the inner circle of apostles were fishermen; one of the 12 was once a terrorist. Some followers of Christ were once outcasts because of demon possession, illness or lifestyle. We don’t know for certain, but the woman who broke into Simon’s house may have been a prostitute... whatever her lifestyle was, it was clear that her own people wanted nothing to do with her.
Jesus made it clear that God wanted everything to do with her.

The spotlight is very much thrown on women in this passage. This is surprising because at the time of Jesus, society didn’t consider the contribution of women worth mentioning. Our society has moved on from that… but there are still many kinds of people we can be prejudiced against… even against ourselves sometimes.

Look where God started with those people. They went from the bottom of the barrel, to the icing on the cake.

They went from the rags of brokenness, to the riches of God’s kingdom being poured out into their daily lives.

It can be the same for every one of us today.

Last week I took part in a First Aid training course for work. I was absolutely terrified before the assessment, because I was frightened that I wouldn’t be good enough.

I was missing the point.

The assessors weren’t looking for Charlie Fairhead, Doctor Kildare or some other medical genius. They were looking for someone who was willing to use the basic skills they had learned; willing to do their best in a situation to keep people going until more help arrived. They weren’t looking for a person who was trained to perfection. They were looking for someone to be a willing servant.
Similarly it’s easy for us to fall into the trap that God only calls the obvious people to serve him.
All God needs from us is our willingness to be a part of his plan. Everything else we need on our journey... he will give us.

I heard a story once about a Prince of India who was wealthy, powerful and commanded the fear and respect of all his people:

One day the prince decided to take a walk among those people. As he made his way through the crowds of excited socialites, another person caught his eye.

There before him was a stinking shabby looking beggar, who was standing amongst the other people with nothing but a bowl of rice in his possession.

The prince approached the man but instead of giving him anything, he asked the poor man for some of his rice.

The beggar was bemused and hurt.

How could this man who had enough gold to buy entire fields of rice many times over, have the cheek to ask him for food? Surely it should be the other way round.

However, the beggar was afraid of the prince and dared not refuse him. He held out his hand and placed three meagre grains of rice from his bowl... into the hands of the prince. The prince thanked the man and moved on.

Overwhelmed by the unfairness of the world, the beggar broke down in tears. But as the tears rolled down his face and plopped gently into his rice, he noticed something glimmering back at him. There, sat in the middle of his rice were three nuggets of pure gold.

Suddenly it dawned upon the beggar that the amount of gold was equal to the amount of rice he had given the prince. Though he was now wealthy enough to buy food for himself for a good while... as he stood looking at the prince far away out of reach in the distance, he was left wondering what could have been... if only he’d had the faith to give the prince all of his rice.

It doesn’t matter where we have come from, or what we have done. God wants us to pour our hearts out before him. He wants to transform us.

At the bottom of this blog entry, you'll find a link. If you’ve felt challenged by anything that has been said, I’d like you to click on that link and play the game for a few minutes. It's all good as by playing, you'll be helping people in countries who have little access to food.

While you are doing that, I'd like you to also consider taking the opportunity to give something to God. Whatever that might be, I leave up to you. It could be something exciting that you are experiencing. It could be something you are struggling with. Or find hard to talk about with others. You might want to use it as an act of recommitment or repentance. When you have a quiet moment to yourself, think of the story of the beggar and the prince...and think of the contents of your heart... and what you might want to give God out of your own personal "bowl". Then ask God to take it, and trust him to give you out of the goodness of his grace.

Regardless of what you choose to do about praying, here's the link to the food programme:

FREE RICE

The Institution's Same Old Excuses

During the service at church this morning, my thoughts drifted onto one of my pet peeves - institutional church legalism.

How did I get onto that?

We sang a Graham Kendrick song.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Graham Kendrick's music... some of his songs are really good and were present at watershed moments in my life. My problem isn't with Kendrick or his material at all. You see, my problem is with people who use Kendrick's songs merely to plug a gap.

Staunch traditionalists, when pressed to incorporate modern worship into their services; cling to Kendrick's songs in a bid to look hip.

Actually it's ONE Kendrick song.... almost always the same one...

"Shine Jesus Shine".

Have you ever seen the film The Princess Bride? It's a personal favourite of mine. One of the villain's in the film keeps using the word "Inconceivable" as a response to the efforts of one man who is intent on thwarting his plan:

He uses it to the point of cliche. The word no longer means what it is meant to mean.

