New Kid on the Blog

Love this video - and I say this as one who at one time was very much at home in the culture it parodies!   I like being an Anglican too, a very different way of expressing worship open to a whole raft of parodies too, ... though there is a long and very funny history of that, the Vicar of Dibley, for instance, or Alan Bennet's excellent Beyond the Fringe 'Take a Pew' skit...      John Betjeman had lots of things to say about Church culture, often gently satirising, such as ' Diary of a Church Mous e' or this one:  Blame the Vicar  When things go wrong it's rather tame   To find we are ourselves to blame,   It gets the trouble over quicker   To go and blame things on the Vicar.   The Vicar, after all, is paid   To keep us bright and undismayed.   The Vicar is more virtuous too   Than lay folks such as me and you. He never swears, he never drinks,   He never should say what he thinks.   His collar is ...

So, here goes again, a small flurry of blog posts... thoughts for the week continue In our group of parishes our Lent course has been talking about how in the Gospel stories everyone who meets Jesus goes away changed in some way. For some the challenge of giving up their comforts to follow Jesus is too much, others find healing and forgiveness – even those who nailed him to a cross. Meeting Jesus changed people, and still should. But alongside the change that being a Christian should bring there is also reassurance that, as an old prayer says, amongst ‘the changes and chances of this mortal life’ God’s love remains changeless. The question to ask ourselves is, then, “when changes come (as they always do) to what do we cling, to whom do we turn, to give us security”? Faith doesn’t protect us from the changes or troubles of this world, but if we allow God to, he will give us strength to get through them. Also as an aside, I have got 'Foxy Tunes' set up on my Firefox, so you...

One of the many diversions I have in life, which also enhance things somewhat, is my role as a reviewer of Albums for Cross Rhythms, a Christian music website and of books for Christian Marketplace, a rather interesting publication that goes to (the few remaining) Christian booksellers and those interested in recently published books. At the moment I have three Albums for which I should really have completed the reviews a couple of weeks ago, and four books two of which I have read - which were rather good. The time to actually sit down and review these coherently is lacking, though, and when I do have a bit of time to myself I actually want to get on and read, or pray, or just 'be'... Sometimes the incentive to get these things done is just not there! When I get them done I may well post them, it will add to the sense of achievement I have now I have found what exists under those papers that previously were scattered all over my study... I suspect I will have one of those e...

In the UK we celebrate Mothering Sunday on the fourth Sunday of Lent - which is where I have got to in my Thought For the Week catchup! Having just had 'Mother's Day' in the US & Canada it seems appropriate to put it up now. So here it is.... On March 14th, this coming Sunday, the Church celebrates Mothering Sunday (one of my grumpy quirks is that it isn’t Mother’s Day, which is an invention of Card Companies, but an old English Tradition of Mothering Sunday!). It is an important day where we give thanks for those who have cared for us and raised us, for the Church which – at it’s best – nurtures us and we remember a God who is tender and compassionate. Though we use ‘Father’ as our most common way of talking about God don’t confuse that with God being a man, or even just like our own fathers – God is like the best, most perfect father and mother, loving, caring, nurturing, challenging, encouraging. This Mothering Sunday, as you take your wife/mum/granny breakfast...

My Study is tidy, or rather it is significantly tidier than it has been for a looooooooong time. Part of my lack of posting is the simple fact that I've not felt at home at my desk for weeks which, though it hasn't stopped me working, has stopped me speculating and generally being in blog mode for a bit! A long time ago I said that I think my study is an externalisation of my internal state, if that's the case then I am at the moment feeling that things are in a place on the way somewhere to being sorted, there's still a way to go, but it looks OK. Actually I think that might be a relatively good way of describing my view of life generally rather than specifically. I am very aware of the 'now and the not yet' state of the Christian journey. Now we live in Christ, redeemed and made clean, forgiven and whole, healed and complete. Except we aren't quite there. We are not only saved, we are being sanctified, prepared, made holy so that one day we will see ...

I have recently read a book which was sent to me by booksneeze.com . Called 'The Map' it's all about men and the Church Book Description A map, hidden in the gospel of Matthew, is the key to awakening the sleeping giant in the church—men. Sounds like fiction, but it's true. The apostle Matthew embedded a map into his gospel. History's greatest men, including Christ himself, followed this map. The Map begins as a fictional tale of murder, deception, and greed as three men fight to uncover the most important discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls. Then, using the tale as a parable, Murrow shows men what the map looks like, where it is found in the Bible, and how to walk its three ancient pathways today: * Submission * Strength * Sacrifice David Murrow stumbled across the map by accident in 2006. After three years of research and writing, he is ready to reveal it to the world My thoughts: No matter what you think about the state of masculinity and...

Still catching up! here's one from early on in Lent! My wife and children are away visiting family, which I thought would give me a sense of freedom and a glimpse again of the bachelor lifestyle: watching what TV I want, junk food, not doing the washing up, loud music and playing guitar into the early hours – things which I couldn’t get away with when there are others around. Sitting here in an empty house it doesn’t feel like much fun, though, it’s actually quite lonely – not at all like the picture in my head! The grass may seem greener on the other side, but it rarely is. Our fantasies are not often like real life. Jesus said to focus on today, on what we have, and make the most of it; not concerning ourselves with tomorrow or the next day but what is right and good here and now and trusting God to be with us through it all.