You might have seen my tweet about the inevitability of being dumped on. It happened. Here is the tale.
Designer J and editor me had a job to do. Deadline was Monday. We had asked for a few days to do the work, preferably a week.
We were copied in to a discussion which lasted about three weeks in which a project team tried to agree on the text the flier in question should contain.
I have only two requests as an editor. I want a complete, unformatted file. And I want a brief - what is the final result to look like? Not a brief that I have to piece together from emails and minutes of meetings but one brief, briefed by one person in writing.
I got the text on Monday (yeah, deadline day) although there were still some emails flying around suggesting alterations. I asked for the brief three times in the previous week but got none.
At 4.00p.m. I invented my own brief and sent J a best guess at the text and format. He produced a flier template overnight. We finished it next day. Two people told me that the finished document was not what they expected even though nobody had told us what they expected.
We made one tweak and finalised the flier in a brief discussion at a Tuesday afternoon meeting. It is being printed for the weekend launch. If you absolutely gotta get dumped on then it is worth putting up the biggest umbrella you have.
Me and J do not want our genius to be used in evidence for future dumping. We have lives too.
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Sunday, March 02, 2014
What I Could Have Said
Last Monday, linking to my Outside Broadcast from Nailsea Thought for the Day, presenter Steve asked me to paint a picture of what I could see. I explained I was in a shop selling local art and ceramics, looking across at the queue for the Post Office and a not yet open bank. It was true and the best I could do at the time.
I could have said:
Morning Steve,
I am here in a shop window in Nailsea looking across at a shrine to brutalism, a concrete 1970s shopping centre which nobody much likes. The queue for the Post Office, average age deceased, began at 8.20 and has now grown to six ladies with shopping trolleys. I expect one of them is called Ivy. Tumbleweed doesn't grow here anymore.
I love my town but it has a face only a mother could love.
I could have said:
Morning Steve,
I am here in a shop window in Nailsea looking across at a shrine to brutalism, a concrete 1970s shopping centre which nobody much likes. The queue for the Post Office, average age deceased, began at 8.20 and has now grown to six ladies with shopping trolleys. I expect one of them is called Ivy. Tumbleweed doesn't grow here anymore.
I love my town but it has a face only a mother could love.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Thought for the Day
Today Radio Bristol are doing some live coverage from Nailsea and so I did my thought slot live from The Blue Room, a shop in the town centre. To understand the final line you need to know, if you are not local, that presenter Steve le Fevre does not come from these parts either:
I am in my home town of Nailsea. I moved here in 2006. Most people are incomers.
Allowed to grow from village to small town by the North Somerset Development Plan in the 1960s, more people moved here than come from here.
I am a Brummie. Proudly so. But Nailsea is my home. I don't come from these parts but I share with others, who have settled here, a growing love of town and a responsibility to look after the place and people.
I live on an estate that used to be fields. Lots of Nailsea used to be fields. This 1960s concrete town centre used to be the village green.
It was six months before I met anyone who had been born in Nailsea apart from the younger generation.
Location is interesting. There has been a community on this site since the days that a small island in a large bay became first tidal, then mainland.
It farmed, it became Roman, found coal, used coal to make glass and now has light industries and is a dormitory town. People sleep here and work elsewhere.
The Jewish and Christian stories start with God calling Abram to leave his home and go somewhere else.
Once, hearing that Jesus came from Nazareth, people said 'Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'
Later St Paul wrote, in effect, that we were all just passing through and our citizenship should be in heaven.
Where do you come from? Where are your roots? Where is your home? Are you a settler or a nomad?
So, as they used to say in my home and don't say here, Tarrarabit and back to the lovely local accent of Steve in the studio.
I am in my home town of Nailsea. I moved here in 2006. Most people are incomers.
Allowed to grow from village to small town by the North Somerset Development Plan in the 1960s, more people moved here than come from here.
I am a Brummie. Proudly so. But Nailsea is my home. I don't come from these parts but I share with others, who have settled here, a growing love of town and a responsibility to look after the place and people.
I live on an estate that used to be fields. Lots of Nailsea used to be fields. This 1960s concrete town centre used to be the village green.
It was six months before I met anyone who had been born in Nailsea apart from the younger generation.
Location is interesting. There has been a community on this site since the days that a small island in a large bay became first tidal, then mainland.
It farmed, it became Roman, found coal, used coal to make glass and now has light industries and is a dormitory town. People sleep here and work elsewhere.
The Jewish and Christian stories start with God calling Abram to leave his home and go somewhere else.
Once, hearing that Jesus came from Nazareth, people said 'Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth?'
Later St Paul wrote, in effect, that we were all just passing through and our citizenship should be in heaven.
Where do you come from? Where are your roots? Where is your home? Are you a settler or a nomad?
So, as they used to say in my home and don't say here, Tarrarabit and back to the lovely local accent of Steve in the studio.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Breaking Bad
I've finished. Box-set parts 4 and 5 passed very quickly and I loved it. It's been a blast.
Enough has been written in praise of this excellent series, cleverly conceived, brilliantly written and superbly acted. So I'd like to have a wee ponder about the nature of the 'bad' in the title. No major plot spoilers follow but I will talk about character development which involves giving a little away.
The premise, in case you haven't been paying attention, is that Walter White, a chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with lung cancer. Seeking to leave his family secure he stumbles across the possibility of manufacturing pure methamphetamine (crystal meth) with a former pupil, Jesse, as his partner and guy with the contacts in the bad, bad world.
The series is a comedy drama. This may be controversial but it is. The mistake most comedy dramas make is to try and be funny first and dramatic as an add-on. The best ones, and Breaking Bad is the best ever, are dramatic but the comedy is all black as black can be. The characters descend into greater and greater levels of evil. They do things consequent upon their previous actions that nobody normal would choose to do. And that is funny. Thus we laugh at things that aren't really amusing, probably as a defence mechanism? Or maybe there is a Shakespearean quality to the bad-things-happening-to-bad-people funniness.
Walt begins by genuinely wanting to help his family but we watch him begin to inhabit his evil character and carry out worse and worse atrocities 'for the sake of his family'. Each bad act has to be covered. He finds, and seems to enjoy, his ruthless side. He comments towards the end that he has felt more alive in his criminal life whilst terminally ill, than ever before.
Jesse is a druggie and a no-hoper but he cares for people. He is the one moved by the deaths of the innocent along the way. He tries to escape the drug-world on several occasions but finds it has its teeth into him.
Walt's wife Skyler appears to stand for purity and innocence. Everyone believes the best of her. She is always immaculately dressed but, bit by bit, she suspends her wondering about the origins of Walt's money in order to secure her future. Love disappears from their relationship but practicality keeps them together. As the first series opens she is pregnant. The child that is eventually born spends many episodes being tugged between two adults. We wonder who she will grow into. Can Skyler keep up the pretence? And keep quiet? She begins by challenging a boss about false accounting. She ends laundering money through her own business.
Walt and Jesse end up crossing paths with a variety of low-life petty criminals and druggies as well as some serious players in the world of organised crime and drug trafficking. Most of them watch their backs, or are so evil they don't care who gets in the way. One character, introduced late, Todd, offers death and suffering to all and sundry with a permanent semi-smile. Is this what it is like to have no conscience?
Walt and Jesse use the services of Lawyer Saul 'Just Call Saul' who gets things done, deviously and illegally but with a front to the operation that is totally legit. He introduces them to Mike, who cleans up mess. Sometimes he has to mess people up to clean up. Bad is often improved by different bad. People in prison can be recruited to murder. New identities can be bought. Bad money can be kept safe.
Walt Junior has cerebral palsy. It is an interesting play as the only other character with something desperately bad to live with turns out to be morally superior almost every step of the way.
Marie is Skyler's sister and struggles, as we meet her, with kleptomania. It is her 'bad' but it fades as the series progress and we find her intent on the good of her family. But she comes over as devious and manipulative in the way she obtains her wishes. She hangs very loose to any promises of confidentiality she keeps.
Hank, the lead police investigator, a determined man, is married to Marie and so the set-up is that he is Walt's brother-in-law. This leads to him swallowing, for the most part, all of Walt's lies and misdirects about his behaviour. Eventually he has to face the truth, that admitting he failed to see the serious crime being committed in his own family will cost him his job.
What is the bad without which this series wouldn't have worked?
Is it that most people become manipulable in the face of huge sums of money? Is it that we would all go to great lengths to protect our family? Is it the US health-care system which leads two characters to obtain their healing using dishonestly obtained money? Is it that people find life so low that many are looking to pay money for a high? Is it that once on the bottom rung of 'bad' you will not be able to climb down?
Some discussion questions maybe?
Enough has been written in praise of this excellent series, cleverly conceived, brilliantly written and superbly acted. So I'd like to have a wee ponder about the nature of the 'bad' in the title. No major plot spoilers follow but I will talk about character development which involves giving a little away.
The premise, in case you haven't been paying attention, is that Walter White, a chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with lung cancer. Seeking to leave his family secure he stumbles across the possibility of manufacturing pure methamphetamine (crystal meth) with a former pupil, Jesse, as his partner and guy with the contacts in the bad, bad world.
The series is a comedy drama. This may be controversial but it is. The mistake most comedy dramas make is to try and be funny first and dramatic as an add-on. The best ones, and Breaking Bad is the best ever, are dramatic but the comedy is all black as black can be. The characters descend into greater and greater levels of evil. They do things consequent upon their previous actions that nobody normal would choose to do. And that is funny. Thus we laugh at things that aren't really amusing, probably as a defence mechanism? Or maybe there is a Shakespearean quality to the bad-things-happening-to-bad-people funniness.
Walt begins by genuinely wanting to help his family but we watch him begin to inhabit his evil character and carry out worse and worse atrocities 'for the sake of his family'. Each bad act has to be covered. He finds, and seems to enjoy, his ruthless side. He comments towards the end that he has felt more alive in his criminal life whilst terminally ill, than ever before.
Jesse is a druggie and a no-hoper but he cares for people. He is the one moved by the deaths of the innocent along the way. He tries to escape the drug-world on several occasions but finds it has its teeth into him.
Walt's wife Skyler appears to stand for purity and innocence. Everyone believes the best of her. She is always immaculately dressed but, bit by bit, she suspends her wondering about the origins of Walt's money in order to secure her future. Love disappears from their relationship but practicality keeps them together. As the first series opens she is pregnant. The child that is eventually born spends many episodes being tugged between two adults. We wonder who she will grow into. Can Skyler keep up the pretence? And keep quiet? She begins by challenging a boss about false accounting. She ends laundering money through her own business.
