A Race Against Time

I've been incredibly busy today...considering I am now on annual leave from work and had spare time aplenty.

You see, as of tomorrow I am going away to do my annual stint at the Maze Scripture Union holiday camp... and I still have a mountain of packing to do.

However, I had vowed to myself that I was going to watch the live action Transformers movie before I went away. I was pretty vexed to discover that the local picture house isn't going to screen it until after I get back. So did I admit defeat.... no of course not. I hopped on the bus to Stratford-upon-Avon and transferred to the Birmingham train. By 10:20 I was sniffing out a ticket at the local Odeon cinema (which was just the first one I stumbled upon).


I have to say that above all, the film was a lot of fun. Of course it had it's flaws but that's the beauty of it. The film accepts it's own weaknesses and ratchets up it's strengths to compensate(sorry about the pun). Yes the plot is a little hokey, what with robots pursuing a cube of immense power across the galaxy... and the key to finding them being the imprint on a pair of antique spectacles... but the films plus points by far outweigh this.


First of all the characterisation is inspired... and you can clearly see Stephen Spielberg's influence on Michael Bay, in using the whole boy/alien bonding set up, as seen before in E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial. You sympathised with the humans... particularly Sam, because it is through his eyes that we are more or less flung into the world of Transformers on a personal level. As for Optimus Prime... he is who he always is - a giant robotic John Wayne. He is the Autobot leader and moral compass... and he just wouldn't be the same if he didn't have a n ample supply of noble pontifications to hand. However you have in the grumpy Ironhide a useful counterpoint to this. Optimus is pretty much the straight man who the other Autobots bounce off with their different personalities... particularly Bumblebee and Ironhide.


Their is plenty of action to whet appetites for a sequel... and ingeniously there was plenty of comedy thrown in. From Sam's robot awkward robot assisted attempts to woo his woman to the awkward confrontation in the bedroom with his parents over what they thought was "Sam's Happy Time", to the Autobots intentionally pitiful attempts at hiding...considering they are robots in disguise. Curiously all this comedy was utterly missed by the Daily Mirror's reviewer, who just tore lumps out of the film. I can only draw two conclusions from this - either he had a complete sense of humour failure/bypass, or he is a complete Simpsons fan boy and was offended that another film should come out the same day as his precious and beloved dysfunctional American family. Don't get me wrong, I love the Simpsons... but that is no reason to be nasty about other films.

Most other reviews I have read have been favourable... and my personal experience reflects this. So as long as you are not a complete G1 purist... I really recommend giving it a shot.

Rumour has it that the Dinobots will be explored in the sequel... and my hope is that they will follow the comic's perspective of how they came to be... and not the dumb way the cartoon handled it. Especially as the Dinobots were much more rounded and better written in the comics... notto mention the back story having much more credibility. You can make your own minds up by reading this wikipedia link.

Having left the movie, I had time enough to get a little shopping done before hopping on the train. A brief sojourn in Stratford resulted in me being able to do something that I haven't been able to do for along time:


Mint choc chip dairy ice cream!

Once back home I started packing... but here I am again having got sucked back to my keyboard! *Sigh* I just can't leave well enough alone... can I?

I really must get the rest of it finished though as I am off some time after noon.

If I get the opportunity I'll try to fill you in on anything exciting in the week... however it is extremely likely that I will be away from keyboard for most, if not all of this time... and any spare moments will be primarily reserved for recharging my energy reserves (although truth be told I operate pretty much on adrenaline for the whole time I'm away normally). So throughout the next week, I'd really appreciate your prayers, if you can spare them.

God bless

N

Of Samaritans and Timidity

Right, I promised the other day that I would post a summary of what I preached about at church on Sunday and I have tarried long enough. I was supposed to be looking at the Parable of the Good Samaritan, so I started off with a corny joke:

A man was beaten up by robbers on a road to London. He lay there, half dead and in bad shape. A Vicar came along, saw him and passed by on the other side. Next, a monk came by but also walked quickly on the other side. Finally, a social worker came along, looked at the man and said "Whoever did this needs help!"

Yes will it is clear to see that if I keep churning out cheesy one liners like that, I'll be on a very slippery slope... it won't be long before they put me in a straitjacket and cart me off to a building with padded walls - theology college!