I think people's overuse of the same songs, the same liturgy or litany can have the same effect if we are not careful. Please note, don't misinterpret this as a swipe against prayers or songs that are written in a liturgical format. That's not my issue...I cannot fault the words or theology of those prayers. What I fault is the over-reliance on them. The fact that it's easy just to say or sing things parrot fashion, without contemplating what they actually mean.

I felt convicted this morning.

As soon as I saw we were singing "Shine Jesus Shine", my heart sank. It was then that I felt challenged by God: "Look at the words Nick. It doesn't matter why the song was picked... you can still make sure it means something to you."

As always, God was right... and it struck me that the third verse may be sung a lot more lightly by people, than it should be:

As we gaze on your kingly brightness
So our faces display your likeness
Ever changing from glory to glory
Mirrored here may our lives tell your story
Shine on me, shine on me

Pay particular attention to the line I highlighted. How easy is it to sing that line without thinking of the consequences? Are we really prepared to live the life of Jesus... no matter the cost?

As it turned out, the selection of song was appropriate. We were looking at the martyrdom of Stephen this morning... and the passage talks about his face radiating like an angel while they threw insults at him for what he spoke of.

Furthermore, it occurred to me that Stephen's life really did mirror Christ's.

Why do I say that? Well as soon as Stephen was arrested (for doing nothing more than performing miracles and engaging in debate), some of the trumped up charges he was prosecuted on, were the same ones Jesus faced. The Sanhedrin charged him with speaking out against the temple and the law. They were obsessed with stone, ink, paper, silver and gold. Stephen was accused of threatening to destroy the temple... but he was not speaking against the Law... he was speaking up for grace. The Sanhedrin must have been suffering a terrible bout of deja vu because no sooner had the kangaroo court heard mention of the name Jesus, they flew into a fury and stoned Stephen to death.

Stephen in his final moments really did mirror Christ; his life and death really did tell Christ's story.

But have we learned anything since that time? Are we like the wind, which blows and you cannot tell where it comes from, or where it goes? Or are we set in stone and obsessed with orderly worship?

Worship should have some form of structure... but it should only bet there to support it. Structure must not become an idol in itself.

Or will God have to send another Stephen into our churches?

A Slight Return

Sorry I've been away from the Sanctuary.

I've been pretty distracted this week, between swatting up for my First Aid at Work course and trying to prepare a sermon for the preaching course I'm on. My brain has pretty much been mashed.

Well I can confirm that there was no human to human resuscitation demonstration at the First Aid course (run by St. John Ambulance).

The course was a lot of fun and I learned a lot... I just hope it sticks somewhere in the back of my mind. On the morning of the final day, the lady running the course (Michelle, who had a great personality and sense of humour), put us through some hair raising first aid scenarios that tested the skills we had picked up to the max in order to demonstrate that we didn't need to worry about the assessment itself. Of course my psychology doesn't work like that. It's not what I'm doing... it's when people are scrutinising me, that I am most likely to get petrified.

One scenario I was given was someone with a cut to the arm and a fractured hip... standing. My biggest problem was getting them to transfer their weight onto their good leg so I could get them into the correct treatment position. Once I had done this, they decided to have an asthma attack. Apparently I was a lot quicker in the room at picking up what was going on with my patient (all the volunteers of that round were having asthma attacks). I got them to take their medication and then proceeded to complete treatment of the wound.

The second scenario I got was a total nightmare. Truth be told... those of us who had gone out the room for this round were anticipating something pretty nasty because as patients in the previous round, we had been told to lose consciousness within 10 seconds of the first aider arriving.

We were not to be disappointed.

As we were called in by our "helpful" bystander, I was shown over to someone with a fractured jaw and stab wound to the leg. Not so bad so far... except my "helpful" bystander was being anything but helpful and running around like a headless chicken, screaming her head off. I genuinely surprised myself with an authoritative command to her to calm down as I needed her help. She calmed down immediately (I must have sounded uncharacteristically scary). As I proceeded to treat my casualty, I was waiting for my patient to deteriorate and be magically transformed into a plastic "Little Annie" manikin... but that didn't happen. What did happen was my bystander pointed to a spot behind the table where poor "Little Annie" had keeled over (always likely when you don't have legs, arms, lower torso, or any real internal organs), she was a separate casualty.