Walt and Jesse end up crossing paths with a variety of low-life petty criminals and druggies as well as some serious players in the world of organised crime and drug trafficking. Most of them watch their backs, or are so evil they don't care who gets in the way. One character, introduced late, Todd, offers death and suffering to all and sundry with a permanent semi-smile. Is this what it is like to have no conscience?
Walt and Jesse use the services of Lawyer Saul 'Just Call Saul' who gets things done, deviously and illegally but with a front to the operation that is totally legit. He introduces them to Mike, who cleans up mess. Sometimes he has to mess people up to clean up. Bad is often improved by different bad. People in prison can be recruited to murder. New identities can be bought. Bad money can be kept safe.
Walt Junior has cerebral palsy. It is an interesting play as the only other character with something desperately bad to live with turns out to be morally superior almost every step of the way.
Marie is Skyler's sister and struggles, as we meet her, with kleptomania. It is her 'bad' but it fades as the series progress and we find her intent on the good of her family. But she comes over as devious and manipulative in the way she obtains her wishes. She hangs very loose to any promises of confidentiality she keeps.
Hank, the lead police investigator, a determined man, is married to Marie and so the set-up is that he is Walt's brother-in-law. This leads to him swallowing, for the most part, all of Walt's lies and misdirects about his behaviour. Eventually he has to face the truth, that admitting he failed to see the serious crime being committed in his own family will cost him his job.
What is the bad without which this series wouldn't have worked?
Is it that most people become manipulable in the face of huge sums of money? Is it that we would all go to great lengths to protect our family? Is it the US health-care system which leads two characters to obtain their healing using dishonestly obtained money? Is it that people find life so low that many are looking to pay money for a high? Is it that once on the bottom rung of 'bad' you will not be able to climb down?
Some discussion questions maybe?
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Thought for the Day
As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol an hour ago. A surgeon has written to The Times complaining about the amount of parking tickets he has received when called to an emergency at a hospital he does not regularly work at:
No-one likes a Jobsworth. 'I'd let you off but it's more than me jobsworth.' We like people to show some flexibility. Especially when it's us that are involved. Think of these excuses:
'I only stopped on the yellow lines to get a paper. Jobsworth traffic warden gave me a parking ticket.'
Or, 'I only used my phone briefly to tell my husband I'd be late. Jobsworth train conductor asked me to leave the quiet carriage.'
So let's rewind. Once there was a busy road. If anyone parked on it in the rush hour it slowed everyone else down. But some selfish people still did. So yellow lines were painted.
If anyone parked on a yellow line they got fined. If caught. But some selfish people still risked the fine - only being a moment in the shop.
So a redress had to be found that would stop people taking the risk. Clamping and towing. That will stop the selfish motorist, thought the law-makers.
It didn't. And indiscriminate clamping meant that sometimes the innocent were caught up in the punishment.
I could now tell you that this is all very important and the Bible tells us all to behave ourselves. But the Bible knew nothing of cars and phones. In fact the Bible says we have freedom, God-given freedom, to act as we wish. Selfishly, if we want. It even says 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'
Who was responsible for the doctor being delayed getting to a poorly child's bedside? We all were. Anyone who ever behaved in such a way that laws had to be framed to stop us. To say anything else would, frankly, be more than my jobsworth.
No-one likes a Jobsworth. 'I'd let you off but it's more than me jobsworth.' We like people to show some flexibility. Especially when it's us that are involved. Think of these excuses:
'I only stopped on the yellow lines to get a paper. Jobsworth traffic warden gave me a parking ticket.'
Or, 'I only used my phone briefly to tell my husband I'd be late. Jobsworth train conductor asked me to leave the quiet carriage.'
So let's rewind. Once there was a busy road. If anyone parked on it in the rush hour it slowed everyone else down. But some selfish people still did. So yellow lines were painted.
If anyone parked on a yellow line they got fined. If caught. But some selfish people still risked the fine - only being a moment in the shop.
So a redress had to be found that would stop people taking the risk. Clamping and towing. That will stop the selfish motorist, thought the law-makers.
It didn't. And indiscriminate clamping meant that sometimes the innocent were caught up in the punishment.
I could now tell you that this is all very important and the Bible tells us all to behave ourselves. But the Bible knew nothing of cars and phones. In fact the Bible says we have freedom, God-given freedom, to act as we wish. Selfishly, if we want. It even says 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'
Who was responsible for the doctor being delayed getting to a poorly child's bedside? We all were. Anyone who ever behaved in such a way that laws had to be framed to stop us. To say anything else would, frankly, be more than my jobsworth.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Bleak
I spent a lot of time between the ages of 11 and 16 just staring out of the window. I don't know if my Dad's words 'If you're bored you must be a cabbage' were influencing me (they do now) but I know I had the feeling that something would come along to ease the dullness of teenage life and I simply had to wait. I did. It did.
These days my life is never dull. Moments of reprise from busyness can be rare.
One thing I do know. That slight tendency to inward-lookingness. The very edge of depression without ever crossing over into it, where I can see down but have no inclination to jump. That is the place of creativity.
Today, a day off, I had to be up early to take my car for a service. The garage is on one of those anonymous out of town malls where there is a cinema. Not open for three more hours. There are also the usual fast-food chains and loads of lifestyle destinations, oops I mean shops.
Looking out over a rainswept dual-carriageway from the most pedestrian unfriendly MacDonalds in the west, I have never felt more alive. It is as if the words from the past kick in and this is my cue to do something useful; to make a difference myself without help. To get the lyrics of the song the wrong way round, I have to get down in order to get up.
I don't know if this is a key to managing depression. I would never describe myself as having been depressed. But so many of my more creative friends, especially the musicians, seem to have to embrace the downness in order to write.
I wrote this haiku over breakfast. It is Valentine's Day:
These roses are red,
Enhanced by the glow of the
Petrol station lights.
Let us not go into its quality as poetry. The haiku is a one-liner by any other name. Chuckle if you want. Let us notice that it is quite bleak. Cynical about love and cheap expressions thereof. It uses the greyness of the weather to comment on the greyness of relationships. Petrol station flowers say 'I nearly forgot' louder than 'I remembered'.
Sorry to be writing a critique of my own work but it is to help us understand how I got there not to draw attention to the verse. It would not have happened if I had been enjoying the start to the day.
It is also 14/02/2014 which excites me more than most as I like being alive on interesting numbers days. The love of my life tells me that is both very sad and also why she loves me. So at least one person understands.
I need to move to another coffee bar. This one has exhausted its possibilities.
These days my life is never dull. Moments of reprise from busyness can be rare.
One thing I do know. That slight tendency to inward-lookingness. The very edge of depression without ever crossing over into it, where I can see down but have no inclination to jump. That is the place of creativity.
Today, a day off, I had to be up early to take my car for a service. The garage is on one of those anonymous out of town malls where there is a cinema. Not open for three more hours. There are also the usual fast-food chains and loads of lifestyle destinations, oops I mean shops.
Looking out over a rainswept dual-carriageway from the most pedestrian unfriendly MacDonalds in the west, I have never felt more alive. It is as if the words from the past kick in and this is my cue to do something useful; to make a difference myself without help. To get the lyrics of the song the wrong way round, I have to get down in order to get up.
I don't know if this is a key to managing depression. I would never describe myself as having been depressed. But so many of my more creative friends, especially the musicians, seem to have to embrace the downness in order to write.
I wrote this haiku over breakfast. It is Valentine's Day:
These roses are red,
Enhanced by the glow of the
Petrol station lights.
Let us not go into its quality as poetry. The haiku is a one-liner by any other name. Chuckle if you want. Let us notice that it is quite bleak. Cynical about love and cheap expressions thereof. It uses the greyness of the weather to comment on the greyness of relationships. Petrol station flowers say 'I nearly forgot' louder than 'I remembered'.
Sorry to be writing a critique of my own work but it is to help us understand how I got there not to draw attention to the verse. It would not have happened if I had been enjoying the start to the day.
It is also 14/02/2014 which excites me more than most as I like being alive on interesting numbers days. The love of my life tells me that is both very sad and also why she loves me. So at least one person understands.
I need to move to another coffee bar. This one has exhausted its possibilities.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Thought for the Day
As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol this morning. There are also photos on the Radio Bristol Facebook page of me wearing a cardigan, which is of interest to the show's fashion police and I am about to be interviewed about it. But the thought. Ah yes. It's this:
I watched a Liverpool home match once, in the late 1970s, from the Kop behind the goal at Anfield. It was a place of great excitement, humour and not a little danger. When Liverpool scored to take a 2-1 lead over Spurs I fell forward about ten yards in a massive crush. I was separated from all my friends. Yes, I remember standing at football matches.
Two of today's news stories are interesting when considered together. The return of safe standing to football grounds is being contemplated. The authorities are aware that something has been lost by way of atmosphere at many grounds following the all-seater legislation of the 1990s.
Why did we have standing areas? Amongst other reasons, it was a working class game and cheap viewing areas kept the spectacle within the pocket of the working person. It served the poor. Today's seated spectators were famously criticised by Roy Keane as 'the prawn sandwich brigade'.
But we also learn that a £10 million lottery grant is coming to Bristol, ear-marked for the support of the most vulnerable members of our community.
You may not agree with all the Christian claims about Jesus Christ. But you cannot read the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John without seeing that he called for people to be judged on the way they treat the poorest. Outcasts. Lepers. Sinners. He went to these people first - and was criticised for so doing.
So whether it is the homeless, recovering addicts, the flooded-out, the victims of female genital mutilation or any other kind of problem - on this programme we are often flabbergasted by the triumphs of the successful - let us never forget the turmoil of the sufferer.
I watched a Liverpool home match once, in the late 1970s, from the Kop behind the goal at Anfield. It was a place of great excitement, humour and not a little danger. When Liverpool scored to take a 2-1 lead over Spurs I fell forward about ten yards in a massive crush. I was separated from all my friends. Yes, I remember standing at football matches.
Two of today's news stories are interesting when considered together. The return of safe standing to football grounds is being contemplated. The authorities are aware that something has been lost by way of atmosphere at many grounds following the all-seater legislation of the 1990s.
Why did we have standing areas? Amongst other reasons, it was a working class game and cheap viewing areas kept the spectacle within the pocket of the working person. It served the poor. Today's seated spectators were famously criticised by Roy Keane as 'the prawn sandwich brigade'.
But we also learn that a £10 million lottery grant is coming to Bristol, ear-marked for the support of the most vulnerable members of our community.
You may not agree with all the Christian claims about Jesus Christ. But you cannot read the Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John without seeing that he called for people to be judged on the way they treat the poorest. Outcasts. Lepers. Sinners. He went to these people first - and was criticised for so doing.