Now you'd think I'd stick with tradition and focus on the hero... the good old Samaritan. Now I did look at the irony of why the Samaritan of all people, should be chosen by Jesus as a paragon of neighbourly kindness.

I actually think the Samaritans get it rough in the Bible. Apart from being treated as half breeds and having their temple torn down by Jews a couple of hundred years before Christ, they only had the first five books of the Old Testament. They didn't read the prophets or the wisdom literature, or the history books. Their lack of scripture should have been a hindrance and yet when Jesus had that one off out of the way encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, we find that this isn't the case. We read afterwards that many Samaritans declare Jesus to be the "Saviour of the World". That's pretty inspired. In fact if you look carefully at the Gospels, it isn't just the big guns like Peter who have sudden bright flashes of Jesus' mission. You find unexpected people cropping up. Thomas is remembered foremost as the doubter... but on one occasion he shows more nuts than the rest of the apostles.

Anyway I digress. The point I wanted to make with that was that... even if we have a limited knowledge of scripture like the Samaritans, God is still able to reveal things to us. Yes of course, keep reading your Bible to improve your knowledge... but do not be overly worried about your ability to remember it... instead trust in God who gave those scriptures to us in the first place.

Still off track a little here aren't I! Samaritan's yes right...the parable.

I wanted to challenge the congregation to think about how we can be like the two passers by. Its easy to assume they were just being cruel and heartless, but you have to bear in mind the context of the culture of the people in the story. The Torah instructs people to avoid dead bodies found lying around and says that by touching them, a man can become unclean (this is actually common sense in a time when medical understanding is pretty limited at best, dead bodies can quite easily carry disease and sickness, so there was a risk involved in approaching one). Anyway you can understand why a priest and a Levite might be anxious about the scenario that faced them.

Yet when Jesus and scholars summarized the Law. They used this description:

"Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 'This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.'""

Matthew 22:37-39

In other words, the Law is fundamentally based on love and hospitality towards God and fellow humans. Look at this passage from one of John's letters:

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."

1 John 4:18

Do you see now where these religious men in the parable went wrong? They feared breaking a ceremonial law so much, it overruled any sense of love and compassion they had for the wounded stranger. Now it is OK to have fears, but we mustn't let them master us... control our actions. In case anyone here is feeling condemned over phobias, please don't. The kind of fears I am talking about are the ones that control how we treat other people.

I wanted to challenge the congregation and so I told them a negative story from my own personal experience... how I had been on a bus and seen somebody get off in strange circumstances. I asked somebody else what was going on and found out that the person had a pass that wasn't valid for the journey and didn't have the means to pay for a ticket. Now maybe I wasn't properly awake... or more probably I was too shy to run up the front of the bus and stop the driver. Whatever the reason, the truth is that had I been thinking, I had the means to pay for a single ticket... and the point is that to my shame I missed a golden opportunity to demonstrate the Gospel by my actions.

Bearing in mind that God has called us to demonstrate love as our motivation...and not fear, I am anxious to be vigilant about such opportunities in the future. We have no reason to be shy:

"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace."

1 Timothy 7:6-9a

The congregation was an unexpected mix of regulars and people visiting with prospective wedding couples, so I changed slightly what my challenge was going to be...and in a way that suits me typing it here better too, because people reading this are going to be in different places when it comes to belief.

It is simply this:

Is there something...anything in your life that holds you back in fear when you should be doing something else. Now if you have not decided to follow Jesus, maybe that is because you are timid or afraid of giving control of your life over to a God... because it changes the rules of the game... how you perceive your life and the life of others. God by his very nature sounds intimidating - all seeing, all knowing, all powerful... and yet he has done everything in his power to reassure you of his love. He sent his Son Jesus to demonstrate that he is a God of love. Ask yourself this... if God is so capricious and not to be trusted... why has he never compromised your right to choose your actions and beliefs freely?

God is not a bully and you don't need to be terrified of him.

As for Christians... are there things in your life that make you want to hold back when you know you have an opportunity to serve God? I am not judging you... I've made the mistake myself often enough.

My challenge to all of you and myself is this...let us not hold back from God anymore, let us not be motivated out of fear...but let us embrace God and his will for us as human beings with something that at least resembles the love he demonstrated for us.

Blessings

N

Waterworld

If you are in the UK, you have probably noticed on the news, the atrocious weather we've been having recently.