I switched priorities and checked vitals... called for help and got an ambulance called while I commenced CPR. It was all rather bizarrely automatic to me. However when my bystander returned I was stuck because I needed to get the other patient stabilised. It was pointed out to me that my bystander could do CPR if I showed them how. That is an interesting one though isn't it? The thought had crossed my mind... but I had been reluctant to because as I was playing the person with responsibility and training, I was acutely aware that I held this plastic doll's fragile life in my hands... and if she was going to "die", I didn't want someone else to have to live with the onus of that responsibility.

It's strange what goes through your kind at times like that.

I was told I did really well....but I was still feeling like going into shock before the assessment.

As it turned out, the assessment was nowhere near as harsh as those scenarios... but having less to think about coupled with a constant scrutiny of my actions, I found I was severely pumped with nervous energy.

However... I made it through and am now the proud owner of a resuscitation face shield keyring.

I'm proud of my new skills, but if anyone dares collapse in the office on Monday I shall not be impressed with them!

I'm hoping to incorporate my first aid training into my sermon for tomorrow, which I hope to republish here for your perusal in some form.

Further Instruction

I've had a bit of manic weekend.

Tomorrow marks the third session of the preaching course I'm on. It'll be the first one where we'll have to produce some homework. As part of the course, we are required to submit two sermon outlines and two full fat sermons. I'll need to submit the first outline based on Isaiah 40:1-11.

I found it tough going. If you've read any of the things I've recorded here, you may guess that I don't tend to work in that fashion... I like to keep myself on edge - call it theological free running. In short, I lack a methodical approach when it comes to sermon preparation.

Nevertheless I have produced the outline on a pristine piece of A4 paper. I found it a bit tough doing things the disciplined way. I've been advised I need to have to perform an exposition of scripture with a distinct aim and challenge. Now I'm not saying I wouldn't normally do that... but I tend to like writing a few key lines that form the basis of prompts or signposts to where I'm going. I like to have only a skeletal structure, preferring to leave the muscles and meat to stew in my brain between when I set out the framework and when I deliver it live.

This is not something I will be able to do for the preaching course. I'll have to have outlines summarising the choicest portions before they are served... and when it comes to delivering 10 minutes "mock"sermons (although I plan to deliver it for real... after all I am talking to other genuine Christians and it is an opportunity to teach and learn at the same time), I will have to submit transcribe notes of the material. This is where I'm likely to come unstuck... it's where I lack discipline. You'd think it would be easy - after all, I write my thoughts down here often enough... but my approach to speaking is different to my approach to writing,so this is a matter of some concern to me. Still it is an opportunity to learn discipline and it could prove a very valuable exercise.

I also need to prepare some teaching material and a talk on the subject of light for SU camp. I only need to have the teaching materials ready in the near future...but I need to make sure those materials tie in with the message I'll eventually be giving. Fortunately I already have a good idea of the approach I'm going to have to take with that, but it does mean that I'll be writing several lots of teaching and sermons in a relative short space of time. It'll be a good test as to how much juice is in the tank spiritually. The demands are higher than normal, so if I don't keep step with God... I'll get myself into a tricky spot!

Finally this week, I am taking part in a First Aid training course.

This terrifies me more than anything I have written above. You may very well be asking why on Earth that is.

Well, the mere mention of First Aid brings back terrifying memories from my college days. I was off site at the town leisure centre with two friends, minding my own business shooting pool. Our game was rudely interrupted by one of the college lecturers. She was flanked by an extremely hot young lady... and two extremely grim looking lads.

The lecturer was leading a First Aid course... but there was a problem.

There were no mannikin's to perform CPR on. A fiendish plot surfaced in her calculating mind. There were three of them and three of us. She asked if we wanted to be voluntary mannikin's. Now at the time, I wasn't sure if this was safe anyway... breathing into the breathless is one thing, but my lungs were functioning perfectly. However this was not what was primarily occupying my thoughts... nor those of my companions. We were simultaneously evaluating the same equation. Namely, what were the odds of us getting one of the ugly blokes as our manikin compared to the odds of getting the girl? It was very clear that one of us was going to be extremely lucky... and believe me the temptation was sore - like a carrot on a stick to half starved donkeys. It was also abundantly clear that the other two of our trio were going to be... well, lets say... uncomfortably numb.