So whether it is the homeless, recovering addicts, the flooded-out, the victims of female genital mutilation or any other kind of problem - on this programme we are often flabbergasted by the triumphs of the successful - let us never forget the turmoil of the sufferer.
Sunday, February 09, 2014
Giggle time
So our service leader wanted to pass on something from the pre-service prayer time in which those gathered felt a call to pray for someone with hearing difficulties.
I resisted laughing when he said, 'There's just one Word this morning' and then read out five.
I controlled myself not to shout out 'Pardon' in response to this prayer need.
But when that same service leader (who does have the ability to laugh at himself, hi Mike) followed it by asking 'If that rings a bell with anyone...' I lost it.
Sometimes all you can do is giggle.
I resisted laughing when he said, 'There's just one Word this morning' and then read out five.
I controlled myself not to shout out 'Pardon' in response to this prayer need.
But when that same service leader (who does have the ability to laugh at himself, hi Mike) followed it by asking 'If that rings a bell with anyone...' I lost it.
Sometimes all you can do is giggle.
Friday, February 07, 2014
Cameron on Scottish Independence
As I was on a journey and needed something to listen to I tuned to Radio 5 Live and listened to Cameron's velodrome speech on Scottish independence. It was an annoyingly poor speech - badly written and ill-judged.
My big problem with it would be this. If you took away all the proper nouns from his 'better together' argument and substituted them with names and places from our European history it would be a barnstorming pro-European speech. In other words, he rehearses this argument in one cause and the exact opposite in another.
There were other, more minor, problems. Anyone who looks forward, when they are of age, to teaching his children from a book with a political-historical spin should substitute the word indoctrinating for teaching.
And a lack of Conservative Unionist MPs north of the border should tell him that any intervention in the debate from a Conservative Unionist PM would be likely to persuade people whose vote counts (those living north of the border) to do the opposite.
At its heart the only true paragraph was the final, emotional argument. Conservatives don't like changing anything. They conserve. It's in their nature.
Scottish independence may be awkward to administer at first but will not make any significant difference to anything.
My big problem with it would be this. If you took away all the proper nouns from his 'better together' argument and substituted them with names and places from our European history it would be a barnstorming pro-European speech. In other words, he rehearses this argument in one cause and the exact opposite in another.
There were other, more minor, problems. Anyone who looks forward, when they are of age, to teaching his children from a book with a political-historical spin should substitute the word indoctrinating for teaching.
And a lack of Conservative Unionist MPs north of the border should tell him that any intervention in the debate from a Conservative Unionist PM would be likely to persuade people whose vote counts (those living north of the border) to do the opposite.
At its heart the only true paragraph was the final, emotional argument. Conservatives don't like changing anything. They conserve. It's in their nature.
Scottish independence may be awkward to administer at first but will not make any significant difference to anything.
Thursday, February 06, 2014
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Thought for the Day
As delivered on Radio Bristol's Breakfast with Steve le Fevre earlier this morning in response to the strange story yesterday about crocodile sightings in Bristol and today's news that inactivity in our region is leading to problems with health:
I woke yesterday to your voice Steve, as usual. Then it got weird. Crocodiles? Here? More serious today. How active are we all?
Friend of mine, no stranger to the cake tin, once said of me. 'Steve wouldn't put on weight if he ate a greased pig.' Harsh but fair. I haven't had to struggle with diet like some. I am the last person to offer thoughts on weight loss.
But inactivity; muscles slowing and joints stiffening. These are not about menu. They are about lifestyle. We need to keep exercising.
A doctor I know told me there might be fifty per cent fewer cases of bad backs in his waiting room if we all walked a mile a day. Move it or lose it, he said, of any stiff joint.
Our ancestors had not found the cures for the major diseases which we have licked. They died younger. But in their lifetimes were they fitter? Running to catch and kill your supper keeps you healthier than phoning for pizza.
Is it a spiritual matter? The Bible tells us that '...food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.' But it talks of our duty to our neighbour. If I get avoidably ill, and need your taxes to pay for my repair, am I loving you as myself. Maybe I have obligations to look after myself, for the sake of my neighbour and my family. I believe my wife prefers me alive.
Of course our ancestors were more likely to be food for animals themselves and had to be ready to run. Maybe a few crocodiles loose in the Bristol area would get us all moving faster.
I woke yesterday to your voice Steve, as usual. Then it got weird. Crocodiles? Here? More serious today. How active are we all?
Friend of mine, no stranger to the cake tin, once said of me. 'Steve wouldn't put on weight if he ate a greased pig.' Harsh but fair. I haven't had to struggle with diet like some. I am the last person to offer thoughts on weight loss.
But inactivity; muscles slowing and joints stiffening. These are not about menu. They are about lifestyle. We need to keep exercising.
A doctor I know told me there might be fifty per cent fewer cases of bad backs in his waiting room if we all walked a mile a day. Move it or lose it, he said, of any stiff joint.
Our ancestors had not found the cures for the major diseases which we have licked. They died younger. But in their lifetimes were they fitter? Running to catch and kill your supper keeps you healthier than phoning for pizza.
Is it a spiritual matter? The Bible tells us that '...food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.' But it talks of our duty to our neighbour. If I get avoidably ill, and need your taxes to pay for my repair, am I loving you as myself. Maybe I have obligations to look after myself, for the sake of my neighbour and my family. I believe my wife prefers me alive.
Of course our ancestors were more likely to be food for animals themselves and had to be ready to run. Maybe a few crocodiles loose in the Bristol area would get us all moving faster.
Friday, January 31, 2014
Social Media Frenzy 2
So after last week's story (see previous post) we reached the state where we thought it would spread no more. Bath and Wells Diocesan Communication Team had seen their tweet about Social Media Guidelines picked up by local radio, national radio and national newspapers. All went quiet.
Then, out of the blue, came a request from Russian State TV (claimed reach 130m) to interview someone in the Diocese about this, especially a priest who used social media. Thrust forward I was. Apparently Orthodox priests are being encouraged to embrace social media and the media wanted to talk to a priest who did it.
Aleksander, the station's UK correspondent was a delightful guy and well-briefed. He expressed interest in our church life (and was a fan of Pope Francis) and engagement with the local community. He said that church life and community life could tend to be separate. He appreciated the variety of the Church of England, liberal to conservative, informal to structured, modern to traditional.
The interview, which was a bit wider than simply about social media, will probably be broadcast today so I am at the mercy of Aleks' translation skills I guess.
Then, out of the blue, came a request from Russian State TV (claimed reach 130m) to interview someone in the Diocese about this, especially a priest who used social media. Thrust forward I was. Apparently Orthodox priests are being encouraged to embrace social media and the media wanted to talk to a priest who did it.
Aleksander, the station's UK correspondent was a delightful guy and well-briefed. He expressed interest in our church life (and was a fan of Pope Francis) and engagement with the local community. He said that church life and community life could tend to be separate. He appreciated the variety of the Church of England, liberal to conservative, informal to structured, modern to traditional.
The interview, which was a bit wider than simply about social media, will probably be broadcast today so I am at the mercy of Aleks' translation skills I guess.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Thought for the Day
One of today's topics on the Breakfast show at BBC Radio Bristol (I am beginning to feel obliged to mention BBC Radio Bristol every other sentence) was the suggestion that parents might be fined for smoking in cars containing children. So, as delivered an hour ago:
Do I have the freedom to decide what to do with my body?
Recently this programme has applauded the remarkable physical achievements of those who have persuaded their bodies to do extraordinary things. Row the Atlantic? Tick. Walk to the the South Pole. No problem. Astonishing mental and physical control.
But it has discussed the opposite. I can allow my body to get out of condition. I can over-eat or smoke. I have these freedoms too.
I smoked cigarettes for ten years, from age 14 to 24. It was the arrival of a child which persuaded me to stop. I managed it. I know it is hard. I was helped by my wife's hatred of the smell of cigarettes during pregnancy. I furtively puffed away in the garage, anticipating smoking dens by many years.
I was banned from the school sixth form centre for a month for smoking. I'm not proud.
I worked in an open-plan office where lots of people smoked. I could smoke in pubs, restaurants, the cinema and football matches. Culture has changed now. We now know more about the harm smoking can do.
But those who defend civil liberties wonder where it will all end, anticipating the day when BBC Radio Bristol Breakfast is visited by the diet-police, confiscating your flap-jacks and cakes. For your own good.
St Paul had things to say about bodies. He felt we should honour God with them. In this context he said 'Everything is permissible ... but not everything is beneficial.' He summarised that our bodies are a temple. We should treat them as such.
So I have the freedom to train my body for physical achievement, or to spoil my body and treat it mean. But not at your expense.
Do I have the freedom to decide what to do with my body?
Recently this programme has applauded the remarkable physical achievements of those who have persuaded their bodies to do extraordinary things. Row the Atlantic? Tick. Walk to the the South Pole. No problem. Astonishing mental and physical control.
But it has discussed the opposite. I can allow my body to get out of condition. I can over-eat or smoke. I have these freedoms too.
I smoked cigarettes for ten years, from age 14 to 24. It was the arrival of a child which persuaded me to stop. I managed it. I know it is hard. I was helped by my wife's hatred of the smell of cigarettes during pregnancy. I furtively puffed away in the garage, anticipating smoking dens by many years.
I was banned from the school sixth form centre for a month for smoking. I'm not proud.
I worked in an open-plan office where lots of people smoked. I could smoke in pubs, restaurants, the cinema and football matches. Culture has changed now. We now know more about the harm smoking can do.
But those who defend civil liberties wonder where it will all end, anticipating the day when BBC Radio Bristol Breakfast is visited by the diet-police, confiscating your flap-jacks and cakes. For your own good.
St Paul had things to say about bodies. He felt we should honour God with them. In this context he said 'Everything is permissible ... but not everything is beneficial.' He summarised that our bodies are a temple. We should treat them as such.
So I have the freedom to train my body for physical achievement, or to spoil my body and treat it mean. But not at your expense.
Monday, January 27, 2014
God the Creator? A sermon text.
I have been asked to publish the text of last night's sermon on God as creator. Here it is but if you listen online you will find some slight differences. I also preached on the same subject in the morning at Trendlewood but missed out the bit about Dagon and added one or two pieces of local interest.
It should appear here later in the week. The Trendlewood one has already been uploaded here.
Holy Trinity, Nailsea
26/1/14
Genesis 2:4-18
God 3 - Creator
The idea of this year is that we do Son, Father and Spirit. Having covered Encounters with Jesus in the autumn of 2103, spring 2014 is to be Father. Summer 2014 will be Holy Spirit.
Spring is in two parts. In part one we look at some of God's eternal qualities. These will give us the bedrock from which we can move into the less comfortable ground. In Lent we we look at some of the struggles and balances we have in understanding God from our human perspective.