Yesterday started off quite nicely as we abandoned the office at noon in order to avoid being stranded in Stratford-upon-Avon. Not bad going eh? Although for once I could do without the break because I want to get a few things sorted before going off on annual leave next week.

After an hour of journeying I was dropped off home and pretty much chilled out for the afternoon...although I did stock upon a few things just in case the worst happened.

At about 8pm I ventured into town to see how things were going, as I received a message from my mum to say that the main bridge in town was rumoured to be in danger of breaking. Mum was holed up at an aunts house and was unimpressed that I was intent on going up as far as the bridge, especially as the police had not yet received the authority to close it. On a side note, I thought that was crazy... why should police on the scene have to wait for an inspector behind a desk to make a judgement call?

By the time I arrived, the arches on the bridge were completely submerged and water was beginning to trickle up through drains onto the road surface. The police were struggling to keep pedestrians at bay.

The rain drove down on us relentlessly and eventually, several key roads were shut. Periodically the police would let people skip across to the other side. It is kind of hard to stop people returning to their homes on a Friday night after all.

As the bridge was now inaccessible to traffic, I advised a few people how they could get to the other end of the town by looping back and heading up the industrial estate (which apparently also was flooding). I also offered to help a lady move her bookshelves and stuff upstairs... just in case the waters headed her way, but she said she'd get family to do it.

I spoke to an officer about my concern regarding drinkers coming out of the pub at late hours...as there were only a few coppers about and there had already been one smart alec trying to force his way onto the bridge. This resulted in me nearly getting deputised, to the point of getting one of those seriously un-trendy yellow high visibility jackets...but under health and safety conditions the control centre declined the officers request.

Eventually as darkness fell, it became very clear that this was going to be a very bad flood. Elderly people had been evacuated to the town hall, and water was now was escaping the river banks directly and pouring liberally onto the road surface.

My mum and dad who had been busy attending to the elderly refugees in the town hall,now came and insisted I come back home. Despite wearing waterproof clothing, I had been out so long that the shielding they offered had been overcome and I was now soaked through.

I headed off and showered and got changed. Then made my way out with dad to help shore up my cousin's house which by now was firmly in the front line, as the water advanced. We took bags of compost and threw them over the fence. In the end it did little good, the water did not come from the front, the back,or even the sides... it seeped up from beneath... straight through the floorboards.

Having finished that, we took an old lady back to a residential care home, from the town hall via an extremely scenic journey.

I noted with concern how the water had reached as far as the corner of School Road and was now visible from the Birmingham Road... which I don't think happened even in the great flood of 1998... and as the car headed home, we were troubled to see how quickly the water had sprung up around the Globe Island... in the space of a mere half an hour.

I clambered into bed slightly paranoid that the water would advance even as far as where I live... but it was not to be. By 10:30, I set off for the town centre to examine the devastation first hand... it was still inaccessible from most directions and I had to walk across to the far side of town to take a proper look.

Gunnings Bridge still stood, but felt much more wobbly as you stood on it. On two occasions, I heard an explosion... I have no idea what that was. Further into the heart of the town, I waded across to the local supermarket and saw half the stock floating by the front door... some of which had clearly come from the far side of the shop.

Kids were cycling through the deluge and at one point I even saw a canoeist! Some joker had put down a "CAUTION: Wet Surface!" yellow bollard by the water's edge. It was soon swept away as two fire engines hurtled into High Street sending a surge of water in all directions, to the sound of a hearty cheer from onlookers.

I wandered about the town taking photographs with my mobile phone. You can see them here.

We are in for more bad weather over the next few days... and what is more I have to walk over 2 miles to church via roads that have been closed in the current floods. Maybe I should take the "Moses stick" my sister brought back from Mount Sinai for me. The buses are still running, so work shouldn't be a problem on Monday.

Its at times like these that we should appreciate the fact we live in a country that has the finance and infrastructure to deal with this kind of flooding... and when counting the cost,we should be mindful that we get off incredibly lightly in comparison to say... Bangladesh.

I should like to add that Evesham had it much worse than us... and from what I can tell, Stratford-upon-Avon has not been hit as badly as either Alcester or Evesham... and yet media coverage has largely centred on Stratford, although this is changing as the day goes on. Typical of the Stratfordians to hog the attention... it's what they do best.

So I speak for Alcester, lest no one else does.