We looked at them.

They looked at us.

We looked at each other.

Then, in an act of male solidarity... we scarpered.

Now it's true that he who dares wins and that if you want to reap the rewards of a venture,you have to take risks... but we were feeling particularly cowardly that day. Would I do the same thing if the situation presented itself once more?

I'm hoping I don't have to find out the answer to that one this week.

I'll let you know.

The Art of Succesful Protesting: Thinking Outside The Box

I've been paying attention to the protests that have dogged the tour of the Olympic Torch on it's journey around the world.

I am in total agreement about the chronic human rights abuses that the Chinese government regularly carries out. Those who want to make a point about a regime that is honouring the spirit of fellowship and fair play with it's lips, whilst having at it's heart, an attitude that is light years away from such a concept... have my full support.

It's even more appalling that our Governments are spending money protecting the political interests of the Chinese Government, in the face of many of their own citizens who are opposed to that Government. It is clear that they value eastern investment more than they value the people who pay for their extortionate parliamentary expenses packages.

It's clear that international police forces have been incredibly well briefed and prepared... deploying an extensive amount of resources and using flexible route planning to frustrate the attempts of the protesters.

Have you ever noticed though, when it comes to protesting...the most whacked out schemes are the ones that generally succeed? Police are extremely well equipped to handle people on the streets... but when you come out of left field with an idea like climbing the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco (see below), it gives them less time to form an effective strategy and the best they can hope to do is act retrospectively - diversions or making subsequent arrests.

If you want to put the mockery of an Olympic flame out.... I favour an airborne strategy. I think an excellent idea would be to hire out one of these babies:

That's right... a fire plane, or at least a crop duster. Just fly in out of nowhere and ditch fire extinguishing materials on the targets below you. A substance such as the one deployed above would be especially poignant; the red tint would serve as a reminder of the blood shed in human rights atrocities.

One thing though... I wouldn't try it in the US... they'd shoot you down.

The question of people's right to protest in the name of causes such as Tibet raises another in turn. In four years time... is my country going to be finding itself in a similar situation over crimes committed by it's own politicians. Sure, they may not be as numerous... but the causes that people might find reason to protest for or against... are certainly powerful enough.

I guess I'd better start saving up for flying lessons then.

Strength - Not Necessarily A Virtue.

I nearly got myself into a bit of a pickle on Friday night.

I was mistaken for an RAF brigadier by a bunch of drunk Welsh tourists in the pub where we had met after work. I really didn't have the heart to tell them that the RAF don't have any brigadiers... especially as one of them was incredibly large and had been kind enough to buy a complete stranger like me a drink (using a suspiciously half inch thick wad of crisp £20 notes).

But that's not why I nearly came a cropper.

Somehow, all our conversations after work, seemed to stray into "every" taboo topic you aren't supposed to talk about in social gatherings. It's probably my fault because I honestly don't understand that principle. The subjects that are frowned on (politics, religion, morals and ethics), I find are the most revealing about a person's character and the most interesting way of learning about other people's world views in relation to your own. Honestly... how are we to learn how to live with other people's diverse attitudes if we are completely afraid to discuss them?

Anyway, we ended up talking about Thatcher. I'm not a fan... but a couple of other people are. One person commented that she admired Thatcher because she was a strong woman. It was at this point that I came across as a misogynist because I questioned whether that was a good thing. What I was addressing was not gender issues... but the dangers that surround the force of personality.

What I actually meant to get across was was that I didn't consider that being a strong person, was a good thing in itself. The most abominable events in the entire history of human civilization have often been put down to the decisions of strong minded individuals or groups, who used sheer willpower and confidence to sway the weak, uneducated or apathetic.

They still do.

Curiously enough I went to a preaching seminar last night and the guest speaker - Roger Morris, touched on the subject of strength whilst preaching on the tough passage of Revelation 16. He referred to an American politician who said the following words in the wake of 9/11:

"American power is the most important part. When it is brought to bear in great and terrible measure, it is a thing to strike terror in the heart of anyone who opposes it. No mountain is big enough, no cave deep enough to hide from the full fury of American power."

Those words were spoken by Senator John McCain.

You've read his words...

...now mark mine. America walked that road before and where did it get it? Will that nation repeat the decisions of yesterday and reap the same hardships for it's reward?