Part 1 (Epiphany - Lent)
God's eternal qualities. We establish who he IS. We have looked at:
1. Exists (Genesis 1:1 - first four words, Psalm 14:1)
2. Separate and yet personal (Colossians 1:15, Job 38ff)
Now:
3. Creator
In the environment of the 4th-7th century BC, when the four main editors of the biblical accounts were putting together their work, the world view was not that there was one god but that there were gods. And it had been revealed to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the prophets who followed that Yahweh, the Lord, was their God and they shall have no other gods but Yahweh.
This gradually became the great monotheistic religion (mono = 1 theos = god) of Judaism. But it was monotheistic in the face of other nations other gods.
In 1 Samuel 5 there is a great story. Philistines capture the ark. What shall we do with it?
They put it in the only place they can think of. In the temple of their God - Dagon. The Philistines think they have God in a box; subject to their god so they put it next to their God.
These Philistines knew of the reputation of the Hebrew God. 1 Samuel 4:5-9. Yet they won and captured the ark. The story goes on to explain, in amazing style, that the Philistines may have captured the ark but they don't, as they appear to think, have God in a box. We are created; God is not crated.
Their god Dagon keeps falling over. The ark is taken elsewhere but wherever it goes the people suffer tumours. Eventually they return the ark with gold rats and tumours (lovely) as an offering.
The OT is very anti-idol. Why?
Compare and contrast Genesis 1 and 2. So the creation stories in Genesis, of which there are two in parallel, (more in a bit) are written as what we call polemic. They are in opposition to other creation stories.
The other nations had gods of the sea, gods of the mountains, gods of the harvest, gods of fertility, gods of their country, gods of the town. A god for all seasons and a god for all reasons. Gods who did their best with the raw materials of human offering and, if appeased properly, made them prosper.
Theologians looked at the Genesis accounts which I am sure you know well. The first account is Genesis 1:1-2:3. The six day account ending with God creating human beings in his own image, male and female and then resting. The whole story is complete with god resting on the Sabbath. It gives us a clue that it is a lovely story to answer a child's question. 'Daddy why don't we work on the Sabbath?'
The second account has a change of style; the order of the first account is altered. There are streams before rain. Male and female are described as created separately. Plants are created for humans to give them food to eat. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil sits, majestic and separate, in the middle of all.
(If we look at the end the children's questions it answers are, amongst others, why is childbirth painful and why do snakes slither.)
Theologians looked at this account and said. Do you know what the God of the Israelites does that the other gods don't do?
And they called it, in Latin, creatio ex nihilo - creation out of nothing.
What sort of creative are we? Probably not ex nihilo. most of our creativity is doing our best with pre-exisiting parts. Building with raw materials. Painting with oils, water-colours or mixed media. Writing with words. Even music, which comes close, is about arranging noises that already exist in a new order. But we often get reminded of one piece of music by another.
Films are described in language that explains a new movie in terms of the old. The most famous film pitch of all time was a screen-writer trying to get a producer to grasp the first film in the Alien franchise. The explanation he came up with: It's Jaws - in space.
We are not creative in the same way as God but we are made in the image of God. We are the idol.
As we talk about God as creator we find ourselves accused of being creationists - a word that has become an insult.
We believe in a creator God who made human beings as the pinnacle of his creation and who wants us to be his envoys. Jesus is (Colossians 1) the likeness of the invisible God; we are the image of the invisible God. Jesus clearly represents; we point.
My understanding of God as creator does not belong in science classes. The Bible is not, and has never been intended to be, a science text book. It is the developing story of God's relationship with his people, and their's with him, and how they understood God.
For me there is nothing historical about Genesis 1-11. Not all truth is historical truth.
The blood-lusting, confused picture of God (in the OT) is the one anti-creationists such as Richard Dawkins and Alice Roberts say is wrong. I believe they are right.
A creator God, who creates humankind ex nihilo is bigger than any god the contemporary atheists have knocked down.
For me evolution, the belief that by millions of very minor step changes over huge swathes of time the pinnacle of creation arrives in the same way that all creatures adapt or die points to a much bigger god than one who literally makes people out of dust in an instant. To have a plan so grand that it encompasses evolution and the wait for that to work itself out. Now that's a big God.
So any idea that we can pin this God down in order to knock him down is laughable. It is he who knocks down, as Dagon followers discovered.
Our response to being created by a creator who wants us to represent him is to be a difference in our community.
I went to see the comedian Mark Thomas last night. He is a man who has devoted the whole of his comedy life to making the life of the poor and oppressed better. This foul-mouthed comedian has made a difference. Made in the image of God his 100 minor acts of dissent this year will have improved lives for those who are underpaid, those who are forced to see display pornography in newsagents, (those large firms who pay their tax offshore), those women in Saudi Arabia who wish to drive and homosexuals in Russia. Puts us to shame.
The God who began, will end and in the middle sustains wants us to make a difference. Or he wasted the breath he breathed into us.
Revelation 4:11
Silence to end.
I am not a scientist. I believe the way to act wisely is to follow and believe the current accepted norms of the majority of scientists. Thus my views.
I had a number of comments. I expected quite a lot because this is a church where the young earth creationism of Noah's Ark Zoo farm has a lot of supporters. I was surprised. One man told me it had been an articulation of exactly what he had been trying to say for years. Another felt it should be published in the Guardian. Still another said my left-wing credentials were fully on view.
A person who told me she agreed with everything I said then explained how she believed in evolution apart from of human beings. Man was created but everything else evolved, she said, in effect. Her evolutionary understanding is the species-only one - yes, the one Noah's Ark espouse. She is a teacher. I explained that evolution is not something you can pick and choose a bit of. It is either true or it isn't. Someone joined her and between them they mentioned the usual, well-rehearsed arguments:
Evolution is only a theory
Darwin didn't want to publish
There's no evidence that humans evolved from apes
To be honest I am bored of knocking down these points so discredited are they.
A man who is one of my best listeners - always has something to say - told me he had not followed my argument very well and wanted to listen again. I agreed I had been trying to cram a lot in. He suggested I might have been better to have been even briefer.
It should appear here later in the week. The Trendlewood one has already been uploaded here.
Holy Trinity, Nailsea
26/1/14
Genesis 2:4-18
God 3 - Creator
The idea of this year is that we do Son, Father and Spirit. Having covered Encounters with Jesus in the autumn of 2103, spring 2014 is to be Father. Summer 2014 will be Holy Spirit.
Spring is in two parts. In part one we look at some of God's eternal qualities. These will give us the bedrock from which we can move into the less comfortable ground. In Lent we we look at some of the struggles and balances we have in understanding God from our human perspective.
Part 1 (Epiphany - Lent)
God's eternal qualities. We establish who he IS. We have looked at:
1. Exists (Genesis 1:1 - first four words, Psalm 14:1)
2. Separate and yet personal (Colossians 1:15, Job 38ff)
Now:
3. Creator
In the environment of the 4th-7th century BC, when the four main editors of the biblical accounts were putting together their work, the world view was not that there was one god but that there were gods. And it had been revealed to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and the prophets who followed that Yahweh, the Lord, was their God and they shall have no other gods but Yahweh.
This gradually became the great monotheistic religion (mono = 1 theos = god) of Judaism. But it was monotheistic in the face of other nations other gods.
In 1 Samuel 5 there is a great story. Philistines capture the ark. What shall we do with it?
They put it in the only place they can think of. In the temple of their God - Dagon. The Philistines think they have God in a box; subject to their god so they put it next to their God.
These Philistines knew of the reputation of the Hebrew God. 1 Samuel 4:5-9. Yet they won and captured the ark. The story goes on to explain, in amazing style, that the Philistines may have captured the ark but they don't, as they appear to think, have God in a box. We are created; God is not crated.
Their god Dagon keeps falling over. The ark is taken elsewhere but wherever it goes the people suffer tumours. Eventually they return the ark with gold rats and tumours (lovely) as an offering.
The OT is very anti-idol. Why?
Compare and contrast Genesis 1 and 2. So the creation stories in Genesis, of which there are two in parallel, (more in a bit) are written as what we call polemic. They are in opposition to other creation stories.
The other nations had gods of the sea, gods of the mountains, gods of the harvest, gods of fertility, gods of their country, gods of the town. A god for all seasons and a god for all reasons. Gods who did their best with the raw materials of human offering and, if appeased properly, made them prosper.
Theologians looked at the Genesis accounts which I am sure you know well. The first account is Genesis 1:1-2:3. The six day account ending with God creating human beings in his own image, male and female and then resting. The whole story is complete with god resting on the Sabbath. It gives us a clue that it is a lovely story to answer a child's question. 'Daddy why don't we work on the Sabbath?'
The second account has a change of style; the order of the first account is altered. There are streams before rain. Male and female are described as created separately. Plants are created for humans to give them food to eat. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil sits, majestic and separate, in the middle of all.
(If we look at the end the children's questions it answers are, amongst others, why is childbirth painful and why do snakes slither.)
Theologians looked at this account and said. Do you know what the God of the Israelites does that the other gods don't do?
And they called it, in Latin, creatio ex nihilo - creation out of nothing.
What sort of creative are we? Probably not ex nihilo. most of our creativity is doing our best with pre-exisiting parts. Building with raw materials. Painting with oils, water-colours or mixed media. Writing with words. Even music, which comes close, is about arranging noises that already exist in a new order. But we often get reminded of one piece of music by another.
Films are described in language that explains a new movie in terms of the old. The most famous film pitch of all time was a screen-writer trying to get a producer to grasp the first film in the Alien franchise. The explanation he came up with: It's Jaws - in space.
We are not creative in the same way as God but we are made in the image of God. We are the idol.
As we talk about God as creator we find ourselves accused of being creationists - a word that has become an insult.
We believe in a creator God who made human beings as the pinnacle of his creation and who wants us to be his envoys. Jesus is (Colossians 1) the likeness of the invisible God; we are the image of the invisible God. Jesus clearly represents; we point.
My understanding of God as creator does not belong in science classes. The Bible is not, and has never been intended to be, a science text book. It is the developing story of God's relationship with his people, and their's with him, and how they understood God.
For me there is nothing historical about Genesis 1-11. Not all truth is historical truth.
The blood-lusting, confused picture of God (in the OT) is the one anti-creationists such as Richard Dawkins and Alice Roberts say is wrong. I believe they are right.
A creator God, who creates humankind ex nihilo is bigger than any god the contemporary atheists have knocked down.
For me evolution, the belief that by millions of very minor step changes over huge swathes of time the pinnacle of creation arrives in the same way that all creatures adapt or die points to a much bigger god than one who literally makes people out of dust in an instant. To have a plan so grand that it encompasses evolution and the wait for that to work itself out. Now that's a big God.