Note for Benny, you might want to know that Leamington has ben clobbered as the river Leam burst it's banks at the centre of town.

I've found her!

A few posts ago I spoke about the new Npower Wembley advert... or more specifically, the actress in it. Here she is:

Well I've finally managed to track the advert down... the one on the Npower owned site is a little jerky, so I decided to plumb for this version.

I think she's really sweet, but have no idea who she is. She kind of looks familiar... a bit like the archetypal girl next door. Maybe that is why I find her attractive.

It's kind of hard to look for people on IMDB when the only credit you know of is "Wembley advert girl".

Any ideas?

Anybody... anybody?

Update as at 21st July 2007

OK, so here's the deal. I believe I have found out who she is... but I am sorely tempted to keep this information to myself. However I feel I have a duty of honour to the hordes of people who have come here via search engines in search of the an answer to this question. I shall update my tags to help out as well.

Yeah yeah I know... "just shut up Nick and tell us already!"

My source - darth_librarian, over at B5TV.com, suggested that the actress might be Alice Henley... and upon closer scrutiny of the CV he kindly linked to, it appears he is correct. You might vaguely recognize her as being Octavian's new wife in the HBO/BBC series Rome. Although for one reason or another I prefer her look in the advert.

I discovered a couple of other things in the course of my research... but I think you can take it from here. I've fulfilled my "obligation".

So if you happen to drop her agency a line, do me a favour and say where you heard it first! Oh and if you are her agent and you are investigating this link due to an increased number of hits on her cv r your own website. Please tell her I said a very warm and friendly "hello."

A Different View

I have finally returned from my all too brief sojourn in London... and what an interesting time it was.

Whilst on a tour of Parliament I decided to lay hands on the debating dispatch boxes and pray over them. Fortunately I was not arrested.

I have always been wary of city folk, largely because I see high concentrations of people in a confined area as a recipe for disaster... and I'm also not too happy that cities leech off the less well developed and more remote settlements around them, whilst expecting the same operational rules to apply.

The truth is thought that my problem is not with people from the cities, it is with the infrastructure of cities.

Either way... Friday night was a real eye opener for me and I have to express my sincere gratitude to my sister and her boyfriend Ron - for letting me stay and for letting me partake in a small slice of city nightlife.

I feel like I have been hoodwinked... not by the city, but in general, by people my own age who are around me every day. Truth be known, for nigh on twenty years I have been scrutinized, assessed, weighed and judged by people: geek, dork, nerd, nutter, weirdo, immature, nice guy but best kept at arms length.

I thought that socially, they were the norm and that I was some kind of aberration.

I was wrong.

In the city I found people joining in with my random humour, walking up to me and chatting to me casually and genuinely accepting me without any hardship or need for any initiation beyond mere introduction. In two hours, they gave more than 90% of the people around me have given all my adult life.

I feel galvanized, I feel stronger. When people look at me with disdain now, I'll be able to remind myself that it is they who have the problem. I have risen above the clouds and seen the sky full of stars. Whether they know it or not, what they have been trying to do all this time, is keep me in check... make sure I comply to types of socialising that they find acceptable.

I am not who they think I am... nor crucially am I who they make me out to be. So now I ask myself... who is really afraid: me or them? It's them isn't it? They fear a person they don't understand and so instead of trying to be decent human beings and diversify, they try to ridicule me... not for my faith... but simply for who I am. There is a word for that, it's called bullying.

The rules have changed.

If they have a problem with my personality... that's their problem. Now I know there are people out there who can take me at face value... so why should I fear small minded fools who object to anything that isn't a clone of their behaviour?

Sorry if this sounds a little angst ridden. I actually feel a little betrayed, a little deceived and most importantly a little liberated. Hopefully tomorrow, when I have more time I'll fill you in on a spot of preaching I did yesterday at church on the subject of The Good Samaritan and timidity.

Till then, keep safe and God bless you.

Nick

London Calling...

I'm not going to be blogging for a couple of days as I am combining a work outing with a visit to my sister's house in London.

I won't have too much time to make a nuisance of myself however, because I have to be back on Saturday night, due to the fact I am preaching at church the following morning. Heaven only knows what I'll come up with.

I am supposed to be visiting Westminster Palace in the afternoon and this bothers me somewhat because I always get picked out of a crowd to be frisked whenever I go to concerts (I guess I must either be really popular or extremely dodgy looking). With the current heightened security levels.... well, let us just say it could be an "interesting" experience for me.