It seems to me in America that some potential leaders are going out of their way to appear strong... at the expense of demonstrating the qualities of wisdom that is equally, if not more important in the role of governing a nation.

Not that the USA is by any means the sole example of this. Every nation is just as easily sold down the river to the bravado and charisma of the strong, or the seductive words of cunning knaves.

For the Christian it boils down to whether we let our fear of men or our love of God, govern our decisions. In the Bible there are plenty of times where the nation of Israel either trusts in its own power or flocks to a foreign ally... and finds in the long run it costs them dear.

When we respond to fear, we march to the beat of this world's drum. When we look to mankind for ultimate security, we will always find it lacking... or discover to our horror that it has metamorphosed into something far more distasteful.

Have we forgotten that God calls us to march to a different tune?

The tune of his unconditional love. The love that defies logic and flies in the face of human assessment:

"But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

1 Corinthians 1:27-29

God's love often appears irrational in the world's eyes... but that would be an inaccurate description. I think that superrational is a better term, albeit one that still carries a certain degree of limitation.

"For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength."

1 Corinthians 1:25

The world says crush your enemies.

The Lord says love your enemies.

The world says if we love our enemies, we appear weak and they might overrun us with their culture and all will be lost.

However, Jesus Christ came into a world where the culture of his nation was already overrun by conquerors. He didn't raise a sword against them. He didn't muster an army. He even let his enemies kill him.

In the final analysis, Rome's victories were temporal and the glory of that empire faded... as is the way with all empires eventually; Christ's victory was eternal and the glory of God still shines out today in people's lives.

It is still true today. We don't need to look to the temporal for our security...but the eternal. In the West we've had it far too easy, far too long. We seem to think that it is important for Christianity to hold temporal power... but God's most powerful works are often revealed in times and places where Christians hold little or no power.

The apostle Paul found himself burdened with a "thorn" that caused him to be humble in the face of the great things that God was doing in his life. Three times he pleaded with god to go easy on him... and this was the response:

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 2:9,10

What a stark contrast to the McCain quote we looked at earlier.

It comes down to a simple choice... but one we must constantly make:

Temporary power, or permanent grace...

What will it be for you?

Don't Get in a Flap

I think i managed to navigate April Fool's Day pretty much unscathed today... how about you?

Did anyone catch the hilarious April Fool's gag/BBC iPlayer advert that ran this morning. What is unique about it, is that the story was apparently broken as a joint effort on the part of the BBC, GMTV and at least one national newspaper.

It's not unusual for the media to pull stunts to commemorate the date, but this is the first time I can think of when differing media companies have conspired together on the same story, to increase the chances of some poor gullible sap falling for it.

The Beeb have done well out of it, as the trailer serves as an advert for their iPlayer service.

If you didn't see it, here is the clip in question:

All that it remains for me to do, is say that I hope you enjoyed this day of fiendish pranks, tall tales and good natured hilarity... and that you survived it relatively unscathed.

Fall Back... Spring Forward!

The clocks have gone forward and not a moment to soon.

I'm not a winter person by any means... I get weary of the dark nights and mornings and I get lethargic and bogged down in many ways. Long live the Spring!

Similarly I've recently been through a mini-winter spell of the spiritual kind. OK, call it an overnight blizzard. Whatever it was,I had been feeling out of gas and was wide open to spiritual attack... and as sure as the winter follows the autumn, the attack came.

This is why, in matters of belief you shouldn't merely trust your feelings; instead you should check them against your faith and the facts.

Sometimes it's the small things that remind you of your greatest hopes. It is the single flower that pokes it's head above the snow; the glimpse of a distant ray of sunlight in the midst of the maelstrom; the sound of songbirds returning from a wintry exile; or the scent of blossom on the gentle breeze following a bitterly cold gale...

... the tenderness of a brief kiss, following a long exile.

Likewise it wasn't something massive that shifted my feelings/perspective. It was an answer to the briefest of prayerful thoughts. I had on the advice of friends, turned down the offer of one car (I wasn't sure about it either), but I find that I study my Bible and pray best when I'm alone at lunch times. All well and good in the summer, not so good in the winter or when it is raining down. I also am acutely aware that I need to to see a friend who needs my help and I knew that in order to do that I needed my own transport.

So I prayed.