So any idea that we can pin this God down in order to knock him down is laughable. It is he who knocks down, as Dagon followers discovered.
Our response to being created by a creator who wants us to represent him is to be a difference in our community.
I went to see the comedian Mark Thomas last night. He is a man who has devoted the whole of his comedy life to making the life of the poor and oppressed better. This foul-mouthed comedian has made a difference. Made in the image of God his 100 minor acts of dissent this year will have improved lives for those who are underpaid, those who are forced to see display pornography in newsagents, (those large firms who pay their tax offshore), those women in Saudi Arabia who wish to drive and homosexuals in Russia. Puts us to shame.
The God who began, will end and in the middle sustains wants us to make a difference. Or he wasted the breath he breathed into us.
Revelation 4:11
Silence to end.
I am not a scientist. I believe the way to act wisely is to follow and believe the current accepted norms of the majority of scientists. Thus my views.
I had a number of comments. I expected quite a lot because this is a church where the young earth creationism of Noah's Ark Zoo farm has a lot of supporters. I was surprised. One man told me it had been an articulation of exactly what he had been trying to say for years. Another felt it should be published in the Guardian. Still another said my left-wing credentials were fully on view.
A person who told me she agreed with everything I said then explained how she believed in evolution apart from of human beings. Man was created but everything else evolved, she said, in effect. Her evolutionary understanding is the species-only one - yes, the one Noah's Ark espouse. She is a teacher. I explained that evolution is not something you can pick and choose a bit of. It is either true or it isn't. Someone joined her and between them they mentioned the usual, well-rehearsed arguments:
Evolution is only a theory
Darwin didn't want to publish
There's no evidence that humans evolved from apes
To be honest I am bored of knocking down these points so discredited are they.
A man who is one of my best listeners - always has something to say - told me he had not followed my argument very well and wanted to listen again. I agreed I had been trying to cram a lot in. He suggested I might have been better to have been even briefer.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Creation Good - Creationism Bad?
I am preaching the third in a series tomorrow, on God as creator. It is a tougher subject than it used to be. And whose fault is that?
I want to set that up a bit this morning.
You see whenever those who are not members of the faith community, and in particular those who would not call themselves Jesus-followers, hear the word creation these days they hear 'creationist'. And when they hear 'creationist' they hear 'fruit-loops'.
So all of us who believe in a greater power, a higher force, an uncaused cause, a prime-mover, a logos (made flesh or otherwise) have to do a lot of explaining that 'what creationists think' and 'what many normal Christians think' are not the same thing. Even though I do believe in a creator he is bigger, by definition, than the creationists can possibly imagine. He is bigger than the knock-god-down opponents describe. For the god they usually knock down is too small.
I watched the last episode of Series 1 of Aaron Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' last night. In it news anchor Will McEvoy (Jeff Daniels), who is portrayed as a liberalish Republican (bless), unleashes an amazing anti-Tea Party rant. In short he says how dare anyone suggest that God might be on their political side. It is why the founding fathers left religion out of it. And from this he deduces that there is not a single 'Christian position' on a whole load of issues.
My understanding of God as creator does not belong in science classes. The Bible is not, and has never been intended to be, a science text book. It is the developing story of God's relationship with his people, and their's with him, and how they understood God. In the Old Testament they thought he was a warrior God who gave battle victory in response to obedience. They were wrong. They thought he liked them setting animals on fire as a sacrifice. They were confused. They thought he wanted them to sacrifice their children. He didn't. How do we know? The don't-kill-your-children thing was revealed early (to Abraham on a mountain). Then Jesus, the likeness of the invisible God (Colossians 1), told us and showed us the rest.
If we take a literal approach to the Old Testament (and it occurs to me that those who do are still very selective) then we have to concoct all sorts of complex theories, unacceptable to the majority of the scientific community, to explain why the dates add up, why evolution is discredited and only a theory and why the search for the actual Garden of Eden, or Ark of Noah, is worth carrying out.
For me there is nothing historical about Genesis 1-11. Not all truth is historical truth.
The blood-lusting, confused picture of God is the one anti-creationists such as Richard Dawkins and Alice Roberts say is wrong. They are right.
So what picture of God as creator is right? Find out tomorrow. Trendlewood Church at 1015 or Holy Trinity, Nailsea at 1830.
I want to set that up a bit this morning.
You see whenever those who are not members of the faith community, and in particular those who would not call themselves Jesus-followers, hear the word creation these days they hear 'creationist'. And when they hear 'creationist' they hear 'fruit-loops'.
So all of us who believe in a greater power, a higher force, an uncaused cause, a prime-mover, a logos (made flesh or otherwise) have to do a lot of explaining that 'what creationists think' and 'what many normal Christians think' are not the same thing. Even though I do believe in a creator he is bigger, by definition, than the creationists can possibly imagine. He is bigger than the knock-god-down opponents describe. For the god they usually knock down is too small.
I watched the last episode of Series 1 of Aaron Sorkin's 'The Newsroom' last night. In it news anchor Will McEvoy (Jeff Daniels), who is portrayed as a liberalish Republican (bless), unleashes an amazing anti-Tea Party rant. In short he says how dare anyone suggest that God might be on their political side. It is why the founding fathers left religion out of it. And from this he deduces that there is not a single 'Christian position' on a whole load of issues.
My understanding of God as creator does not belong in science classes. The Bible is not, and has never been intended to be, a science text book. It is the developing story of God's relationship with his people, and their's with him, and how they understood God. In the Old Testament they thought he was a warrior God who gave battle victory in response to obedience. They were wrong. They thought he liked them setting animals on fire as a sacrifice. They were confused. They thought he wanted them to sacrifice their children. He didn't. How do we know? The don't-kill-your-children thing was revealed early (to Abraham on a mountain). Then Jesus, the likeness of the invisible God (Colossians 1), told us and showed us the rest.
If we take a literal approach to the Old Testament (and it occurs to me that those who do are still very selective) then we have to concoct all sorts of complex theories, unacceptable to the majority of the scientific community, to explain why the dates add up, why evolution is discredited and only a theory and why the search for the actual Garden of Eden, or Ark of Noah, is worth carrying out.
For me there is nothing historical about Genesis 1-11. Not all truth is historical truth.
The blood-lusting, confused picture of God is the one anti-creationists such as Richard Dawkins and Alice Roberts say is wrong. They are right.
So what picture of God as creator is right? Find out tomorrow. Trendlewood Church at 1015 or Holy Trinity, Nailsea at 1830.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Social Media Frenzy
Yesterday was a bit silly as a load of media outlets, starting with the Daily Telegraph, picked up the Social Media pieces we published a few weeks ago. They ended up being featured in the Huffington Post, the Independent and on local and national radio.
The documents are on the Bath and Wells web pages. The first is their Nine Commandments for Using Social Media written by Gillian and the communications team at The Old Deanery. The second is Top 10 Tips for using social media positively, written by me.
The first is about precautions and safe-guarding. The second is about how to join in if you want to. Both aimed at beginners.
It was interesting to watch the progress of the story as it got picked up by Twitter. Pretty soon a mistake crept in, attributing the whole of the writing to me, which I had to keep correcting as others picked it up and simply repeated it.
That's social media for you.
The documents are on the Bath and Wells web pages. The first is their Nine Commandments for Using Social Media written by Gillian and the communications team at The Old Deanery. The second is Top 10 Tips for using social media positively, written by me.
The first is about precautions and safe-guarding. The second is about how to join in if you want to. Both aimed at beginners.
It was interesting to watch the progress of the story as it got picked up by Twitter. Pretty soon a mistake crept in, attributing the whole of the writing to me, which I had to keep correcting as others picked it up and simply repeated it.
That's social media for you.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Thought for the Day
As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol an hour ago:
It was the worst phone call I have ever had. The police called to tell me one of my sons had been arrested for burglary. That was the limit of what I could be told that evening. He spent the night in the cells. My wife and I spent the rest of it awake.
So. Cameras on buses to catch you driving in the bus lanes. An all-seeing eye to shop you for moving over thirty yards too soon. What do you think?
We get a bit heated about being watched by Big Brother. I have some sympathy for those who want to live their lives unobserved. But as a Christian I believe in an all-seeing eye who you simply can't see. I am being watched. By a God who sees.
But Elton John, before he was a sir, wrote:
If there's a God in heaven
What's he waiting for
If he can't see the children
Then he must hear the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
Not the promised land
No Sir Elton. I don't believe bad things on earth disprove God's existence any more than good things prove him. It's just the way I see it.
But if I am right, then all our behaviour, all the time, is open to scrutiny. Being watched.
My own story has a happy ending. My son had been caught up with a gang of guys leaving a pub who had smashed a shop window and stolen beer and wine. Everyone in the crowd was arrested. My son's story, that he was innocent, was backed up by (beat) you guessed it. CCTV. Released with no charge.
The all-seeing eye had vindicated him. Thank God.
It was the worst phone call I have ever had. The police called to tell me one of my sons had been arrested for burglary. That was the limit of what I could be told that evening. He spent the night in the cells. My wife and I spent the rest of it awake.
So. Cameras on buses to catch you driving in the bus lanes. An all-seeing eye to shop you for moving over thirty yards too soon. What do you think?
We get a bit heated about being watched by Big Brother. I have some sympathy for those who want to live their lives unobserved. But as a Christian I believe in an all-seeing eye who you simply can't see. I am being watched. By a God who sees.
But Elton John, before he was a sir, wrote:
If there's a God in heaven
What's he waiting for
If he can't see the children
Then he must hear the war
But it seems to me
That he leads his lambs
To the slaughter house
Not the promised land
No Sir Elton. I don't believe bad things on earth disprove God's existence any more than good things prove him. It's just the way I see it.
But if I am right, then all our behaviour, all the time, is open to scrutiny. Being watched.
My own story has a happy ending. My son had been caught up with a gang of guys leaving a pub who had smashed a shop window and stolen beer and wine. Everyone in the crowd was arrested. My son's story, that he was innocent, was backed up by (beat) you guessed it. CCTV. Released with no charge.
The all-seeing eye had vindicated him. Thank God.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Off
When it is a fine day I feel some sense of an urge to get out and enjoy the lovely part of the world where I live. But the tilley is a timid creature that prefers the indoors and so is delighted, on return from the gym followed by the odd bit of provision shopping, to have an excuse to lock the door and do the ironing whilst catching up on a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad (on season four), last night's football, a movie and some new music. Also to find time to do a bit of piano practice. And maybe supper out.
New music is the newest Steve Mason album, which I bought having heard him live last November, called Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time. Incredibly good.