I always get picked on!

When I went on the Jubilee 2000 march in Birmingham 9 years ago, I waved at a US sniper on the roof of the Atlantic Hotel... and he actually aimed at me in response!

Nice.

Don't know what I'll do with remainder of my time.... maybe I'll get lucky and bump into Carey Mulligan... wouldn't that be just ace!

Whatever happens, this is just me getting my toes in the water. Once I've established a clear understanding of how to get to my sister's house, I'm hoping to try and put in a couple of more visits.

Would appreciate your prayers for safe passage.

God bless you all in my absence.

N

Remove the Spleen!

What is it with scriptwriters?

Whenever someone needs a serious sounding injury in a soap opera or drama... they always opt for the same one... the poor old spleen:

What is so special about it... and why does it receive such abuse in the world of film and far more often in television?

Spleen: a highly vascular ductless abdominal organ of vertebrates that resembles a gland in organization but is closely associated with the circulatory system, that plays a role in the final destruction of red blood cells, filtration and storage of blood, and production of lymphocytes, and that in humans is a dark purplish flattened oblong object of a soft fragile consistency lying near the cardiac end of the stomach and consisting largely of blood and lymphoid tissue enclosed in a fibroelastic capsule from which trabeculae ramify through the tissue of the organ which is divisible into a loose friable red pulp in intimate connection with the blood supply and with red blood cells free in its interstices and a denser white pulp chiefly of lymphoid tissue condensed in masses about the small arteries.

Apparently the lack of a spleen can make people vulnerable to certain infections like septicemia. This is all very interesting but all the same... why is this organ so readily butchered by writers?

During my student days it was a source of constant mirth. It even became a bit of a game... the winner was the person who could quote the most programmes that had featured splenectomies in their plots.... a bit like counting Christian fish symbols on cars... or seeing how many nice ladies wave back at you when you wave at them.

My guess is that spleens are organs of some significance (but not completely vital), that are probably also kind of vague for mainstream audiences to truly understand. If you removed the appendix... no one would care.... it lacks gravitas. Therefore when a spleen is removed... the audience can be lulled into thinking the injured character's situation may be graver than it actually is.

I'd be intrigued to know other peoples thoughts on this utterly random subject.

If you want to read up on the spleen, you can follow this link to the wiki entry.

Finally as an act of defence for the humble spleen, I am going to quote the apostle Paul:

"On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it."

1 Corinthians 12:22-26

Excuse Me... Do I Know You From Somewhere?

I can't remember if I've brought this up before, but I keep running into this girl in Stratford-upon-Avon. This isn't the girl at the estate agents... a long time has passed since then, and I believe she has vanished off the face of the Earth. No, this is a girl who I once stepped out the way for, whilst I was waiting for my friend Rob to buy a breakfast bap from a trailer canteen. We've crossed paths several times since, because Rob parks his car on the same stretch of road every Thursday/Friday.

Rob has nicknamed her "The Mona Lisa Girl" because as he puts it, she has an enigmatic "I know something you don't know" smile on her face whenever we see her.

I suspect this is probably because she thinks that Rob and I are actually an item, which is hilarious (and also more than a little tragic)! I think his wife might have something to say about that.

Now the other week I had to bus in to work and the strange thing is, I could have sworn she got on the bus for the morning journeys... I'd have never have thought she lived round my neck of the woods... maybe she has a doppelganger, I thought. Whilst I sat there pondering whether or not this was in fact the same person (and trying very hard not to look like I was staring), something else occurred to me. There has been something familiar about her that I couldn't quite touch upon. I contemplated in my mind what it could possible be

The first thing that popped into my mind was this old blog I had written many moons ago. That is why she is so familiar, she bears a striking resemblance to the imaginary girl from my dream back then. I'm not putting stock in my unhealthily hyperactive imagination though... it gets me into trouble... during my teens it sometimes even controlled ME!

The trouble with me is that when I'm not focused I go off on my own wibbly wobbly adventures... and when I am focused, I am so intense. I need to find some kind of happy medium.

Oh and when I find that happy medium, there is one last trap that I tumble headlong into...