It had been a good few weeks since I rejected the previous car and I thought I had been forgotten. However, the very morning after I prayed that prayer... my phone rang and
I was told of another car. I pursued it ardently, recognising it as an opportunity not to be missed.
Come Wednesday, I should be the owner of a silver Peugeot 206 51 plate with a mere 34,000 miles on the clock. No, it doesn't look like the one in this old advert:

As a brief humorous aside... have you ever noticed how big budget adverts make cars that were top of the line in year's gone past, look even older and more naff now that time has moved on? Here's a good example. Takes my breath away? Yeah with laughter. Please feel free to post me any of your own examples

Anyway, back on topic and as I said... the answer was nothing major, but it was a small blessing... like that first flower through the snow. It was the timing that was crucial and not the magnitude.

More importantly it reminds me of a blog post I wrote quite some time ago... which carries a far stronger message that is both relevant and demonstrates that God does not forget us:

God Remembers?

So I like to think that God has wound the clock on for me personally. I'm back up on two feet again.

Thank you to those of you who have been concerned for me. It was appreciated.

Not In Vain...

I've not been my usual chipper self lately.

No, I haven't.

Scratch a little below the surface and you'll find a man who has somehow managed to get a little swallowed in weariness. You see, when things get a little bit quiet... it is very easy to become disheartened and think that maybe you've been cast aside... even spiritually speaking.

Sometimes... and I say this as much for the benefit of anyone reading this as myself, you have to weigh your feelings up against faith and fact... and what you already know of God through your relationship with him up to this point.

I'm not a super apostle. Every now and then my knees buckle like anyone else, however... I don't believe in holding this all inside. I feel it is important to record things like this... in order to help lift other people when they themselves become encumbered. I'm by no means the first person to think of this... the apostle Paul made a point of doing the same thing in his second letter to the Corinthians:

"To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

There is no shame in sharing your weaknesses if it in turn encourages others. It's not about airing your dirty laundry, it's about loving one another and building each other up so that each one can get just that little bit nearer to God when they feel that their face is down in the mud.

I need to make a record here of Sunday's preaching. I believe there was something in there designed to strengthen my bones. Naturally, being Easter Sunday, the passage was connected to the Resurrection... we found ourselves jumping around 1 Corinthians 15 a fair bit. However, it was this verse that personally pricked my ears up:

"Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain."

1 Corinthians 15:58

And there my friends, we have it in a nutshell... I have been letting things move me... and downing tools because I feel I'm not up to the task ahead and why should God want me for it? He's probably written me off.

Self pitying fool.

I'm doing no better than the remnant who laid the foundations of the temple in Jerusalem and who at the first sign of things taking a turn for the worst,dropped the tools and went off to decorate their own homes first. God's calling me back to work on his temple, but shall I remain in the rubble of my own home?

While I write these words, iTunes has decided to play "The Healing" by James Newton Howard. Do you remember me talking about that a while back? It is from the film Lady in the Water. It is the point where one of the central characters - Cleveland Heap, is forced to confront the things that made him check out of his true calling in life. I can't help but think there's a deliberate irony there.

I'm plodding on though... I know what is right, I know the truth... I know God is good... but I've hit the valley floor here, as most of us do. Weary as I am, I endeavour to carry on bearing witness to my God... because it is true - our labour for the Lord is not in vain!

But I want to taste that Emmaus Spirit again... the precious moments of when God sets your heart on fire with the things he is saying. It is my hope and prayer that perhaps something written here will ignite you own spirits is some way.

Something else that was drawn out of the sermon on Sunday was that the second letter to the Corinthians was written sometime around 56-57 AD. It's a convincing blow to revisionists who claim that it was only later in the Church's history that the resurrection of Christ was held as a central belief and added to the Gospel theology. Yet here we have a passage of scripture written to an established church only a generation (20 odd years) away from the actual events recorded in the gospels:

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born."

1 Corinthians 14:3-8

Paul is underlining the resurrection of Christ as being of primary importance... but he didn't begin there. About five years prior to this he wrote these words to a church in Thessalonica:

"You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what happened when we visited you. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath."

1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

Around the same time or possibly even as early as 48AD, he also wrote these words to struggling churches in the region of Galatia:

"Paul, an apostle—sent not with a human commission nor by human authority, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers and sisters with me, To the churches in Galatia: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Galatians 1:1-5

Now of course, there is so much more in both those books... but I merely highlighted those verses to underline the fact that as little as around 15 years from the events of the first Holy Week, there were people as far away as Asia Minor, who were adamant in their belief that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead.