I enjoyed Wolf People's Fain and so I raided their back catalogue and got hold of Steeple from 2010. Fain felt a bit Wishbone Ashy with lyrics from Traffic's all-dance-round-a-stone-circle-during-a-solstice period. Steeple has a track which is pure Jethro Tull but none the worse for that.
Time for an episode of The News Room before bed.
That was how I spent my time off this week.
New music is the newest Steve Mason album, which I bought having heard him live last November, called Monkey Minds in the Devil's Time. Incredibly good.
I enjoyed Wolf People's Fain and so I raided their back catalogue and got hold of Steeple from 2010. Fain felt a bit Wishbone Ashy with lyrics from Traffic's all-dance-round-a-stone-circle-during-a-solstice period. Steeple has a track which is pure Jethro Tull but none the worse for that.
Time for an episode of The News Room before bed.
That was how I spent my time off this week.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Tonight's Café Poem
I failed to save the universe
I failed to save the modern world
My plans for rescue not unfurled
To kingdom come we all were hurled
From dire straits we stay uncurled
We all got twirled
I didn't even save my street
There are no more people to meet
No friendly faces here to greet
No parties in the summer heat
We all got beat
I failed to save the folk of earth
It is the end and not the birth
Of future there's indeed a dearth
I watch my planet's dwindling girth
There is no mirth
I failed to save the universe
I know that couldn't sound much worse
Forgive me if I sound perverse
Or even get a little terse
I'll get me hearse
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thought for the Day
As delivered on Breakfast with Steve le Fevre this morning:
That's a great idea, but...
Our enthusiasm collapses when someone says the word 'but'. Sometimes you sense it is going to happen. It can be deflating.
The idea of the Christian church as a group of people who agree is grand. Hopeless. But grand. We are about to celebrate eight days of prayer for Christian unity. Different denominations will be getting together for united services.
We celebrate unity in Christ and there is a lot about which Christians disagree. Lucy Tegg's show had an item last Sunday about Anglican clergy and robes. This programme has featured discussions about women bishops, same sex marriages and even where the new Bishop of Bath and Wells should live.
Disagreement. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, Jesus didn't say, there'll be a bit of a barney.
Our life, our news, our politics all operate on an oppositional model. Disagreements are set up. This show would be much less fun to listen to if that wasn't the case. We need to be reminded that not everyone shares our point of view. Opposition helps us to make up our minds.
And yet, the future might lie in the best of your ideas and the best of mine. As long as neither of us gets too precious about having things our own way.
I don't want to advocate bland and wishy-washy niceness. Lord preserve us from that. But today, for a change, why not stop yourself every time you are going to say no and say, maybe. Or 'How could we make that work?' And if you were going to say 'but' try saying 'and' instead.
That's a great idea, but...
Our enthusiasm collapses when someone says the word 'but'. Sometimes you sense it is going to happen. It can be deflating.
The idea of the Christian church as a group of people who agree is grand. Hopeless. But grand. We are about to celebrate eight days of prayer for Christian unity. Different denominations will be getting together for united services.
We celebrate unity in Christ and there is a lot about which Christians disagree. Lucy Tegg's show had an item last Sunday about Anglican clergy and robes. This programme has featured discussions about women bishops, same sex marriages and even where the new Bishop of Bath and Wells should live.
Disagreement. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, Jesus didn't say, there'll be a bit of a barney.
Our life, our news, our politics all operate on an oppositional model. Disagreements are set up. This show would be much less fun to listen to if that wasn't the case. We need to be reminded that not everyone shares our point of view. Opposition helps us to make up our minds.
And yet, the future might lie in the best of your ideas and the best of mine. As long as neither of us gets too precious about having things our own way.
I don't want to advocate bland and wishy-washy niceness. Lord preserve us from that. But today, for a change, why not stop yourself every time you are going to say no and say, maybe. Or 'How could we make that work?' And if you were going to say 'but' try saying 'and' instead.
Friday, January 10, 2014
American Hustle
Lots of conversation about this one in the media. And it's a good conversation starter.
Don't think that the word 'hustle' in the title sets up a scam movie with special effects like the TV programme of the same name. This is a late seventies period piece, perfectly costumed and cast, and is at its heart a character driven thing.
Consequently the beginning is a little slow and overlong but it couldn't be too much shorter without failing to introduce these characters properly. For everyone in this movie is a bit dodgy and thus it is not obvious, until the pay-off, who is conning who. No-one controls their temper, keeps their demons closeted or goes bravely into action.
Christian Bale's con artist Irving Rosenfeld works as a bottom feeder in the scam game, until he meets Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) who encourages him to raise the stakes. Doing this he comes to the interest of the Feds who recruit him to catch bigger fish.
And so the big con starts as all the palm-greasers and health-threateners in public life, including some from the corridors of political power, are attracted to the idea of investing in the regeneration of Atlantic City. Who will they bribe to get the investment and work?
The audience I shared this with laughed aloud many times, possibly recalling their own failure to grasp new technology such as a microwave 'science oven'.
I loved it. Had a brief wonder as to why a soundtrack from 1978 was early 70s soft rock (plus Elton John) and a bit of disco. No punk at all although I think the Ramones would have injected a certain something.
Don't think that the word 'hustle' in the title sets up a scam movie with special effects like the TV programme of the same name. This is a late seventies period piece, perfectly costumed and cast, and is at its heart a character driven thing.
Consequently the beginning is a little slow and overlong but it couldn't be too much shorter without failing to introduce these characters properly. For everyone in this movie is a bit dodgy and thus it is not obvious, until the pay-off, who is conning who. No-one controls their temper, keeps their demons closeted or goes bravely into action.
Christian Bale's con artist Irving Rosenfeld works as a bottom feeder in the scam game, until he meets Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) who encourages him to raise the stakes. Doing this he comes to the interest of the Feds who recruit him to catch bigger fish.
And so the big con starts as all the palm-greasers and health-threateners in public life, including some from the corridors of political power, are attracted to the idea of investing in the regeneration of Atlantic City. Who will they bribe to get the investment and work?
The audience I shared this with laughed aloud many times, possibly recalling their own failure to grasp new technology such as a microwave 'science oven'.
I loved it. Had a brief wonder as to why a soundtrack from 1978 was early 70s soft rock (plus Elton John) and a bit of disco. No punk at all although I think the Ramones would have injected a certain something.
Mini Boing
West Brom may be the only team in the Premiership to have received two written apologies this year. The first was from Howard Webb for missing a foul in the game against Stoke which would have given us a penalty and maybe a win and not a draw. The second was from the referee against Chelsea for giving a penalty in the last minute leading to a Chelsea equaliser. The absence of this penalty, so close to the final whistle, would also have given us a win rather than a draw.
These four points would have pushed the Baggies up the league a few places and would have meant that the accusation raised against Steve Clarke, the manager we sacked just before Christmas, that we were under-performing, would not have looked so convincing. I know that our calendar year results have been poor and our good position at the end of the 2012/13 season was largely predicated on a good first half of the season but, given the level of investment we can manage as a club, 8th-10th in the Premiership currently represents success for us. Basically we are regularly towards the top of the league of the rest. I count the 'big' clubs, with whom we cannot compete financially, as the two Manchesters, the two Liverpool clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal. Tottenham and Newcastle should also be part of this cartel but haven't been able to nail their membership through consistent results.
So four more points, taken from us dodgily, and we would probably still have Clarke for a bit longer.
Our new man, Pepe Mel, was sacked by Real Betis last autumn in similar circumstances. Having got his club promoted he was then dismissed when a run of poor form saw them looking to avoid relegation rather than pushing on. He had got them into Europe.
Sometimes the only change a club owner can make to his investment is the manager. It is the route taken too often.
That said, Mel looks a good guy who has long wanted to manage in England. If he is poor he will last 12-18 months and then we will sack him. If he is good he will last 12-18 months and one of the big eight will steal him.
Welcome to our world. Manchester United. Come on down.
These four points would have pushed the Baggies up the league a few places and would have meant that the accusation raised against Steve Clarke, the manager we sacked just before Christmas, that we were under-performing, would not have looked so convincing. I know that our calendar year results have been poor and our good position at the end of the 2012/13 season was largely predicated on a good first half of the season but, given the level of investment we can manage as a club, 8th-10th in the Premiership currently represents success for us. Basically we are regularly towards the top of the league of the rest. I count the 'big' clubs, with whom we cannot compete financially, as the two Manchesters, the two Liverpool clubs, Chelsea and Arsenal. Tottenham and Newcastle should also be part of this cartel but haven't been able to nail their membership through consistent results.
So four more points, taken from us dodgily, and we would probably still have Clarke for a bit longer.
Our new man, Pepe Mel, was sacked by Real Betis last autumn in similar circumstances. Having got his club promoted he was then dismissed when a run of poor form saw them looking to avoid relegation rather than pushing on. He had got them into Europe.
Sometimes the only change a club owner can make to his investment is the manager. It is the route taken too often.
That said, Mel looks a good guy who has long wanted to manage in England. If he is poor he will last 12-18 months and then we will sack him. If he is good he will last 12-18 months and one of the big eight will steal him.
Welcome to our world. Manchester United. Come on down.
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Radio Bristol Thought for the Day Today
You
will have heard the complaint, 'It's not fair'. We seem designed with
a sense of justice. I ought to get the same deal as my brother
or sister.
It starts with 'He's got more on his plate than me' or 'She got a bigger slice of cake'. It ends with... (beat) well where does it end?
Why has a city the size of Bristol no football team in the top tiers while Liverpool and Manchester have two Premiership teams each? One of our teams is even struggling financially. It's not fair.
Your village has flood defences. Mine hasn't. Not fair.
Jesus told a curious story about a man who recruited labourers. The guy offered a fair wage to those who signed up at dawn but then paid the same to people who only worked half a day. Likewise some guys who only did an hour. Cue chorus. Not fair.
Jesus was explaining that it doesn't matter when you start to be godly. At the beginning of life, the middle or the end. It's all the same reward.
He was also saying that if the people who worked all day got what they had agreed, what was it to them that the hirer was generous to late-comers?
Maybe you might think how you can invest time or money in your local football team or your local community. Can you give something to make life fairer for others? You may enjoy it.
My response to my sons those years ago was, 'Which do you want, a fair life, or a fun one?' I treated them often. But not always both at once. I tried to be fair, but think I may have been quite a frustrating father.
It starts with 'He's got more on his plate than me' or 'She got a bigger slice of cake'. It ends with... (beat) well where does it end?
Why has a city the size of Bristol no football team in the top tiers while Liverpool and Manchester have two Premiership teams each? One of our teams is even struggling financially. It's not fair.
Your village has flood defences. Mine hasn't. Not fair.