...there is an old Weetabix advert that sums it up so perfectly:

I always seem to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Just when I'm getting somewhere, I start to get cold feet and doubt myself and cloud my mind with worry about serious stuff. One day.... God willing, I'm going to get past that pesky sheriff in my subconscious and do something like this:

I try not to let it occupy my mind because I know that when you do, it shows and that scares the ladies off like nothing else. I can't help it though, every so often I grow tired of waiting and find myself feeling frustrated. Sometimes I think that my time alone is a necessary sacrifice repaying for my last disastrous relationship... and that things won't turn around until an equal length of time has been spent "in exile". I have nothing solid to base this theory on, it is merely a suspicion and ill feeling that I have.

Well that's enough about me banging on about relationships or rather lack of... back to business!

In Defence of Bishops

It isn't very often you find me leaping to the defence of bishops in the wake of some of the eccentric political statement s they are prone to making.

However, as I was heading out for church in the morning I caught Gloria Hunniford on "The Heaven and Earth show" referring to a news article from the week regarding the bishops of Carlisle and Liverpool, who apparently claimed that flooding and disaster were God's judgement being poured out on our society for its sins.

Naturally just a day after I posted my own thoughts on climate change, it seems an especially relevant topic to discuss.

In attempt to clarify the bishops' position, a spokesman was quoted in the Church Times as saying the following:

“The Bishop of Carlisle did not say that God ‘sent’ the floods. He and the Bishop of Liverpool did point out what environmental campaigners have been saying for years: that the floods are a consequence of global warming, which is a lack of restraint and lack of care for our planet.”

The Bishop of Liverpool also pointed out that we live in a world of consequence... where our actions for good and ill, have effects on others. What they were apparently trying to point out was that if we live selfishly and with out regard to other people and God, there are going to be negative consequences... because that is how the world works... and that one example of this is man's influence on climate change. If we buy a menagerie of electrical appliances and leave them running 24 hours a day, and if we jet set around the world regardless of the damage we know it does... and then don't bother to clear up the mess we make... the natural consequences of our actions are going to come back to haunt us.

As a Christian I of course believe God is sovereign. However I do often wonder if some of the apocalyptic "judgements" that appear in the Bible are actually God pronouncing the consequences of our own sin... things we have brought on our selves, as much as or rather than him being wrathful.

Take for example the Fall of Man... I have sometimes wondered whether it is whether it is the truth told in a compacted narrative format. Mankind partakes of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil... and becomes more intelligent, able to reason between right and wrong. You might understand why God increases the pains of childbirth for women... as a consequence of our increased intelligence, we would have proportionally bigger brains... making for proportionally bigger babies - much harder to squeeze out. I am also convinced that the reason man is told he will work by the sweat of his brow until the day he dies.. is in some ways a direct consequence of our separation from God. By becoming aware of good and evil, we come to thinking we know best.. and become reliant on our own efforts rather than God's gracious provision. If this were not true, then why does God graciously pour out his provision to people who in the Bible are desperate and at their wit's end? It is because they recognise at that point that they need him, that they can't go on alone.

So I wonder if we should consider this for some of the stuff in Revelation? A third of the earth scorched and waters poisoned? Well we are certainly having a decent crack at engineering those conditions!

Something to think about.

Stewards of the Earth

I've been enjoying watching segments of the Live Earth concert this afternoon, so I kind of feel honour bound to cover the subject of climate change in a blog entry.

As a Christian, I hear many different viewpoints from other believers over this very issue. Some are skeptical. I think it is easy to be that way when many of us don't live on the front line, ironically the nations who cause the most damage are the ones with the technology to protect themselves best... and who are situated in locations where the consequences won't become truly apparent until it really is too late.

So is it any wonder that people with access to the information remain so cynical about it? Even among my friends there are those who don't believe that climate change is a genuine threat. Alcester is not a coastal town, it is nestled in a valley in the middle of England. It is a relatively "safe" environment. Yet 9 years ago during a period of torrential rain, the waters of the Arrow and Alne rose and flooded the town centre... many towns and villages suffered the same fate. It didn't make the news because the Good Friday Agreement happened on the same day. I remember driving home (which was an arduous task in itself), looking across the fields as we approached the town.... but the fields weren't there. As far as the eyes stretched, all I could see was an ocean of red water engulfing the land. Fortunately the damage in the town wasn't so bad... but I have never forgotten that image... knowing that when we see waters rise in other countries that don't have the ability to stem the tides, and it is only by virtue of where we are that we get off so lightly... is a sobering thought.