In this age, it is easy to remain unmoved by that statement. We live in an age where news travels ridiculously fast...an event being recorded on one side of the globe can be simultaneously broadcast to the rest of us, thanks to the technology of geosynchronous orbiting satellites.

The apostles had no such technology to hand. They had their voices, their bodies... pen and parchment... but most importantly they had the Spirit of God. Empire wide there were an estimated 1 million Christians by the time the century was complete. True, that was only 0.6 of the population of the then known world... but considering the means at their disposal and the distance from events, I think 1 million is a remarkable number... and now as we move the ever further from 1st century Christianity, we find that around 2.1 billion people lay claim to the same belief in the risen Lord(though whether they truly believe is a matter for themselves and God).

It is all the more amazing when you think that so many people were willing to lay their life down for this idea. I don't think was a case of blind religious fervour or frenzied false martyrdom brought on by a hypnotised bunch of cultists. I believe this response came from genuine conviction. You see it's not just about the fact that Jesus rose from the dead... it is more importantly about what his death and resurrection meant.

I quoted Galatians earlier and Paul goes on to say in a later chapter that:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

Galatians 5:1

Freedom has always been among the highest ideals to die for. Whether it is freedom from slavery, freedom of speech, freedom of religious expression, or freedom to live out a life as seen fit by the individual... people have always seen the concept of freedom as the most precious commodity.

But for Christians, it isn't just about freedom in this life. It is about freedom in eternity. Freedom to live in the fullness of God's love... forever. That's what Christ's death is about - the defeat of death and the demise of sin's power over us.

And to that end the early Church did not labour in vain...

... and neither do we.

If you want to taste freedom call on Christ tonight.

Passion Parts 3 & 4

Well I missed the chance to send you all Easter greetings on time yesterday... but Happy Easter (albeit belatedly), from me.

I don't know if you've noticed...but it's been a veritable smorgasbord of programmes surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. Today we have "Ben Hur" (okay that's a little bit of a stretch) and Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". We've also had the usual coverage of services on Sunday Morning and Songs of Praise... and a couple of documentaries (some pro, some con).

Did you manage to catch the final two episodes of The Passion over the weekend? Here's a link if you still want to check them out:

Episodes 1-3 (if you missed all of them).
Episode 3
Episode 4

I personally had mixed feelings about the climax to the serial adaptation. I still think Joseph Mawle's interpretation of Jesus was solid and the characterization of most characters in general was of a high quality. However, I was intrigued about what was added and removed as events gathered pace.

They included the dream of Pilate's wife that served as a warning that he was a good man... presumably this was to give the Romans more to do, as once the sentence is passed by Pilate... there is very little to be done in terms of character development. Incidentally what do you make of the idea of that dream? Who provided the inspiration for it? If it was God and the message were heeded, Jesus would not have been able to make his sacrifice... so could it have been him? It's plausible that Satan used the dream as a way to try and disrupt God's plan and keep Jesus from the cross... but that doesn't feel right. I think what I'm inclined to believe, is that God needed to demonstrate to all parties involved in the sentencing of Christ (the Sanhedrin and Romans directly and you and I by proxy), that his son was a good man - righteous and without sin. God also knew in his sovereignty that the message to preserve the life of Christ would fall on deaf ears. I'm always in awe of that characteristic of God... that he knows when people are going to fail and fall flat on their face... yet he still invests in the effort of giving them the chance to succeed despite the eventual outcome. How just is that? How fair? For all those who say "if there is a God he must be unjust", think on that for a moment. How many of you would put substantial money on the table for a bet you knew you would lose? No, God is beyond fair.

Back to the Passion. The crucifixion scene was massively abridged. There were less people than we might have expected... and some of the big events that are described never happened: no darkening of skies, no mention of Christ being up there for three hours, no temple curtain being torn, no moment of clarity on the part of the Roman centurion. I appreciate that they were trying to stick with the human side of Jesus character (I even supported them in this), however there comes a time when you need to stop cushioning people from the more powerful aspects of a story and just go for it.

I think people accept that there is a certain amount of lore that is forged around death. People remember the manner in which a man or woman of public or personal significance, pass away. They draw parallels with that person in life.

I believe the nature of J