Jesus told a curious story about a man who recruited labourers. The guy offered a fair wage to those who signed up at dawn but then paid the same to people who only worked half a day. Likewise some guys who only did an hour. Cue chorus. Not fair.
Jesus was explaining that it doesn't matter when you start to be godly. At the beginning of life, the middle or the end. It's all the same reward.
He was also saying that if the people who worked all day got what they had agreed, what was it to them that the hirer was generous to late-comers?
Maybe you might think how you can invest time or money in your local football team or your local community. Can you give something to make life fairer for others? You may enjoy it.
My response to my sons those years ago was, 'Which do you want, a fair life, or a fun one?' I treated them often. But not always both at once. I tried to be fair, but think I may have been quite a frustrating father.
Monday, January 06, 2014
What To Do Next?
I've Never Seen Star Wars. Marcus Brigstocke's Radio 4 programme introduces celebrities to experiences they have never had and asks them to rate them.
I recently came across an article Richard Osman (the boffin on Pointless) wrote in The Guardian. It was a smart deconstruction of the time commitment necessary to follow the advice of the '...100 X to do before you die' format.
To cut a longish story shortish - you can't. I have wondered before if it is a singularly middle-class developed-world expectation that every good thing in the world, be it painting, park or panorama, is only there for me to see and no other purpose. As natural resources that enable travel become fewer and fewer I need to jettison my expectation that I could see everything. The Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney Opera House can manage without my custom.
Osman looked at the time necessary, let alone the expense, to read all the books, see all the boxed-set TV series and movies, eat at all the restaurants and visit the galleries and concluded that there would be no time to do anything ordinary.
A while back I developed the rule of cyclical proficiency - you can't get better at one skill without getting worse at another. So this last year I read a good number of books, better than average, but I seemed to be constantly behind with the newspapers and didn't see enough films.
So as a thought for the start of the year may I encourage the skill of selection. Can you decide on one area where you might become more engrossed this year? And work out the cost. What will have to have less time devoted to it in order to compensate? One of the best-read people I know has no TV in her house. Another manages to blot out all around her in order to be lost in a book for a couple of hours. Chaos may reign in her household but she will not be moved.
The alternative is to continue to be a massive generalist, in which case there will often be 'Did you see?' Or 'Have you read?' conversations where your answer is negative. And this can feel bad if everyone else has seen Gravity3D and you haven't, or read The Da Vinci Code or seen 'that' clip on YouTube.
A Radio Bristol presenter recently announced that he had just seen The Sound of Music for the first time. He followed this up by saying that he had, really, never seen Star Wars. He managed it without shame which was cool.
I find that the lot of a parish priest is to be a generalist. When you meet someone new and they tell you what they do for a living it is helpful to be able to grasp the next question to ask and to discuss their life with some sense of being in on their secret a little bit.
All this means that the skill of selecting, from the huge range of human experience on offer, which ones you cannot afford to overlook, is a peculiarly third millennium one. There comes a time when you need to know about Harry Potter, The Sopranos and One Day I am sure. But when? Tough call.
I recently came across an article Richard Osman (the boffin on Pointless) wrote in The Guardian. It was a smart deconstruction of the time commitment necessary to follow the advice of the '...100 X to do before you die' format.
To cut a longish story shortish - you can't. I have wondered before if it is a singularly middle-class developed-world expectation that every good thing in the world, be it painting, park or panorama, is only there for me to see and no other purpose. As natural resources that enable travel become fewer and fewer I need to jettison my expectation that I could see everything. The Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney Opera House can manage without my custom.
Osman looked at the time necessary, let alone the expense, to read all the books, see all the boxed-set TV series and movies, eat at all the restaurants and visit the galleries and concluded that there would be no time to do anything ordinary.
A while back I developed the rule of cyclical proficiency - you can't get better at one skill without getting worse at another. So this last year I read a good number of books, better than average, but I seemed to be constantly behind with the newspapers and didn't see enough films.
So as a thought for the start of the year may I encourage the skill of selection. Can you decide on one area where you might become more engrossed this year? And work out the cost. What will have to have less time devoted to it in order to compensate? One of the best-read people I know has no TV in her house. Another manages to blot out all around her in order to be lost in a book for a couple of hours. Chaos may reign in her household but she will not be moved.
The alternative is to continue to be a massive generalist, in which case there will often be 'Did you see?' Or 'Have you read?' conversations where your answer is negative. And this can feel bad if everyone else has seen Gravity3D and you haven't, or read The Da Vinci Code or seen 'that' clip on YouTube.
A Radio Bristol presenter recently announced that he had just seen The Sound of Music for the first time. He followed this up by saying that he had, really, never seen Star Wars. He managed it without shame which was cool.
I find that the lot of a parish priest is to be a generalist. When you meet someone new and they tell you what they do for a living it is helpful to be able to grasp the next question to ask and to discuss their life with some sense of being in on their secret a little bit.
All this means that the skill of selecting, from the huge range of human experience on offer, which ones you cannot afford to overlook, is a peculiarly third millennium one. There comes a time when you need to know about Harry Potter, The Sopranos and One Day I am sure. But when? Tough call.
Thursday, January 02, 2014
January 2nd
Good morning. How things change. New to my life last year is a tablet which, along with the wi-fi, means that on a slow day, or a day off or holiday, I can sit in bed with a cup of coffee and:
One of the things about labour-saving devices is the temptation to use them to over-commit our labour. When we first got a dish-washer we made a decision to spend a few minutes continuing to sit after every meal, using the time we now saved to relax with a coffee. The trouble with stretching your labour when you have a labour-saving device is that the stress and tension caused when the device breaks down is greater than the stress and tension you used to experience doing without it. Things have changed and dish-washers are pretty normal and reliable now. The psychology of their ownership is that you live your life expecting it to be there. The post-prandial chin-wag stopped.
But it is important to remember that if you fill all time saved with extra labour you will be unable to deliver if your time-saving equipment malfunctions. Embrace it gently.
I'd better get up. Not because I need to but because I am hungry and you can't, yet, heat a croissant in an iPad.
- Listen to BBC Radio Bristol and get involved via Twitter or Facebook.
- Wish friends a happy birthday.
- Check the news headlines online.
- Check my things-to-do list and diary.
- Compose a blog post.
One of the things about labour-saving devices is the temptation to use them to over-commit our labour. When we first got a dish-washer we made a decision to spend a few minutes continuing to sit after every meal, using the time we now saved to relax with a coffee. The trouble with stretching your labour when you have a labour-saving device is that the stress and tension caused when the device breaks down is greater than the stress and tension you used to experience doing without it. Things have changed and dish-washers are pretty normal and reliable now. The psychology of their ownership is that you live your life expecting it to be there. The post-prandial chin-wag stopped.
But it is important to remember that if you fill all time saved with extra labour you will be unable to deliver if your time-saving equipment malfunctions. Embrace it gently.
I'd better get up. Not because I need to but because I am hungry and you can't, yet, heat a croissant in an iPad.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Album of the Year
Time to award my album of the year prize (no more than goodwill and the sound of one hand clapping). Good display this year from:
Bonobo - Late Night Tales
Lovely selection of low-fi, chill-down stuff spoiled by having a long spoken word track at the end. Even if it was Benedict Cumberbatch reading an original story I never want to hear it again.
Lovely selection of low-fi, chill-down stuff spoiled by having a long spoken word track at the end. Even if it was Benedict Cumberbatch reading an original story I never want to hear it again.
DaftPunk - Random Access Memories
Great pop and deserved the accolades it got.
Great pop and deserved the accolades it got.
Foals - Holy Fire
I like the idea of maths-rock but this was mainstream maths-rock. Clever.
I like the idea of maths-rock but this was mainstream maths-rock. Clever.
Iron and Wine - Ghost on Ghost
Clever song-writing and lyrically brilliant.
Clever song-writing and lyrically brilliant.
Junip - Junip
Jose Gonzales band. You know what to expect. If you don't, buy everything he has done. Now.
Jose Gonzales band. You know what to expect. If you don't, buy everything he has done. Now.
Post War Years - Galapagos
Brilliant young band from the Leam make enormous progress into mainstream. Hope 2014 is their year.
Brilliant young band from the Leam make enormous progress into mainstream. Hope 2014 is their year.
But for sheer unadulterated creativity, originality and versatility - there are not many albums I put on repeat - my prize goes to:
JagaJazzist - Live with Britten Sinfonia
Monday, December 30, 2013
Thought for the Day
As delivered at BBC Radio Bristol this morning:
Can you peel a satsuma in one hand without breaking the peel? Try it. It's not easy.
Can you peel a satsuma in one hand without breaking the peel? Try it. It's not easy.
But,
rather than doing without one hand, can you manage without fruit? A
great brain-training exercise is to peel fruit in your imagination
without breaking the peel. Not easy. You need to stop your head
thinking about things going wrong.
Before tomorrow night many
of us will make new year's resolutions. You got one planned?
Something you can imagine doing, or does it break down as soon as you
think about it?
A while back, when I was training for the
ministry, a colleague told me a secret. He said there was a positive
way to use a resolution. Rather than trying to stop something such as
smoking or putting on weight he introduced me to the idea of two year
resolutions. Devote two years to acquiring a new skill.
I
tested. I am right handed. I spent a couple of years deliberately
favouring my wrong, left hand. I am not exactly ambidextrous now, but
I can pour drinks with either hand, which is useful when hosting
parties.
And
it did take two years. After one year I wasn't
finished.
Jesus-following is a radical discipleship. A big
resolution. It figures out the cost first. Then goes for it. It takes
a lifetime, not a year or two.
He
spoke about the cost of being his follower. Give up everything and
put me first. Prioritise me over all other things. He spoke of
building a tower being a project not worth doing until you work out
if you can finish - or the half-completed structure will stand there
reminding everyone of your failure.
All
the best with whatever you resolve.
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
Broken Present Nostalgia
I don't know why I remembered it but my most short-lived present was the Wolverhampton Wanderers Subbuteo team in about 1969.
In the early days of Subbuteo there were two teams - reds and blues. Sort of vaguely Man Utd versus Everton. Then along came boxed teams in your favourite team's colours. They cost, in those pre-decimal days, 9/11. Just a fraction under 50p each. I know. Read it and weep baby.
So in my family were three adults (my Dad's sister lived with us), two children, two grand-parents who came for Christmas and two lively dogs. Subbuteo needed to be played on a table but if the dining room table was needed for Christmas dinner then the floor had to suffice.