I'm sure the people of Sheffield and Worcester have probably thinking along similar lines in recent days. Are these just isolated incidents? I don't think so. We have had a couple of twisters in the midlands in recent years. I can't recall a time in the past century, let alone my lifetime where extreme weather has been so frequent. So I do believe things are changing.

I saw a documentary earlier this year called "God is Green", I was extremely concerned because there were church leaders who used a scripture to justify what they see as mankind's right to plunder the Earth and what he likes to it:

"Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.""

Genesis 1:26-28

As far as I am concerned they are extremely flawed in their thinking, theology and justification of such actions. It is true that God gave us dominion over creation. Yet time and again we have chosen to neglect one small matter...

... we also belong to God and are therefore answerable to him:

"To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it."

Deuteronomy 10:14

We don't own this planet in our own right, we are merely stewards and custodians of it.

Jesus once told a parable about a rich man who owned a vineyard and left it in the care of it's tenants. They proceeded to take advantage of their position, living it up and refusing to give the owner his rightful tribute. In the end the owner dispatches servants and even his son to resolve the matter... but they slay all of them. Jesus asked how the owner would react when he came to see things for himself?

Now of course, that parable is a warning against refusing God in our lives... but I believe that looking after this planet is part of that mandate. It isn't ours except by God's grace... when God gives us a gift, we should use it wisely and treat it kindly. If we are honest, we have not been doing that with the Earth itself... let alone many of our personal blessings.

Earlier this year I stumbled across a passage in James... and it was a bit of a wake up call to me as to why things like the abolition of slavery, Fairtrade and looking after the planet are important and part of serving God, if we live in comparatively wealthy circumstances:

"Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were not opposing you"

James 5:1-6

Now I don't mean to get all apocalyptic... and of course I'm not suggesting any of have pointed guns at the heads of paupers and blown them away. Have we murdered people... simply by not caring about their fate whilst we accumulate wealth and possessions? My only real aim in writing all this is to make people (not excluding myself), seriously think about whether or not we have been remiss with regard to God and neighbour in the pursuit of material decadence?

In conclusion, I think I'm going to try and redouble my efforts with regard to showing compassion to people in need and to keeping the planet functioning correctly...

... until God calls time either on me, or the planet itself.

Alan Johnston Walks Free

You may have noticed over past weeks, that I have been supporting the appeal to get the BBC Gaza reporter Alan Johnston released, with a banner on my blog:

I am obviously delighted to be able to remove it from the sidebar, following the news that he is now a free man. Footage of his release can be viewed here. His release was facilitated by Hamas, who no doubt are taking every opportunity they can to gain credibility with western governments, who still regard them as a terrorist organization (understandably given their militancy and their stated objectives).


I can't condone their desire to see Israel removed from the map, but I respect the efforts they have made on behalf of Johnston. It is also very interesting to hear Johnston's comments that it was when Hamas started occupying Gaza that his abductors (the Army of Islam), started to get their feathers ruffled. It is interesting because we appear to have two separate factions of Islamic hardliners with two very different philosophies with how Westerners should be treated. I'm not in anyway endorsing Hamas. I am saying that we should question what the Army of Islam is really about, if they demonstrate a different approach and fear in the face of an organization that adheres to the same religion as them, with equal zeal.

It was very poignant and gracious that Johnston publicly re-affirmed his previous experiences of Palestinians as largely being hospitable.... and described his captors as an aberration.

In some conservative Christian churches... particularly in America, there is a rather simplistic view that Palestinians are all on the opposite side. Irrespective of any political views I may have in support of the sovereignty of Israel, I feel that this is rather unfair... especially considering the fact that there are around a quarter of a million Palestinian Christians (figures vary wildly, so this is a rough mean average), living in Israel and the Palestinian territories today. Many others have left the region... and it isn't surprising. They receive little or no recognition from the west and despite being largely sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, they are wary of the involvement of Islamic militants because of the risk of persecution.. Wikipedia cites various forms of ranging from harassment to the more extreme.

You can read more about Palestinian Christians, here.

In conclusion, returning to the original story... I give thanks that Johnson is now out of harms way and pray for his recovery (emotional, physical and psychological).

One cause down, one to go... Madeleine is still missing.