There was not much floor space if you allowed room for discarded gift wrap and mutts. So I commandeered the carpet space just inside the lounge door. And here, in the middle of a game between Aston Villa and Wolves, my Gran entered. She was fit and lively but not that good with the old eyesight. Entering the room she trod on Derek Dougan. Hearing the cracking sound she stepped back and suffered Peter Knowles a double amputation. Further casualties followed.
There were, of course, apologies and I don't believe I was too devastated since glue fixed those fellers pretty well.
Grandpa Base died in 1985 aged 85. Gran died in 1991 aged 91 (she was born in 1899). RIP. Dad in 1999 aged 75. Ditto. Tiny and Dixie the dogs passed on in the 1970s. Wolves, glued back together, survive in a box in the loft (insert punch line) ready for grand kids. The real ones die regularly. They all gave me hours of pleasure.
In the early days of Subbuteo there were two teams - reds and blues. Sort of vaguely Man Utd versus Everton. Then along came boxed teams in your favourite team's colours. They cost, in those pre-decimal days, 9/11. Just a fraction under 50p each. I know. Read it and weep baby.
So in my family were three adults (my Dad's sister lived with us), two children, two grand-parents who came for Christmas and two lively dogs. Subbuteo needed to be played on a table but if the dining room table was needed for Christmas dinner then the floor had to suffice.
There was not much floor space if you allowed room for discarded gift wrap and mutts. So I commandeered the carpet space just inside the lounge door. And here, in the middle of a game between Aston Villa and Wolves, my Gran entered. She was fit and lively but not that good with the old eyesight. Entering the room she trod on Derek Dougan. Hearing the cracking sound she stepped back and suffered Peter Knowles a double amputation. Further casualties followed.
There were, of course, apologies and I don't believe I was too devastated since glue fixed those fellers pretty well.
Grandpa Base died in 1985 aged 85. Gran died in 1991 aged 91 (she was born in 1899). RIP. Dad in 1999 aged 75. Ditto. Tiny and Dixie the dogs passed on in the 1970s. Wolves, glued back together, survive in a box in the loft (insert punch line) ready for grand kids. The real ones die regularly. They all gave me hours of pleasure.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Carol Service Sermon
Sunday Evening Carol Service Sermon 6.30
Holy Trinity 22/12/13
Luke 1:26-38
Top ten google searches 2013:
1. What is twerking? (ask your mother)
2. What is my IP?
3. What is YOLO? (you only live once)
4. What is a prime number?
5. What is illuminati?
6. What is my car worth?
7. What is spooning?
8. What is global warming?
9. What is zumba?
10. What is the meaning of life?
Meaning of life number 10
Thousands and thousands of people have seen google as the place to get an answer. So it would be a fair guess on my part that that would be a question on many people's lips as they come for a carol and a ponder at Christmas. You will not find out much about twerking or zumba here tonight.
Thing is that, perversely, the answer to the question of the meaning of life is - another question? Lord will you speak to me?
But will you dare risk asking the question? For many have said, 'Lord speak, your servant is listening,' without ever contemplating what journey the word of the Lord might take them on if they heard it. It may be why most of us don't listen properly. Or ask.
Will you be the sort of receptive we read God is looking for?
For this story of Mary and the angel is not a piece of historical biography. If it were we could step back and say 'Not for me then' with some justification. This, as all the stories of the infant Jesus, are there to set out the type of response God seeks from all his servants. She is portrayed to us as an Everywoman and an Everyman. One who listens and is ready to respond.
What kind of greeting is this?
How will this work?
I am your servant.
What sort of work is this word? (29)
How will this word work? (34)
May this word work as you say! (38)
Let it be to me as you have said. Perhaps the greatest response to the word of the Lord ever.
As we head off into this Christmas celebration week do you have the guts to start it with a willingness to listen to a quiet alternative voice that speaks in the stillness and calls you to follow the man this baby grew into. What theologian Andrew Lincoln calls '...the still astonishing and life-changing truth claim that in the fully human life of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph and Mary, and for the sake of humanity and the world God became incarnate.'
The life of the mother of Jesus would become a life of constant yeses - acknowledging that your child is to be so special and engaged in God's business day after day until you see him die not for disobedience but for his damned obedience. Tough call. Shocking.
You do not say yes to God just the once, although it must start with one of them. And then, as the final reading, which is to come in a moment, will say, you may begin to see his glory.
Thanks for listening. And Happy Christmas.
Holy Trinity 22/12/13
Luke 1:26-38
Top ten google searches 2013:
1. What is twerking? (ask your mother)
2. What is my IP?
3. What is YOLO? (you only live once)
4. What is a prime number?
5. What is illuminati?
6. What is my car worth?
7. What is spooning?
8. What is global warming?
9. What is zumba?
10. What is the meaning of life?
Meaning of life number 10
Thousands and thousands of people have seen google as the place to get an answer. So it would be a fair guess on my part that that would be a question on many people's lips as they come for a carol and a ponder at Christmas. You will not find out much about twerking or zumba here tonight.
Thing is that, perversely, the answer to the question of the meaning of life is - another question? Lord will you speak to me?
But will you dare risk asking the question? For many have said, 'Lord speak, your servant is listening,' without ever contemplating what journey the word of the Lord might take them on if they heard it. It may be why most of us don't listen properly. Or ask.
Will you be the sort of receptive we read God is looking for?
For this story of Mary and the angel is not a piece of historical biography. If it were we could step back and say 'Not for me then' with some justification. This, as all the stories of the infant Jesus, are there to set out the type of response God seeks from all his servants. She is portrayed to us as an Everywoman and an Everyman. One who listens and is ready to respond.
What kind of greeting is this?
How will this work?
I am your servant.
What sort of work is this word? (29)
How will this word work? (34)
May this word work as you say! (38)
Let it be to me as you have said. Perhaps the greatest response to the word of the Lord ever.
As we head off into this Christmas celebration week do you have the guts to start it with a willingness to listen to a quiet alternative voice that speaks in the stillness and calls you to follow the man this baby grew into. What theologian Andrew Lincoln calls '...the still astonishing and life-changing truth claim that in the fully human life of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph and Mary, and for the sake of humanity and the world God became incarnate.'
The life of the mother of Jesus would become a life of constant yeses - acknowledging that your child is to be so special and engaged in God's business day after day until you see him die not for disobedience but for his damned obedience. Tough call. Shocking.
You do not say yes to God just the once, although it must start with one of them. And then, as the final reading, which is to come in a moment, will say, you may begin to see his glory.
Thanks for listening. And Happy Christmas.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Who are Santa and Jesus?
I was brought up on the myth of Santa. We called him Father Christmas in my house. It cost my parents dearly.
I see that a clerge has got in trouble for suggesting, gently, to a school in Chippenham, that Father Christmas is not real. It seems that this is the one story parents want to be in control of. It is not true but they do not want anyone else to bust it for them.
I can't remember when I rumbled it. I was a bit suspicious that he seemed to be in other places than Rackhams Department Store, Birmingham where I was told the true Father Christmas and his helper, Mr Holly, resided. The one in the other store (Lewis's) is not real, I was assured.
A formative experience was a party with my friend Malcolm Green at which he announced we were going to work out the identity of Santa. When Santa appeared we noted, in the way only obnoxious, middle-class seven year old detectives can, that he had a brown watch strap and three buttons on his jacket sleeve. I don't think I knew how we were going to put this information to use but, when Santa had finished distributions and left, a man came back into the room and everyone said 'Oh Dave (or whatever he was called) you missed Santa.' Dave had a brown watch strap and three buttons on his cuffs. Rumbled.
As parents ourselves we decided that truth was an important value for our children so we told them it. We also suggested that they don't spoil the experience for other children. I am not aware of problems.
Why did the myth cost my parents money? Well, at some point my sister and I realised that everyone except our parents was buying us a gift. So we began to make lists with two big presents on it. One from Father Christmas and one from Mummy and Daddy. Worked.
I am reading a lovely book about the origins of Jesus at the moment, Andrew Lincoln's 'Born of a Virgin?' It shows us even more glory, if that were possible, in the theology of Jesus' birth. It concludes with the highest possible idea, '...the still astonishing and life-changing truth claim that in the fully human life of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph and Mary, and for the sake of humanity and the world God became incarnate.' Sub-title is 'Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, tradition and theology.' In the text the origins of the stories of the virginal conception are gently picked apart.
Of course a clerge might get into more trouble for debunking Santa than Jesus. Funny that. But I assume the National Secular Society are as vehement about removing Santa from school as any other things they might call unsubstantiated myths.
I see that a clerge has got in trouble for suggesting, gently, to a school in Chippenham, that Father Christmas is not real. It seems that this is the one story parents want to be in control of. It is not true but they do not want anyone else to bust it for them.
I can't remember when I rumbled it. I was a bit suspicious that he seemed to be in other places than Rackhams Department Store, Birmingham where I was told the true Father Christmas and his helper, Mr Holly, resided. The one in the other store (Lewis's) is not real, I was assured.
A formative experience was a party with my friend Malcolm Green at which he announced we were going to work out the identity of Santa. When Santa appeared we noted, in the way only obnoxious, middle-class seven year old detectives can, that he had a brown watch strap and three buttons on his jacket sleeve. I don't think I knew how we were going to put this information to use but, when Santa had finished distributions and left, a man came back into the room and everyone said 'Oh Dave (or whatever he was called) you missed Santa.' Dave had a brown watch strap and three buttons on his cuffs. Rumbled.
As parents ourselves we decided that truth was an important value for our children so we told them it. We also suggested that they don't spoil the experience for other children. I am not aware of problems.
Why did the myth cost my parents money? Well, at some point my sister and I realised that everyone except our parents was buying us a gift. So we began to make lists with two big presents on it. One from Father Christmas and one from Mummy and Daddy. Worked.
I am reading a lovely book about the origins of Jesus at the moment, Andrew Lincoln's 'Born of a Virgin?' It shows us even more glory, if that were possible, in the theology of Jesus' birth. It concludes with the highest possible idea, '...the still astonishing and life-changing truth claim that in the fully human life of Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph and Mary, and for the sake of humanity and the world God became incarnate.' Sub-title is 'Reconceiving Jesus in the Bible, tradition and theology.' In the text the origins of the stories of the virginal conception are gently picked apart.
Of course a clerge might get into more trouble for debunking Santa than Jesus. Funny that. But I assume the National Secular Society are as vehement about removing Santa from school as any other things they might call unsubstantiated myths.
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Christmas
Happy Christmas to all readers, followers, lurkers and even the anonymous commenters as it is the season of goodwill. Maybe your New Year's resolution will involve coming out from behind the sofa? Thought not.
You will find my family Christmas letter (don't panic, it isn't like the rest) here.
Thanks for your company.
You will find my family Christmas letter (don't panic, it isn't like the rest) here.
Thanks for your company.
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